For teenagers in the Port Neches-Groves High School band, the death of Kenneth Young, a.k.a. Indian Ken, was, as one said, “devastating.”
“He was the spirit of the band. He was the spirit of PN-G,” said Chris Allen, a 15-year-old sophomore tuba player who attended Friday’s visitation. “There were always two things that showed PN-G: ‘Cherokee’ and Indian Ken.”
Young, a longtime supporter of PN-G who started attending football games dressed in Indian garb in 1989, died of a heart attack Jan. 30 in Arizona. He was 60.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Port Neches-Groves High School Auditorium.
At Friday’s visitation, many showed up sporting purple PN-G T-shirts, a few specially made that commemorate Young as “a fan that will live in our hearts forever.”
“He always told us we were No. 1, but I think we all thought he was No. 1,” said Andrew Parks, a 16-year-old sophomore trumpet player. “Other people participated in purple pride; he defined it.”
Young had a special relationship with the PNG band. He sat near them at football games, cheered them on and held up hand-made posters for them as they marched off the field after the halftime show. He attended contests and always had an extra-special poster ready to encourage them. He brought them Christmas gifts and sent get-well cards.
When word got back that he was sick, the text messages flew from band member to band member, “prayers for Ken, prayers for Ken.”
“I got so many phone calls and text messages from our former kids. They’ve been out of school for awhile but they still love Indian Ken,” saidMike Westbrook, a former PN-G band director. “He always wanted to know what he could do to help.”
At his funeral, the band he loved will play “Cherokee” for him one last time.
His support for the band came from his own experience playing trumpet, drums and guitar, said his wife, Christy Young.
“He said to me, ‘Nobody was dressing up. I’m going to start dressing up,'” she remembered.
She made him an outfit and a headdress, and he kept on even though people laughed at him in the beginning.
“He said, ‘I’m not doing it for them, I’m doing it for the kids,'” Christy Young said.
His support for PN-G bled over into his other activities as well. As a ham operator, his call was K5NDN.
Although sudden, family said his death was not totally unexpected. Since he had quadruple bypass surgery in 2004, he had had chest pains, his wife said.
At last year’s Mid-County Madness, he got so angry at the referees that his blood pressure spiked and he had to be taken away by ambulance.
Band member Parks said they were all so busy trying to see if he was okay that they missed a few cues from their director.
Outside of his Purple Pride, Young was a gospel singer and ordained minister who, along with his wife and two sons, traveled around singing and preaching for some years.
He was also a paramedic, served in the U.S. Air Force and served as a military chaplain when needed.
During the Christmas season, he dressed as Santa and sang at the Luby’s in Central Mall.
Even so, the memory that lives with most is of Indian Ken.
“If anybody gets the name Mr. PN-G, it should be Indian Ken,” said friend and fellow PN-G supporter Marie Miller, 60, of Groves. “There’ll be a big void in that stadium without him there. That’s a legend.”
Source: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Remembering-PN-G-s-Indian-Ken-702879.php
