Aka. Kenny, Little Dirt Bag, Cheese Grater, BoBo, Kendog
Kenny was born June 24, 1989 at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, CA.
When he was born his first name was Daniel for about the first 30 minutes until it was changed to Kenneth III.
When he was born he took a deep breath and cried for 4 straight months without stopping - always the attention getter. Nothing could turn off that siren except for rides in the car at 2 am or sitting on the washer or dryer in his carrier in the wee hours of the morning.
In those days it was okay to let your kid run around half naked which he delighted in. That should explain his exhibitionism later in life. He frequently would dart out of the house with no clothes on and that’s why a couple of the neighbors probably thought his parents were white trash…especially when his younger brother Nathan was born and he did the same thing.
When his younger brother Nathan was born in December, 1991, a lifelong friendship and partnership was forged. For the next 20+ years Kenny and Nathan were so close that they resembled one body with 2 heads. They slept together, bathed together, ate together, ran around butt-naked together, got in trouble together, pranked each other, cried together, laughed together and spoke their own language together. That stayed the same for about the next 20 years except for the bathing part.
The cool thing is that the next door neighbors, the Moody family, had 2 boys that were born at about the same time as Kenny and Nathan; Tyler and Joshua. What a perfect beginning to a lifetime of camaraderie, 4 friends, the same age, living right next door to each other. The memories of their mischief and countless adventures still endure.
Kenny was a precocious and gregarious kid from the get-go. He would oftentimes make comments that were absurdly unexpected. At his 5th birthday party, when he blew out the candles and was asked what his wish was he said, “I wish I were In Dixie.” Everybody’s jaws dropped. And when he was about 6 he saw a girl riding a horse on the side of the road and said “now that’s not something you see every day!”
Kenny was also very passionate and competitive with everything he did.
Kenny attended elementary school at Dailard, La Mesa Dale and Gage where he did well academically from the beginning.
He later attended middle school at Pershing and Hillsdale then eventually went to Steele Canyon HS. During this time Ken became a tournament level table tennis player and played regularly at the Balboa Table Tennis Club and in a few larger tournaments.
Kenny started playing little league baseball when he was about 5 years old and wound up playing until his freshman year in high school on the freshman team. Including winterball, he was on about 10 different teams and made all-stars twice. He was known for being a very gritty player and earned the nickname Little Dirt Bag. Ken hung up his baseball glove for the wrestling mat his freshman year in high school and began wrestling for the Steele Canyon JV then Varsity teams making the Varsity squad 2 years. His nickname on the wrestling team was “Cheese Grater” because his abs were so cut you could slice cheese on them. While in high school he also played JV tennis.
Throughout his education he excelled at academics and won many awards. Among them:
• 2 X Spelling Bee Champion in elementary school
• 1st Place Greater San Diego Science Fair in Physics in middle school
• SCHS Science Olympiad Grand Champion
• Principals Honor Roll 16 Consecutive Quarters
• Inductee Cougar Hall of Fame
• Member Winning Team East County Academic Bowl
• 2 X Union Tribune All Academic Team
• Recipient of the La Mesa Rotary Club’s “Tolly Lambert Award”
• Varsity Letterman in Academics
• Graduated 8th in his class and was Salutatorian with a 4.56 GPA
Ken was accepted to all 5 of the colleges he applied to; Cal Berkeley, UCSB, UCSD, UCLA and USC.
He wound up choosing USC because of their world class business school, the Marshall School of Business, and he wanted to own his own business someday so the prestigious Lloyd Greif Center of Entrepreneurial Studies was an easy choice. Plus, he was already starting to feel the love from the Trojan family he was meeting as he pondered his decision.
Going to USC was his proudest accomplishment; he immersed himself into the school from his very first day there by going to a basketball game with his new roommates. Kenny was as passionate in college as he already had been his entire life. He loved the traditions, the spirit, the history, the campus, the girls, and of course the sports.
He was able to travel to Hong Kong his freshman year with the business school and enjoyed the learning side of things but also the artistic and culinary side as well. He did not like eating frog ovaries however.
Ken joined the Fraternity Delta Chi where he was embraced as a brother and where he found his closest Trojan family. Many of the experiences in Delta Chi were amongst the funniest we’ve heard and involved things that would not be appropriate to share in most circumstances. While in Delta Chi Ken had positions of Social Chair for the Alpha Rho pledge class, Rush Committee Chairman, House Manager, Alumni Relations Chairman and he served on the Treasurer Committee.
Ken had a few internships and jobs during college including working at JK Residential Services, Inc. as an Asset Management Intern; working for the Marshall School as a Scheduling Coordinator; Marketing Intern at 02Max in Santa Monica; and working as a Rental Agent Assistant at Lee Mather Realty in Coronado, CA.
He spent the summer between his sophomore and junior years traveling in Greece with his close friend Robby MacIntyre where he explored the islands and met tons of other young travelers from around the globe. Some of whom he stayed in touch with until now.
Ken’s crowning achievement in college was pioneering an idea to use wireless technology in sports bars and other venues to provide audio solutions to customers from muted televisions by using their Smartphones. His company would be called Sports Ear, LLC.
Ken’s core concentration in was in the Entrepreneurial School where he worked on analyzing the feasibility of the Sports Ear concept his junior and senior year. His concept was met with great enthusiasm and interest and ultimately led to him earning an award for having the Best Business Plan in his class of 2011.
Ken worked at Heffernan Insurance for 7 months right out of college as an account manager in their entertainment division.
His goal and dream was to attract financing then launch the Sports Ear startup as soon as he had the resources. He actually was engaged with a technology partner working out the details of the server application at the time of his passing.
Kenny had many passions. His favorite things were music, dancing, humor, fishing (at El Capitan and in the Sea of Cortez in Baja), table tennis, baseball, Halloween, pranking his friends and family, producing videos, giving massages, telling stories, asking insanely inquisitive questions, sports, working out, barbequing, having fun, laughing, making faces and flexing his muscles. He also was obsessed with keeping his fingernails clean and dealing with his cowlicks.
Above all else, Kenny loved being with his friends and family. Aside from his brother Nathan, Kenny also had 2 adoring sisters, Kayla and Kaitlyn who he always enjoyed being with when he was home. He was a role model for his brother and sisters. He was also very close with his many relatives on all sides of his families.
They say that quality is always better than quantity. In Kenny’s case, he didn’t live what some would necessarily say was a long life, but in his 23 years on this earth, he lived his life to the absolute fullest with the gusto of a man with a mission to experience as much in life as possible. He was always working to cross things off of his bucket list. He experienced more in 23 years than many people do.
His energy, enormous smile, compassion, love, humor and many adventures with him will be with each of us for the rest of our lives. Those are a few of the gifts he gives to us as we go on from here.
The Tail Of Kendog
The following is a blog post written by one of Ken’s fraternity brothers and former roommates, Brian Nichols. It does an amazing job of encapsulating the essence of Kenny and also is a neat reminder that the things Kenny learned as we was growing up at home were carried on in college:
There are moments in life that shape our existence as individuals. Moments that are so profoundly impactful to us that they shape our future forever. They leave us in a dreamy state, to the extent that we can’t even fathom that they actually happened, or fully wrap our minds around them to take them in. In many cases, these moments come from tragedy.
But Ken “Kendog” McCormick didn’t need this “identifying” moment to influence the lives around him forever. He simply needed to be Kendog, and his influence was felt. He had a unique spirit about him that made his existence alone something that we could all learn from. You only needed to spend a few minutes with him to know what I mean. He didn’t need his moment to have his impact on the world, but now, all that he taught us, shared with us, and provided us with has been magnified. Below is a list of some of the traits that stood out to me as to why Kendog’s spirit will live on through those around him. And why we can all be grateful that we were granted the gifts that he shared with us.
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Kenny knew how to connect. He knew himself so well that “Kenny” was always “Kenny,” so you had no choice but to be “you.” This was an incredible skill, and it’s why so many people felt so close to him. He let you shed any façade and just be yourself, and as long as you were happy with that, he was happy. That’s why he not only had a ton of friends, but he had a ton of very close friends. These close friends wanted Kenny to be part of their life way into the future — because he subtly made them feel comfortable and wanted — and in turn, really good about themselves.
Kenny was a role model. It’s no surprise that people looked up to someone who had such a tremendous ability to connect with those around him. Each semester in the fraternity, pledges are asked to list a number of actives that they’d like to be their “Big Bro.” Not a semester went by when Kenny wasn’t one of the actives in the highest demand. The young guys in the house would fight over Kenny, and also to nobody’s surprise — he would love it. As an older brother to his younger sister and brother, and a “Big Bro” to his fraternity brothers, Kendog set a great example.
Kendog was loyal. He was a loyal friend, family man, and sports fan. He was a diehard San Diego Padres, San Diego Chargers, and USC fan. Even as a USC student and diehard fan, he still held on to some love for his hometown college team San Diego State. He boasted about his siblings and parents all the time, and made sure you knew how good his brother was at sports. And he was a truly loyal friend. If you ever needed Kenny, he would take the time to help you through your troubles, spend time with you, and defend you if push came to shove.
Speaking of which, Kendog was jacked. When I first met Kenny his freshman year of college, he made a medium size t-shirt look baggy. When I saw him last week, he was pushing XL. This is no easy feat for someone who is 5’9 on a good day – trust me. But in a way that only Kendog could do, he showed off how strong he was in a way that would make you laugh. He made sure you knew how jacked he was — and would proudly flex for you and didn’t care if you wanted him to or not. Take a quick stroll through his pictures on Facebook if you ever want to be amused or impressed by his oh-so majestic build. (You’re welcome, Kendog).
Ken was a dreamer. As an entrepreneurship student at USC, Ken had some big ideas that he was really trying to push out into the world. He wanted to create a business and lead it to glory. Over the past year, he and I would talk about how our entrepreneurial endeavors were going. And based on the conversations he and I would have every couple weeks, he was on his way to making some big things happen. He didn’t want to be part of a 9 to 5 work environment – he wanted to create his own job, and in turn, create his own lifestyle. He was a perfect fit for success in the entrepreneurial world, and I’m confident he would’ve accomplished some very impressive things. I will sorely miss having him around to keep each other motivated to achieve our dreams.
Kendog was a “no bad days” kind of guy. When the world was taken by storm by James Blunt’s hit single “Had A Bad Day,” Kendog was probably confused. What was all the rage about? Did people actually connect with this song? That was not Kenny’s style. When I described Kenny to friends from home if they were visiting me when we were roommates, I would tell them that they’d like him for a number of reasons, but the main one being that he was always in a great mood. He operated on a scale of “It’s all good” to “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAW!” But even on his worst days, he was still “all good.” It was amazing.
Along those same lines, Kendog was a great dancer. While Kenny’s natural demeanor was pretty laid back and relaxed, that all changed when the beat dropped. I took him to a beach party last summer where he didn’t know anyone, and was deferring to me to do the talking to most of the people there. I introduced him to some people and he came off as kind of quiet and shy – but then everything changed. The music turned on and the dance party started, and to everyone’s surprise but mine, he was right in the center of it. And when Kenny danced, people took notice. Always. In fact, the person whose house we were at came running over me and said, “Wait, WHAT? I did not see that coming at all!” Anyone who has seen him in his element can visualize this perfectly. What a treat.
Kendog was a goofball. As a roommate of his, I would see him do things like sing in an opera style voice, rap the entire verse of his favorite Sublime song en espanol, and of course, enjoy his physique in the mirror. Sometimes he’d do all three of those things at the same time. I also always thought it was funny that he spent a fair amount of time doing his hair in the mirror, when it literally looked the exact same after he was done combing it as it did before. He would say, “How’s my hair?” to which I’d reply, “The same as it was 5 minutes ago – still lookin’ sharp as ever though bud.” It was a pretty standard routine.
Kenny had a passion for adventure. Whether it was a night out in the city or a summer in Greece, Kenny wanted to always do something new and fun. He wanted to meet new people, experience new cultures, and live different lifestyles. He loved the feeling of being outdoors and finding out new things about the world. He wanted to see what the world had to offer, and wanted to dive right in. Kenny wanted to see it all.
Kendog was a family man. He loved his family to pieces and talked about them all the time. I also got to see tons of family photos from his family vacations – because they were always the background on his computer — and could tell that he had a great time being part of such a close family. Which leads me to the part that hurts the most. I just wish that Ken could have been a Daddy. I have no doubt in my mind that he would’ve earned the “World’s Best Daddy” award that his children would’ve given him. They would have been some of the luckiest kids on the planet. He would’ve read them bedtime stories, gone to all of their games and activities, and been a great shoulder to cry on. He would’ve been a very proud Dad, and would’ve left behind a legacy that the world would be better off for with them around. As was the case with everything he did, he would’ve set a great example not just to his kids, but also to all the Dad’s and parents in his community, as well as to his friends. Down the road I would’ve loved for our kids to play together, because I knew that Uncle Ken would’ve been someone they would’ve loved to be around. And someone who I wanted them to learn from.
Most of all, Kendog lived in the present. When Kendog sang, he sang. When he danced, he danced. When he exercised, he exercised. When he laughed, he laughed. And when he smiled, he smiled. When he cried, he cried, and when he played, he played. When the wind blew in his face, he felt it. When the ocean mist was in the air, he smelt it. When he was at a concert, he took it all in. And when he was at the game, he was there to cheer.
In his time on earth, Kenny lived. Kenny lived more in his 23 short years than most people live in their entire lifetime. He avoided the mistake that most people make, and would want nothing more than for you to do the same.
Kenny left us way too soon. There is no doubt about that. And we will always wish that things were different because of the kind of guy Kendog was.
But now it’s our turn to let Kendog’s tail wag on through us all.
Thank you, Kenny, for being such an important figure in my life. Your moment does not define you, your existence does.
Wag On.
With Love,
Brian Nichols
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