Remembering the wonderful Jack Soo, who we lost far too soon 44 years ago today. Nick Yemana made the world’s worst coffee, had a weakness for horse races, and seemed to not take life too seriously. But as we saw in Loan Shark, when, on the day after his 20th anniversary on the force, feeling unappreciated, he blows up after having had enough of the complaints about his coffee and filing and tells everyone off before leaving for lunch and the racetrack:

Wojo: Wow. He usually doesn’t say more than two words.

Harris: Uh, Wojo, I’d say that WAS two words!

and in Dog Days when he outsmarts both an angry dog and its equally angry owner, Nick was a force to be reckoned with and a damn good cop.

He also provided what was probably one of the funniest moments ever on TV when he got high on the hash brownies Wojo unknowingly brought in. He serenaded the squad room, asked Barney if his mother was from Clarney, suggested going to the beach and shooting some clams, asked if anyone had seen his legs and made “mooshy mooshy” a line that would live on in hilarity long after he and the show were gone. Jack was one of a kind and is still deeply missed. I think our own Max said it best:

“We finished about 2:30 in the morning…I think all of us were here and all of the camera people and directors and other people it takes to make the show were here and you could go through all of those people and all the people who encounter Jack away from the studio in real life and not find anyone that he hadn’t touched in some way at some time. Because his love for humanity and people was always stronger than his anger at the things people have done to him and that’s why he was able to give us the gift of Yemana.”

And what a gift it was. Let’s all raise our coffee cups as we say, here’s to you Jack! ~Sue