Few sports movies of the 1990’s are as memorable as the Texas high school football dramedy (and Friday Night Lights rip-off) Varsity Blues. One of the most iconic characters in that movie happens to be Billy Bob, a rather large and lovable offensive lineman at the competitive West Canaan high school football program.
On Saturday, it was announced that the actor who portrayed Billy Bob, Ron Lester, passed away at the age of 45. He had been battling liver and kidney issues for the past eight months or so and gave the “do not resuscitate” orders shortly before passing away.
In Varsity Blues, Lester gave us quotable moments such as “puke and rally…”
…and the infamous “fat guy touchdown” scene before fat guy touchdowns were even a thing.
Back in November, Lester announced via Twitter that he had entered the hospital after nearly dying.
Liver & kidneys are starting to heal, Came close to dying! With out my fiancé Jennifer Worland, I wouldn't be alive! pic.twitter.com/wOFecUU3Rq
— Ron Lester (@RonLesterRadio) November 9, 2015
Unfortunately, Lester would not leave the hospital again and it is a truly sad situation for the actor who shed all those pounds for the sake of his health all the way back in 2000. He had dropped nearly 300 pounds, but complications from his obesity were apparently too far along.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Lester credited the surgery with changing and saving his life at the time:
At his heaviest, Lester was 508 lbs. He underwent gastric bypass surgery — and flatlined on the operating table — in December 2000, according to a 2014 interview with Grantland. He lost over 300 lbs., including 100 lbs. in the ensuing month-and-a-half after surgery.
In the years following, he talked about the decision to have the surgery in bittersweet terms, telling BodyBuilding.com that he was rebuilding his career: ”The difference is that I am no longer the ‘funny fat guy,’” Lester said. “I sold my ‘niche’ for my chance to live. … I would never trade the life I have now with… the endless opportunities I have in store for me, with my old life.”
Fans won’t likely forget his role as Billy Bob, nor his parody of that same role just a few years later in the film Not Another Teen Movie. He also appeared in TV shows such as Freaks and Geeks and Popular.
[Uproxx]
