Maniford Harper, known to his friends as Hack, is true to his word when he is buried in a Cub uniform, keeping to the arrangements that made him a central Illinois celebrity in 1980. The 75 year-old Washburn (IL) native's devotion to the team began when as a polio-stricken 11-year-old, Chicago legend Hack Wilson, among several players visiting the local Shriners Hospital, put his hand on the boy's shoulder and correctly predicted, 'Kid, stick it out. Someday you're gonna walk'.

Here is his obit

Cubs fan loyal even in death By RAY HOLLNAGEL Pantagraph staff WASHBURN - A diehard Chicago Cubs fan, who vowed 10 years ago to be buried in a Cubs uniform, will get his wish Monday. Maniford "Hack" Harper of Washburn died at Heritage Manor Nursing Home in El Paso Friday. He was 75. Harper made headlines in . 1980 when he made arrangements with a local funeral director to be buried in the uniform. this led to an appearance on the "Today Show".

In 1984, the loyal fan made headlines again when a Chicago television station flew to Washburn by helicopter to give him a free ticket to the Cubs' opening game of the National League playoff series against the San Diego Padres. The Cubs lost

Stricken with polio Harper's dedication to the Cubs began in 1926, when stricken with polio and in a Chicago Shriner's hospital, he was paid a visit by several Cubs players. One of them, rightfielder Hack Wilson, put a hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "Kid, stick it out Someday, you're gonna walk." Wilson's inspiring words worked. "I came home and started walking," At the age of 13 he went to a local tattoo parlor and had the word CUBS tattooed on his arm in bold letters

Harper told The Pantograph in 1984. "At times, I gritted by teeth." When Harper came home from the hospital, he insisted on being called Hack instead of Maniford. The name stuck. Harper once said that if it weren't for Wilson's remarks so long ago, "I probably would've committed suicide."

Harper, who has seen hundreds of Cubs games and has met several of the players, never married or started a family. "The Cubs were his family," said Louis Lenz of Lenz Memorial Home, Lacon, which is handling the funeral Monday in Washburn.

Maniford Davis Harper