Wrai Ballard
(April 21, 1924 – July 24, 2009)
Wrai W. Ballard, a North Dakota fan, was an active contributor to FAPA and Official Editor and contributor to SAPS. Lee Jacobs created a series of pulp-style adventures in SAPS entitled "The Ballard Chronicles," starring a fictionalized version of Ballard. Ballard published his fan history series "Tiny Acorn" in SAPS and also sparked the SAPS revelations about Virgin Cows. He was also a participant in FATE. He was a member of the N3F and ISFCC.
In the early 1950s, Ballard refused to publish Lee Jacobs's essay "The Influence of Science Fiction on Modern American Filk Music," which inadvertently coined the term filk, because of fear that its bawdy nature could get SAPS in trouble with post office censors. Ballard thereafter promoted the typo. He invented the Ballard Code for Fan Feuds, a sort of fannish equivalent of the dueling code of honor, 200th Fandom, and the art form Non-Poetry. He was reputed to be Built Like a Gorilla.
In 1961, he said he "gathers things and has the remnants of a stf collection and a hundred odd records. Corresponds with a dozen or so fans regularly, and many more on an irregular basis. Shooting and an interest in guns, particularly pre-cartridge or early cartridge weapons."
Ballard was a farmer. He was married to fellow fan Carol Ballard.
| Person | 1924—2009 |
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