Your MD backed him when he went independent and likely wasn’t going to win, but they would have still covered him on TV as a previous winner.
Discussion
This sort of thing makes me wish my Dad was still alive to tell.
He would have enjoyed knowing that 😁
No doubt that would make it much sweeter
But consider the gift to you to learn the impact he had in his time on this planet which you didn’t even know - most people aren’t going to discover such monumental things their dad did like this, years later.
That is in itself pretty special.
Today has been a good day.