For those of us old enough to recall the great days of Bill Russel and the Boston Celtics, of Red Auerbach and John Havlicek, well, it didn’t get any better than that.
Havlicek died two weeks ago. He died as he lived and played, that is, with nearly everyone who knew him, who watched him, who loved him for his sports theatrics when life was very different than it is today recalling what a great guy he was.
He was humble. He was talented. He went off into the sunset after his career never looking back.
The same can be said for the great NFL Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr.
He died over the weekend.
He was another giant in sports – classy, quiet, humble, self-effacing – but what a great quarterback. What Starr did with Vince Lombardi is about as good as it gets in national sports.
I wish I could have known these guys. They were the real thing through and through.