I have the honor of playing the funeral Mass for Dr. Jack Ramsay at 11 this Thursday.
Because I'm on the younger side, I remember him from his articles on ESPN, but my father, a Buffalo Braves season ticket holder back in the day, is even more excited than I.
He was a great man, and I could go on, but I'll let his son do the better job:
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10851183/dr-jack-ramsay-father-friend (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10851183/dr-jack-ramsay-father-friend)
And I'll post this here as a notice to myself at least--and please remind me of it come the fall if I forget his wisdom:
(http://s28.postimg.org/lgndk13zx/Screen_Shot_2014_04_28_at_9_33_22_PM.png)
A great honor LAA.
Thanks! Just met with his daughter, whose husband (Jack's son-in-law) is Jim O'Brien of Celtics fame.
Thus I managed to hide the fact that I'm a Pistons fan until his friend said she had to get extra programs to mail to people that can't make it like Jack McCloskey and I burst out "TRADER JACK MCCLOSKEY!?!?!"
The best reaction was my sister, who wrote "so you're playing Jack Ramsay's funeral? guess you'll be the shortest person there."
Thoughts and prayers to the family and hope you're playing Bach!.
No Bach, but boy, there were enough people to have the best coaching clinic ever, if they could only agree on how to break a press:
--Pat Riley
--Erik Spoelstra
--Jimmy Lynam
--Jim O'Brien
--Phil Martelli
--Hubie Brown
--Bob McAdoo
EDIT: ALSO:
--Billy Cunningham
--Jack McKinney
--Matt Guokas
man. and a whole bunch of players but I wouldn't really know who they were these days.
the best part was Dr. Jack's son Chris, who wrote the story at the link in the OP, talking about his faith, and how at the final family reunion he would attend, he "called a timeout" and told "his whole team" they were getting slack in their practice of the Faith.
And coming out of the timeout, by Chris' admission at least, the Ramsay clan has been reinvigorated!
Hope you don't mind, but I'm going to dump some links here so I know where to find them later.
Naples Daily News article (http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2014/may/01/nba-heat-erik-spoelstra-pat-riley-jack-ramsay/)
NDN photo gallery (http://www.naplesnews.com/photos/galleries/2014/may/01/funeral-former-nba-coach-jack-ramsay/312476/#section_header)
NDN Video (http://www.naplesnews.com/videos/detail/saying-farewell-to-dr-jack-ramsay/)
AP BigStory (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ramsays-life-celebrated-his-funeral)
the NY Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/basketball-genius-jack-ramsay-life-celebrated-funeral-article-1.1775629)
Oregon Live (http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2014/05/steve_duin_family_and_friends.html#incart_river)
Miami Herald (http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/01/4092503/miami-heat-brass-others-celebrate.html)
Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/sports/ex-heat-coach-broadcaster-dr-jack-ramsay-eulogized/nfmwL/)
Ira Winderman, SF Sun Sentinel (http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/sfl-miami-heat-jack-ramsay-s050114,0,1298163.story)
Jerry Sullivan, Buffalo News column (http://www.buffalonews.com/columns/jerry-sullivan/sterling-mess-sadly-obscured-a-fitting-tribute-to-ramsay-20140501)
NBA.com tribute video (http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2014/04/29/20140428-dr-jack-ramsay.nba/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts)