If you follow this blog you know that my life has been greatly influenced by my early heroes; sports heroes.
My biggest thrill, at age 11, was to shake Hank Aaron's hand. I was shaking so much when I put out my miniscule paw I almost missed his hand.
The Queen always spends Sunday morning priot to New Year's watching CBS Sunday Morning. The now hostess, Jane Pauley(she never ages) will give a rundown with photos of celebrities who have gone on to their eternal reward. I'm not not way but when I came across a combined list of fellas who forced me to buy cards with the gum inside at a kid I was sadly shocked.
Al Kaline, Tom Seaver, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Whitey Ford, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro died in 2020. Football lost a big piece of its heart: Don Shula, Gale Sayers, Paul Hornung, Bobby Mitchell. Last week, K.C. Jones a former player of the Boston Celtics passed away. Jones, along with fellow teammates Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, 'Jungle Jim' Luscatoff and 'Tommy Gun' Heinsohn were Sunday noon stapes for this lad. It was the same ritual every Sunday. I'd go to Dick Musser's house after Mass. His wonderful mother had a lunch of roast beef, mashed potatos and gravy and peas every-single-Sunday during the basketball season.
We'd eat while watching the Celtics. Brother's, Chuck and Bob, six years older than us joined in. They, too, were wonderful high school basketball players. They were my heroes. Believe it or not they still are in my mind and heart.
Memories linger, don't they?
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