Sad for me

[mokole]

My all-time favourite football player, C. Wayne Harris, passed away last week. Played 12 years (almost) for the Calgary Stampeders, 11 straight all-western teams, 9 all-CFL, 4 Outstanding Lineman awards, Grey Cup MVP. Not just a great hitter, but the best middle linebacker football ever saw. Everyone said his ability to read the offence and stop what they were doing was uncanny. Hit hard but never dirty. Injury ended his career but he did get a Grey Cup win. Back in his day Calgary was defined by a great defence (except when Peter Liske was there, for those 3 years the offence was actually great too). From all I know he was a fine man, father, husband. Class act.

Odd that I have no favourite in hockey. Team, obviously, the Leafs, but in other sports I have all-time favourites, mostly great effort people with talent to boot. Lower-level (secondary) sports like American football (Dallas Cowboys, Tony Dorsett), Canadian soccer (Vancouver Whitecaps, Paul Peschisolido), auto racing (Ferrari, Richard Petty), even tennis (Bjorn Borg, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario). My big five, as I call them, i have favourites, all-time, in four: baseball Vladimir Guerrero (Montreal Expos), basketball Mark Aguirre (Seattle SuperSonics, like the Expos don't exist right now), football Wayne Harris (Calgary Stampeders), and even soccer Bryan Robson (Manchester United). But nobody in hockey has caught my eye. A guy who plays hard, and game in game out matters. Doesn't have to be a Leaf (Aguirre never played for any team I actually cared about even) but it helps.

[stugats1]

I have a few players I loved over the years. Ronnie Ellis of the leafs was #1. Was obsessed with him as a kid. I know a kid from Boston following the career of Leaf, haha then it was Sittler and Wendel. Salming too. and toi some extent Sundin.. since Mats i don't have a real favorire. Although I relly like Henrik Lundqvist. For other sports it was Gene Washington, John Brodie and Joe Montana in football. Willie Stargell, Thurman Munson and Mariano Rivera in baseball...Joe Frazier and Roberto Duran in boxing.. that is probably it. It is sad when someone you followed so closely in sports passes

[mokole]

THanks stugats. What bothered me was no TSN or other sports coverage. The guy was a great player, a good person, and I never say anything about it on the day of his death (and I was home). I never met him but my one brother has a friend who was Mr. Harris' neighbour for years, and when he told Mr. Harris I was a fan he gave me some stuff and a thank you note for caring, about 4 years ago now. Very nice of him to write a note.

[Leafs_Pam]

Outside of Hockey, for me it was Baseball, the Dodgers of course, and it was Don Drysdale. I met him 6 weeks before he died and I was in Anaheim the day it was announced he died. I cried my heart out. I had traveled to LA in April the year he died to a Sports Card Show because he was signing there. I only went because he was going to be there. As it turned out I got to meet a bunch of my other Dodgers favorites from 1959/early 1960's Dodgers too, but it was all about Don Drysdale for me. Then July 4th weekend I went to Anaheim for another Sports Card show because the same Dodgers would be there too, but Don was in Montreal with the Dodgers for the Expos game. I was listening to the game on the Radio and they announced he was missing and they heard a rumour he had passed away but they didn't have a confirmation yet. I knew it was true without it being confirmed. I was 12 (1959) when I fell in love with the Dodgers, and Don Drysdale was always my favorite and my hero as a kid and teen. I took his passing very hard. Naturally being a female I did more than my share of crying. I went to the Angels game than night. Being July 4th and our Independence Day the Angels had Fireworks after the game. I started crying for his wife and his 2 year old son for their loss during the Fireworks.

The one beautiful thing to come out of this, when I saw Don Drysdale at the Show in April I told him I had been a life long fan of his. I told him I was a Dodger's fan from the Bay Area and I had traveled to the Show especially to see him. He got a big smile on his face and with a long line behind me he shook my hand and talked to me for 5 or more minutes. I've seen other players when fans have said things like that. Some of them will just smile and pass you on but some will talk to you. Not all of them will do what Don did, so it made me very happy I was able to actually talk to him. With him passing away 6 weeks later it's a memory that I will always cherish. When I was in Toronto for the 2000 All Star Game Darryl Sittler did something similar when the Show manager standing by him asked me who #29 was on the back of my Jersey. Darryl said Felix Potvin (I smiled) and then Darryl talked to me for a few minutes when I got his Autograph. That was very special too being able to talk to one of the great former Leafs players.

[Barilko]

I think the only true sports hero of mine who has passed away is Gary Carter. I was a huge Expos fan while they existed, and Carter was their first bona fide superstar that came up through their system. He was the best catcher of his era, his talent for gunning down base stealers was among the best ever, and he always maintained a youthful exuberance about him. I had a chance to meet him in 1980 at an autograph signing, good guy. My love for the Expos started to erode the day they traded him; despite having other great talents come along later, they were never the same to me after that trade.

I was saddened when he passed away. The world lost a world class human being that day.