Just heard that he passed away last night at the age of 89

He was a classy man as a coach and commentator.

Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay dies

Loved listening to this guy. I'm going to miss him.

Loved listening to this guy. I'm going to miss him.

If you haven't read the ESPN article on him (done by his son, which you can get to from SI link posted above), it is pretty amazing, and not too long. I've heard Lionel Hollins talk about how disciplined Ramsey was, but to read about some of the stuff is pretty inspirational.

quote:

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My dad had drive, incredible determination and discipline. He was raised by his mom and three older sisters. He turned himself into a local basketball star and earned a scholarship to St. Joe's.

He entered the Navy as soon as he was old enough and became a frogman during World War II. He trained for the invasion of Japan, but the war ended before he would see any action. When he was 21, the Navy had made him captain of a supply ship that patrolled the Pacific Ocean around the Marshall Islands. Twenty-one and a captain in the U.S. Navy.

He wrote a thesis to earn his Ph.D. and coached a team in the Final Four with five kids under the age of 12 in the house.

He rode his bike halfway across America in a week. He taught himself how to surf and became pretty good at it. He was a world-class triathlete at age 70. One summer he worked on his golf game, then went out and won the men's championship at the club.

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And this one hit a little too close to home.

quote:

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For 10 years, he cared for her as she got lost in the Alzheimer's maze. He was really sweet with her. She didn't know who he was most of the time, but he held her hand when she was scared and fed her and tried to ease her through the confusion for days and months and years. It was hard, but he did it. And he did it for a long, long time.

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http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10851183/dr-jack-ramsay-father-friend

[This message has been edited by Iowaggie (edited 4/29/2014 11:35a).]

one of the best

Thanks for posting that story. I had no idea. What I really liked about him was that he did his job without gimmicks. It was just straight up basketball knowledge. You could have grown up playing and watching the game and learned something just by hearing him call a game.

[This message has been edited by Jacques (edited 4/30/2014 1:35a).]