Miles Simon: Simon Says Championship

Miles Simon and Mike Bibby comprised a backcourt that led the Arizona Wildcats to the national title in 1997 over a stacked Kentucky team...this brought head coach Lute Olsen his long overdue national title...

Simon walked away with the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament...he returned for his senior season and was named First Team All-Amerocan...the fame of that tournament did not translate into an NBA career as he played briefly for the Orland Magic and made almost $700,000 during his stay in the league...

Simon managed to carve a niche for himself in the CBA as he became the league's most decorated player in 2002...he led the Dakota Wizards to the title and earned Player of the Week four times, CBA Newcomer of the Year, the CBA MVP, and the Play-off MVP...he also holds the CBA record for most free throws made in a row at 60...

His time in the CBA lasted just three years...with his playing career over, Simon was named an assistant coach at his alma mater...Simon served as an assistant until 2008...

Simon is now a television analyst for Fox Sports Net...as a sidenote, Simon's brother-in-law is Darryl Strawberry...

Bobby Hurley: the toughest true point guard

I'm 41-years-old and the best pure point guard that I have ever seen in college basketball was Duke's Bobby Hurley...Hurley was not flashy, but he was so consistent and determined...he is still the NCAA all-time leader in assists with 1,076...

Hurley was the engineer of Duke's back-to-back national titles in 1991 and 1992...in his four years at Duke, he led the Blue Devils to three NCAA Championship Games...Hurley was the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament in 1992 when Duke beat Michigan in the title game...his Duke jersey number 11 was retired in 1993...in 2002, Hurley was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history...

His NBA career was cut short after a near fatal car accident in 1993 during his rookie season with the Sacramento Kings...

Currently, Hurley is involved in the thoroughbred horse racing business...his stable, called Devil Eleven (named after his uniform number) had a horse, Songandaprayer, who won the 2001 Fountain of Youth Stakes...

In 2009, Hurley was interviewed by the Raleigh News Observer...he had this to say about his thoroughbred business, "It’s exciting. It gave me a way, when the basketball career ended, to still stay in sports competitively. With the races, I get into it when my horses are running, wherever they are. ... You get sort of those same feelings in the pit of your stomach for the races that you do for basketball. The down side is you have very little control over what’s going to happen in a race. It’s up to the jockey and the horse." ...

The worst team ever: 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers

The New Jersey Nets may set the record as the worst NBA team, record-wise, in the history of the league...the record they may break belongs to the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers who posted a 9-73 mark...Fred Carter (photo) was named the team MVP...

Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News has this interesting story about that 76ers team...1972-73 Philadelpia 76ers

Glen Rice: the leader of Michigan's miracle run

Just before the 1989 NCAA Tournament was to start, Michigan Athletic Director Bo Schembechler fired head basketball coach Bill Frieder after Schembechler found out that Frieder already accepted the job to coach Arizona State the following season...Schembechler wanted a "Michigan Man" to coach a Michigan team, so assistant coach Steve Fisher stepped in...and amazingly, the Wolverines won 6 straight games to win the national title...

The Wolverines top player was Glen Rice...during the six game run, Rice scored 184 points, a record that still stands, which earned him the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament...

Rice finished his college career as Michigan's all-time leading scorer with 2,442 points...at the time, he also became the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer...

Rice played for 6 NBA teams but is best remembered for his days with the Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets, and Los Angeles Lakers...

Rice's son currently plays for Georgia Tech and wears number 41, the same number as his father...

In January 2008, Rice was arrested in Miami on suspicion of felony battery for allegedly assaulting a man that he found hiding in his estranged wife's closet...the charges were later dropped...

Michael Graham: Georgetown's enforcer

There may never have been a player with so much talent who performed so big in such a short amount of time than former Georgetown Hoya Michael Graham...Graham set the tone for the Hoyas to capture the 1984 national title with his animalistic offense and elbow flying rebounds...he was the epitome of Hoya Paranoia...

The Georgetown Basketball History Project website best describes Graham's play during the late season in 1984:

Graham's college statistics were not the stuff of legend: in his first 11 Big East games, Graham averaged 2.9 points and just over one rebound per game. Graham scored 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench in the season finale against Syracuse, but scored only one basket in the next two games, both of which were in the early rounds of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden. The conference final, on March 9, 1984, began the Michael Graham legend.

He only played seven minutes in the game, failing to score a field goal. But down the stretch, with Patrick Ewing in foul trouble and Syracuse seeking to put the favored Hoyas away, Thompson saw how Graham had handled himself in the season finale with the Orangemen and placed him down low to protect Ewing from a fifth foul. Graham stepped it up defensively, bottling up Andre Hawkins and, in one memorable exchange, with the two tangled under the basket, Graham took a wild swing at him. Immediately ejected by one official, the referees conferred and issued a personal foul instead--other than the Manley finale, few plays still arouse such anger from Orange fans. Graham stayed in the game (ironically, it was his only foul of the game), but the Hoyas caught a second wind, got the game into overtime, and pulled away in a classic, 82-71.

The national spotlight fell squarely upon Graham, whose shaved head became a symbol of Georgetown's take-no-prisoners persona. By month's end, his 22 points and 11 rebounds in the NCAA Final Four won him All-Tournament honors. His 7 for 9 shooting against Houston helped the Hoyas while Patrick Ewing was in foul trouble, and Graham's late dunk sealed the game with just over two minutes remaining. The following week, it was Michael Graham, not Patrick Ewing or John Thompson, on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

With Patrick Ewing coming back for his senior season, the future looked endless for Graham to build on his post-season success...but the sudden fame went to his bald head as he missed taking final exam...eventually coach John Thompson got tired of Graham's act and threw him off the team for the 1985 season...Graham eventually transferred to the University of District of Columbia but never played a game there...he entered the NBA draft and was selected by Seattle in the 4th round...but Graham never played a minute in the NBA...he bounced around in European and South American leagues and eventually just faded away...

In 2005, Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl found Graham...Graham had fond memories of that national championship season with Georgetown and still considered himself a Hoya - for life...but he wondered how many titles Georgetown could have won if he stayed on the team...would Villanova had beaten the Hoyas in that epic 1985 title game if Graham was on the team...

No one will ever know...but what is known, Graham played a major role in Georgetown securing its only national title during a four week run that started in the Big East tournament...

Jerry Tarkanian: the NCAA's least favorite coach

Throughout the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, it was a common site during tournament time to see a balding coach with hush puppy dog eyes in a short sleeved shirt and loosened necktie chewing on a towel...it was the one and only Jerry Tarkanian of UNLV...

During his career, Tark took four teams to the Final Four and 13 teams to the Sweet 16 but his name was always surrounded by controversy and NCAA investigations...for some he was "what was wrong with college basketball"...for others, like me, I cheered for Tark...one of Tark's biggest supporters is former coach Bob Knight...

In 1990, Tark finally broke through with a most deserving national title...after 22 years as a head coach, Tarkanian was finally a national champ as his Rebels thrashed Duke 103-73 in the finals...the Rebels finished the season 35-5...

Even though they were sure fired NBA lottery picks, All-Americans Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon both returned for their senior season in a attempt to win back-to-back titles...with an impending NCAA probation facing the Rebels in 1991, in an uprecidented move, the NCAA agreed to a compromise which allowed UNLV to defend its title, but would see the Rebels banned from the 1992 tourney...

Johnson and Augmon's decision almost paid off as the Rebels went 34-0 before Duke got revenge on them from the previous year's shalacking...led by Bobby Hurley and Christian Laettner, Duke burst Tark's bubble of a perfrect season by winning 79-77 in the semi-finals...that would be the last time Tark would be on center stage in The Big Dance...Tark would coach the Rebels to a 26-2 mark in 1992 but was forced to resign amid all the NCAA problems...

Years later, Tark sued the NCAA, claiming it had harassed him for over two decades...he stated the harassment started after he wrote a newspaper column alleging that the NCAA was more willing to punish less-prominent schools than big-name schools...the NCAA never admitted guilt but settled out of court by paying Tark $2.5 million...

Tarkanian is married to Las Vegas city councilwoman Lois Tarkanian...his son Danny, is currently seeking the U.S. Senate seat held by Majority leader Harry Reid...Tark's granddaughter Dannielle Diamant plays for the Northwestern women's basketball team...

Tark also started a basketball school in Las Vegas, named The Tarkanian Basketball Academy...its mission is to provide opportunities for youth to develop leadership skills, work ethic, commitment, honesty and integrity through sport...it works with kids from kindergarten to 12th grade...

Jimmy Black: The 5th man on Carolina's title team

In 1982, North Carolina's Dean Smith finally won his first national title in a thrilling one-point win over Georgetown...the Tar Heels starting five was comprised of a freshman named Michael Jordan, two All-Americans in James Worthy and Sam Perkins, a blue-collor forward who later coached the Tar Heels in Matt Doherty...but most people forget the fifth member of this squad...the kid was point guard Jimmy Black (number 21 in above photo)...

People remember Jordan's game winning shot, but don't realize that Black was the player who got the assist on that play...

Black is now a financial advisor for Raymond James Financial Services...he also penned a book "Jimmy Black's Tales from the Tar Heels" along with Scott Fowler...

New York City to host NFL biggest game?

The New York Daily News has a feature in Sunday's paper about the chance of New York City hosting a Super Bowl at the new football stadium...New York to host Super Bowl?

Greg Kelser: the forgotten All-American from Michigan State

The 1979 NCAA Basketball Championship is most remembered for the match-up between Larry Bird of Indiana State and Earvin "Magic" Johnson of Michigan State...but the one player often overlooked in this game was Michigan State's Greg Kelser...

He was the first Big Ten player to ever score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds in a career...he was an All-American both athletically and academically...

After college, Kelser was drafted 4th overall by the hometown Detroit Pistons who were coached by some guy named Dick Vitale...Kelser's stay in Detroit was short as he was traded two years later to the Seattle Supersonics for the Microwave - Vinnie Johnson...Kelser completed his NBA career with the Indiana Pacers...

Since leaving the NBA, Kelser has worked as a sports announcer and/or commentator on radio and television...he is the commentator for Detroit Pistons games on Fox Sports Detroit...

Butch Lee: The man who helped make McGuire cry

Most remember the 1977 NCAA Championship for the moment of Al McGuire winning the national title over North Carolina in his last game as head coach...but many forget that a Puerto Rican kid named "Butch" Lee was the reason behind sending McGuire out as a champion...as the clock ticked away in the final seconds, McGuire broke down in tears...

In the title game, Lee scored 19 points and was named Most Outstanding Player as the Warriors beat Carolina 67-59...

Lee was drafted in the first round of the 1978 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks...he became the first Puerto Rican-born player to play in the NBA...Lee's NBA career was cut short because of injuries...he lasted four years in the league, but managed to win a championship ring as part of the Los Angeles Lakers 1980 title run...

After his playing career, Lee returned to Puerto Rico and became a head basketball coach...as of 2004, he was still a coach in Puerto Rico's professional basketball league...

Purdue Pete: his days are numbered

Dan McFeely of the Indianapolis Star reported last week that Purdue Pete - the mascot of the Purdue Boilermakers will soon be gone in order to make way for a more fan friendly looking mascot...

Purdue Director of Athletics Morgan Burke said that he gets numerous calls about Purdue Pete scaring young children...

The 70-year-old mascot last got a makeover about 30 years ago...many of the Purdue faithful are upset about the soon-to-be change of Pete...some are afraid that the new mascot will be "too cute" instead of fierce and rugged...

What should the Cleveland Browns do at quarterback?

The Cleveland Browns have a new era again...new team president Mike Holmgren stated this past weekend that there will not be a quarterback competition in training camp this year and that Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson will be gone by the time July rolls around...

There has also been talk that Holmgren may make a trade for a veteran quarterback who can step in right away...the name bantered around is Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb...

So what should the Browns do?...who should be their starter next season -- Quinn or Anderson...or should the Browns give up a second round pick for McNabb...your thoughts???

Bruno Sammartino to be honored

Robert Dvorchak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes how Pittsburgh is set to honor native son and former pro wrestling great Bruno Sammartino at 2010 Dapper Dan Banquet... "Bruno Sammartino attended his first Dapper Dan banquet in 1963, but even though his nickname is "Living Legend," he was recently thinking of giving up his seat on the dais." ...

Robert Dvorchak

Rocky Top is still an elite job

When did the head football coaching position at the University of Tennessee become a second rate job?...if Lane Kiffin did not bolt, I believe the Volunteers would have been back in the elite of the SEC...the Tennessee football program has fallen on hard times of late, but the right coach can easily turn this program back into a Top 10 team year-in and year-out...before Urban Meyer came to Florida, the Gators were struggling under Ron Zook...

The one advantage Tennessee has is that the entire state supports the football program...the athletic department has no problem spending money to upgrade the football facilities...hopefully the Vols can get back to where they were a few years ago...and it would be really nice if the Tennessee could some how get matched up against USC in a bowl game real soon...

Serious question - what is the official mascot of Geico Insurance?...is it the gecko, the caveman, or that bundle of money with eyes?...

Over the last two weekends a total of 8 NFL playoffs games were held and only one game was still undecided when the fourth quarter began...

Overall this has not been an exciting NFL season...the last two weeks of the regular season saw the Colts purposely tank two games to end any chance at a 16-0 mark while other numerous playoff teams also sat their starters...week 17 saw the Cowboys and Jets shutout their opponents...and the playoffs have been just awful...

Will Al Davis make a decision and either fire or keep Tom Cable as head coach of the Oakland Raiders...Davis is starting to act like Brett Favre in not being able to make a decision...

Tim Griffin of ESPN.com ranked the top 10 college football coaching jobs...here was his list:
1. Texas: It’s got it all -- facilities, support, tradition and located within a rich recruiting base. Mack Brown has made this the nation’s best job. Muschamp would be crazy to skedaddle to Rocky Top and leave this behind.

2. Florida: Recruiting might be better than Texas and the location provides a beach lifestyle. The only trouble with this job, compared to Texas, is that Florida’s place in the SEC is a little more tenuous than Texas’ place in the Big 12.

3. Ohio State: Tradition, facilities and an unmatched place in the pecking order of the Big Ten. Some coaches would love the weather in Columbus, while snowbirds might see it lacking compared to places like those at the top..

4. USC: “Tailback U” has returned to the top thanks to Pete Carroll’s transformation. This is the football team for a southern California without an NFL franchise.

5. Alabama: Still wondering why Dennis Franchione left Alabama for Texas A&M. Another stadium expansion after this season’s national championship has made this a job that Nick Saban would willingly leave one of the NFL’s flagship franchises to return to. Considering his college allegiance, he’s a smart man.

6. Oklahoma: Bob Stoops might have the best setup in coaching considering he’s working for Joe Castiglione and David Boren. Recruiting will always be a matter of plucking Texas players and Stoops has done a marvelous job at that over the years.

7. Penn State: It will be interesting to see who follows Joe Paterno when he finally decides to hang up his whistle. This is one of the Big Ten’s best jobs with facilities and history to match. It might be daunting to follow Paterno, however.

8. Notre Dame: Still has the attention of NBC and the tradition of college football’s most storied program. Can they find the right coach to return Notre Dame to its place of dominance?

9. LSU: There’s a reason why Les Miles decided to stay here rather than pursue the Michigan job. Rabid talent base and SEC television money make this one special. And you can eat good crawfish any time you want.

10. Nebraska: The only drawback for this job is its lack of a fertile home recruiting area. But other than that, this job has got it all including one of the nation’s most knowledgeable fan bases. It’s the biggest unifier for the entire state as college football is clearly king here.

It is sad to see Michigan and Tennessee off the list...but if this list was done a few years back, it is doubtful that Nebraska and Alabama would have made the top 10...

Roxxxy the Robot - the world's first sex robot

Hey fellas, it's time to throw out all the blow-up dolls...fake sex has gotten a bit more real with Roxxxy the Robot...below is the story that ran earlier this week:

LAS VEGAS – A New Jersey company says it has developed "the world's first sex robot," a life-size rubber doll that's designed to engage the owner with conversation rather than lifelike movement.

At a demonstration at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas on Saturday, the dark-haired, negligee-clad robot said "I love holding hands with you" when it sensed that its creator touched its hand.

Another action, this one unprintable, elicited a different vocal response from Roxxxy the robot. The level of sophistication demonstrated was not beyond that of a child's talking toy, but Roxxxy has a lot more brains than that — there's a laptop connected to cables coming out of its back. It has touch sensors at strategic locations and can sense when it's being moved. But it can't move on its own, not even to turn its head or move its lips. The sound comes out of an internal loudspeaker.

Douglas Hines, founder of Lincoln Park, N.J.-based True Companion LLC, said Roxxxy can carry on simple conversations. The real aim, he said, is to make the doll someone the owner can talk to and relate to.

"Sex only goes so far — then you want to be able to talk to the person," Hines said.

The phrases that were demonstrated were prerecorded, but the robot will also be able to synthesize phrases out of prerecorded words and sounds, Hines said. The laptop will receive updates over the Internet to expand the robot's capabilities and vocabulary. Since Hines is a soccer fan, it can already discuss Manchester United, he said. It snores, too.

Owners will also be able to select different personalities for Roxxxy, from "Wild Wendy" to "Frigid Farrah," Hines said. He's charging somewhere from $7,000 to $9,000 for the robot, including the laptop, and expects to start shipping in a few months.

A Japanese company, Honey Dolls, makes life-size sex dolls that can play recorded sounds, but Roxxxy's sensors and speech capabilities appear to be more sophisticated. Hines' goals are certainly more far-reaching.

An engineer, Hines said he was inspired to create the robot after a friend died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. That got him thinking about preserving his friend's personality, to give his children a chance to interact with him as they're growing up. Looking around for commercial applications for artificial personalities, he initially thought he might create a home health care aide for the elderly.

"But there was tremendous regulatory and bureaucratic paperwork to get through. We were stuck," Hines said. "So I looked at other markets."

The broader goal of the company is still to take artificial personalities into the mainstream, beyond sex toys, Hines said.

"The sex robot thing is marketing — it's really about making a companion," he said.

In a 2007 book, "Love and Sex with Robots," British chess player and artificial intelligence expert David Levy argues that robots will become significant sexual partners for humans, answering needs that other people are unable or unwilling to satisfy.

The pain of the NFL

Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN.com wrote an intersting story about how NFL players play with pain... "Birk pops one elbow, then the other, and fans his legs until his pelvic bone makes a cracking noise. He takes a couple of deep breaths, and his feet hit the floor. The first few steps are similar to tiptoeing through hot coals. But it'll get better; it always gets better once he makes it to the bottom of the staircase. It's Monday, and time to start another week in the NFL. ...

Elizabeth Merrill

Random Thoughts

- After reading Bill Plaschke's column in the Los Angeles Times, it is not surprising that Pete Carroll is leaving USC...I never knew that athletic director Mike Garrett and Carroll did not get along...

- One name mentioned for the USC job that was very intriguing was Herm Edwards...Edwards did not make it in the NFL, but I could see him being a very good college coach with all his energy...

- Gilbert Arenas is a jerk...what as he thinking when he brought a handgun into the locker...that is his workplace -- that would be like me taking a gun to work...Arenas' jersey number, zero, matches his smarts...

- Did you know that Doc Rivers, head coach of the Boston Celtics, is currently the longest tenured coach with one team...

- NBC should have hired Charles Barkley to be the color analyst for the Bengals-Jets game instead of Joe Thiesmann and Joe Gibbs...Barkley would have made it interesting, afterall, the game sucked...

- What a shocking poor start for Tom Brady on Sunday...I'm not saying the Patriots are getting rid of Brady, but I wonder if Bill Belichick will be looking for a young quarterback late in the draft this year...

- Whatever happened to Drew Bledsoe?...

- Did you see Wes Welker sitting in the owner's box drinking beer...

- I wonder what Joe Buck thought about Artie Lange trying to kill himself...Lange allegedly stabbed himself nine times in a suicide attempt...

Ndamukong Suh tops the NFL Draft list

With only a few games left in the college football season, Mel Kiper has released his Top 25 Big Board for the NFL Draft...this was as of December 31:

1. Ndamukong Suh, dt, Nebraska
2. Gerald McCoy, dt, Oklahoma
3. Eric Berry, db, Tennessee
4. Jimmy Clausen, qb, Notre Dame
5. Sam Bradford, qb, Oklahoma

6. Russell Okung, ot, Oklahoma State
7. Joe Haden, cb, Florida
8. Derrick Morgan, de, Georgia Tech
9. Dez Bryant, wr, Oklahoma State
10. Brian Price, dt, UCLA

11. Rolando McClain, lb, Alabama
12. Jason Pierre-Paul, de, South Florida
13. Taylor Mays, s, Southern Cal
14. C.J. Spiller, rb, Clemson (photo)
15. Anthony Davis, ot, Rutgers

16. Everson Griffen, de, Southern Cal
17. Carlos Dunlap, de, Florida
18. Dan Williams, dt, Tennessee
19. Aaron Hernandez, te, Florida
20. Brandon Graham, de/lb, Michigan (photo)

21. Sergio Kindle, lb, Texas
22. Jermaine Gresham, te, Oklahoma
23. Jerry Hughes, de, TCU
24. Sean Witherspoon, lb, Missouri
25. Patrick Robinson, cb, Florida State

Theo Kojak - One badass!!!!

During the Christmas break I brought out my DVD set of Kojak: Season 1...for all the young people, Kojak was the baddest ass out there in the 1970s...Telly Savalas starred as Theo Kojak...

"Kojak" was a one hour drama that ran from 1973-78...the storyline was set in New York City's 13th Precinct with Savalas playing the lead of Lt. Theo Kojak...Kojak was a tough, bald cop who ate lollipops and always said, "Who loves ya, baby?"...Savalas, who was Greek, often slipped in pieces of Greek heritage during the show...

Savalas' real-life brother George Savalas, who originally used the name Demosthenes, played the role of Detectives Stavros...also starring were Dan Frazer as Capt. Frank McNeil; Kevin Dobson as Det. Bobby Crocker, Mark Russell as Det. Saperstein; and Vince Conti as Det. Rizzo...

If you watched the shows closesly, there were always small bits of odd humor...I remember one show where Kojak was sitting at his desk reading a book about bugs...most people would not find humor in that, but I thought it was great...

Below is the 50 second clip of the opening theme...at the 21 second mark, I always loved how Kojak was running down the street and did this double look before pulling his gun...like I said earlier, Kojak was a bad ass!!!...

Dick "Zippy" Zunt: former Plain Dealer sports reporter dies

Former (Cleveland) Plain Dealer sports reporter Dick Zunt died on Saturday of cancer at the age of 78...Zunt, who was known as Zippy, covered Cleveland area high school sports for years...below is a column by Terry Pluto about Zunt:

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The first time I met Dick Zunt, it was on the phone. I was 16, calling in a Benedictine High school football score to The Plain Dealer.

Yes, I met Dick on the phone, because he did more than take the facts of the game. He asked about me, about the Bengal football team of 1971, and then he made a big deal of thanking me for calling him.

Whenever I called in another game and got Dick on the phone, he acted as if we were old friends, peers in the newspaper business. As former Plain Dealer writer Dan Coughlin said, "Dick shook more hands and made more friends for the Plain Dealer than any other reporter."

Coughlin also said Zunt was known to add a few extra bucks to the $2 a game that high school correspondents received. I know that's true, because I got a little of that bonus money during the two years that I reported games to the paper.

Zunt died from cancer at age 78 early Saturday morning. His full-time career at The Plain Dealer spanned 1957-63 and 1964-2001. He called The Plain Dealer with news items beginning in the early 50's.

From beginning to end, it was always about high school sports for the man called "Zip" or "Zippy" by his friends.

"He had no desire to do anything else," said Coughlin, who joined the PD staff in 1964 with Zunt. They covered high school sports together, along with Ed Chay.

Some writers view covering high schools as the damp, dark dungeon of the sports department. To Zunt, it was the penthouse. Every day there was a high school story to cover was a great day for him.

"He had great respect for high school sports," said PD reporter Mike Peticca. "That rubbed off on all of us who worked with him."

This man went to events on his days off. Coughlin said Zunt attended 50 consecutive Mansfield Relays, as track was perhaps his favorite sport. He was a runner at St. Ignatius in the late 1940s.

Coughlin added, "And for the last 40 years, he took up the collection at the noon Mass at St. Patrick's." Or as St. Ignatius football coach Chuck Kyle recalled, "It seemed like there were two Dick Zunts, because he was everywhere."

"High schools were the ultimate job to him," said PD executive sports editor Roy Hewitt. "He never acted like he was having a bad day."

"For eight years, I was a high school writer at the [Cleveland] Press and competed with Dick," said Tim Rogers, now with the PD. "When I went to an event with Dick, he always tried to help me. He introduced me to all the right people. He didn't have to do that, but Dick couldn't help himself."

Zunt's greatest fear was letting others down. The one thing he hated about covering a high school game is that one team had to lose.

"He was so understanding when you got beat," said Strongsville's Joe Lynch, who has been a basketball coach at various area high schools since 1968. Lynch said Zunt "never" second-guessed coaches, and "always praised your effort when you lost."

Or as Bishop Roger Gries, who visited Zunt this week said, "His stories were never about him, they were about the coaches and kids."

Some write for attention and awards, Zunt wrote for scrapbooks. He knew that it was a big deal for a kid to have his name in the paper, so he made sure lots of names appeared in his stories.

"He just had a rosy outlook," said Peticca. "He was excited to be with people, and wanted everyone to feel special."

Coughlin said former Plain Dealer copy editor Chuck Murr told a story about how Zunt would call the office to dictate a story. As he began to say that Cleveland Heights beat a certain team, he was stopping every few sentences to say hello or talk to people who were walking by as he was on the phone.

"Hey, Jim, nice shot there ..." Zunt would say, then returning to Murr with his account of the game.

"He had the longest good-byes," recalled Wally Mieskoski, who worked with Zunt at the PD. "He just wanted to keep talking to you."

Rogers said it would take at least 20 minutes to walk out of a high school gym with Zunt after a game: "That's because he had to say goodbye to every coach, player, parent, usher and janitor that he saw."

For Dick Zunt, this is the final goodbye. But so many people will always remember the first time that he said hello – and for that, the family and friends of Dick Zunt are blessed.