He Was More than We Thought He Was
He Was More than We Thought He Was
No one is immune to death. I once heard someone say that the only thing you know for sure about life is that you won’t make it out alive. Ben Franklin famously said that the only two guarantees in life are death and taxes.
Recently I mourned the loss of three people in the span of a week. My wife says that these things happen in threes, and this was no exception. The first was my mom’s best friend’s husband, someone I’ve been close to for over 30 years. He was one of my biggest fans and strongest supporters, encouraging me through all of my life’s endeavors, especially in the musical world.[1] Three days later, a former neighbor of mine suddenly died due to complications from back surgery. He was a long-time police officer and a genuinely nice guy. The third was a longtime friend who had been a fellow camp counselor. The cabins at this particular camp are duplexes – she was always in the cabin next door to my wife. We both were in tremendous shock from this one, because we had only found out less than a month before that she had cancer. So, needless to say, my heart has been heavy.
It has also been heavy due to the deaths of certain people in the sports world – people whom I never met, but still knew in a way.[2] These also stung, but for a different reason. These also had a shock to them. Obviously, it is sad anytime someone passes on, but sometimes I think that we feel that our sports stars and pundits are immortal. That is, until someone actually does pass away. Earlier this year, the baseball world mourned the loss of Joe Garagiola, one of the all-time good guys of the game, who announced many baseball games, including several classics. The Nebraska football family recently mourned the death of their starting punter due to a car crash, one that also took the life of a recent Michigan State placekicker.
Remember how I said these things happen in threes? Well, there were three in the sports world recently for me as well. I actually shed tears over all three of these. The first was Dennis Green. The second was Zach Hemmila, a redshirt senior who was going to be the starting center for my alma mater, the University of Arizona. The third was John Saunders, who worked for many years at ESPN and ABC and was loved by just about everyone who worked with him.
I was especially hit hard by the sudden death of Dennis Green, one of my all-time favorite football coaches. I absolutely loved that guy. He was an assistant coach under Bill Walsh with the Joe Montana-era 49ers, and he was also the head coach for Northwestern, Stanford, the Minnesota Vikings, and my beloved Arizona Cardinals. He was an outstanding coach, and from what I’ve heard from several sources, an outstanding man. Larry Fitzgerald worked for him as a ballboy during his tenure with the Vikings, and later on, while serving as coach and general manager of the Cardinals, Green drafted Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s fondness for Green was reflected in Fitz’s moving tribute piece on The Player’s Tribune.
Green’s record as Cardinals coach was not good – his winning percentage was .333, after all – but that team was a mess when he got here.[3] While here, he laid the groundwork for the team’s current success. In that same draft where he drafted Fitzgerald, he also drafted linebacker Karlos Dansby, defensive tackle Darnell Dockett, and defensive end Antonio Smith. These three, plus Fitz, were all key players on the Super Bowl team. Had Green not been fired, he easily could have coached in the Super Bowl with the Cardinals.[4]
Green’s biggest claim to fame with many was his epic rant after the Cards’ 2006 Monday night collapse against the Bears. It’s known to many as the “They WERE who we THOUGHT they were!!!!” incident.[5] We all knew that night that it would become as iconic as Jim Mora’s “Playoffs?!?” escapade and Allen Iverson’s “Practice” tirade, but Green’s explosion went deeper. It summed up the frustrations of an entire fanbase – one that had been kicked in the stomach for almost two decades.[6] Many made fun of him – and he was a GREAT sport about it afterwards – but I loved him more for it. I was glad that my team had a coach who cared so much.
But Green himself was more than what many people thought he was. He turned the Vikings into a perennial playoff team, making two NFC Championship Game appearances. He started a grand turnaround of a perennial doormat in Arizona. He greatly impacted players’ lives, as evidenced by the outpouring of grief on Twitter from his former players. And he was a tremendous judge of talent.[7] His passing has left a hole in the hearts of the league, and he will be sorely missed. Coach, from the bottom of a Cardinal fan’s broken heart, thanks for everything, and may you rest in peace.
[1] He was the band and orchestra director at a junior college for many years. He also was an outstanding clarinetist.
[2] That’s one crazy thing about the public’s relationship with celebrities. We feel like we know them because we see them so much, yet we don’t know them at all…we just know their on-screen personality. And they certainly don’t know us.
[3] Keep in mind that NFL teams rarely (if ever) have a quick turnaround. There are simply too many players on the roster. Most of the time, turnarounds take three years or longer. That’s a big reason why I think it’s (usually) dumb to fire a head coach after less than five years at the helm.
[4] Unfortunately, he never appeared in a Super Bowl as a head coach. It’s a real shame, because Ken Whisenhunt – the Cards’ head coach in Super Bowl XLIII, is now widely regarded as one of the NFL’s worst.
[5] Yes, it’s easy to find on YouTube. I’ve watched it dozens of times and have never grown tired of it.
[6] Now, it’s the most consistently successful franchise in Arizona.
[7] The four guys in the 2004 draft that I mentioned not only helped the Cards to their only Super Bowl berth, but also played in the league for 11 seasons or more. Of the four, Dockett is the only one who isn’t playing anymore. Their resumes: Dockett made the Pro Bowl three times, Smith just won the Super Bowl with the Broncos, Dansby made second team All Pro in 2013, and Fitzgerald is one of the top receivers ever and a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.
