Bill Walsh

Two huge deaths on the same day. Bill Walsh, a master among coaches. What a long, glorious career he had. A career which will live forever, for all the assistant coaches who worked with him, and since moved on to their own NFL head coaching positions. The number is 6 or 7. From those guys, spawned another group of current NFL coaches. Walsh's legacy is enormous.

I respect him for bringing credibility and Super Bowl championships to the team I worshipped as a kid, the San Francisco 49ers. A team which had been mired in mediocrity for decades. I became a fan in the 50's: Y A Tittle, Hugh McElhenney, Gordie Soltau. Before Walsh joined the Niners, he accomplished many of the same things while working for Stanford... another team I grew up with. He wasn't with Stanford for very long, but he left an indelible mark on their football program. He returned to the position of Athletic Director for a couple of years in 2004. My mother thought the world of him, probably for the same reasons I've listed.

Leukemia is taking a lot of the good people, it seems.