DICK ENBERG: ANOTHER LEGEND HAS LEFT US

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It's always sad when a person passes away around the holiday season.  That person is usually attached to a family that loves them very much. In this situation, the sports community is equally stunned because Dick Enberg was one of the best.  And now... he's gone.

The LA Times writes this, and offers such emotion and color about his final days:

(Sean M. Haffey U-T San Diego)

"He had a bad cold and his voice, what was left of it, was croaky and raw. This was his fourth NCAA basketball tournament game in two days, and Dick Enberg didn’t think he could finish it. That had never happened before, but it was happening now.

So, during a commercial break, Enberg turned to his broadcast partner Al McGuire and asked the former Marquette coach, who had never done play-by-play, to take over.

Shaking his head, McGuire said, “Dicksie, if you’re goin’, I’m goin’.” So, of course, Enberg carried on, whispering his way to the finish in true the-show-must-go-on fashion.

Enberg, who got into the broadcast business accidentally and stayed in it to supplement his teacher’s salary, died Thursday morning at his La Jolla home, his wife, Barbara, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was 82.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Barbara Enberg said the family found out later in the day when Dick Enberg failed to get off a flight in Boston, where they were scheduled to meet.

She said her husband had appeared to be waiting for a car that was set to shuttle him to the San Diego airport for a 6:30 a.m. flight. 'He was dressed with his bags packed at the door,” she said. “We think it was a heart attack.'”

Worked to death, but doing what he loved. And we in the sports community are saddened by this loss.

Rest in Peace, Friend.