RIP Jack Kemp

A nice tribute from Gregg Easterbrook:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/090502

 

He was, Fen. He truly was.

Because the news broke at such a late hour, today's BN is probably the true keepsake. (Too bad they no longer sell it south of the state line except on Sundays ...)
A-1, plus a story and column in sports:


Jack Kemp remembered as 'the eternal optimist'
Kemp was a born leader for Bills
Kemp name forever etched in Bills lore

A few different anecdotes, from a friend's blog: Kemp was the mouse that roared

 

Larry Felser's column from today's paper:

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/661446.html

 

Larry can still bring it. Straightforward, articulate writing without a lot of self-congratulatory fluff and adjectives that clutter up sentences. Still putting that Canisius education to good use.

 

Not too long ago, I was feeling nostalgic, so I dug out the sports section from the day following the Comeback game. (Yes, non-Buffalonians, that is capitalized.) Felser had the column to go with beat writer Vic Carucci's gamer, and oh yeah, there was a Sabres story from Jim Kelley below the fold. Damn, that paper was good.

 

From Fenian's post:

"Dear Kemp grandchildren -- all 17 of you, spread out from the East Coast to the West Coast, and from Wheaton College in Illinois, to Wake Forest University in North Carolina:

My first thought last week upon learning that a 47-year-old African-American Democrat had won the presidency was, "Is this a great country or not?"

You may have expected your grandfather to be disappointed that his friend John McCain lost (and I was), but there's a difference between disappointment over a lost election and the historical perspective of a monumental event in the life of our nation."


RIP Mr. Kemp. You'll be missed.

 

I've always had mixed emotions about Jack Kemp because despite throwing himself into the silly Laffer cult, he was a good, decent and charming man. He was a leader among the AFL players in the '60s and took principled stands on behalf of black players, including leading a protest in which the all-star game was moved from New Orleans to Houston because of the treatment black players received in New Orleans.

I worked as a part-timer at the NFL office during college and he was a frequent visitor (always causing much swooning by the women who worked in the office). One summer, Pete Rozelle had a party at his Westchester home preceded by a softball game between the office team and Rozelle's "all-stars." I homered off of both Rozelle and Kemp and made a diving catch in the outfield that morning and it brought about a conversation later in the day that I'll never forget. And I always got a kick out of the fact that he remembered me in subsequent visits to the office.

RIP, Jack.

 

Very cool. Thanks for sharing Cran.

 

I've got the TV on in the background and wasn't paying attention.

I had to look up because the voice sounded a hell of a lot like Jack Kemp's. It was Senator Sherrod Brown -- very similar voice.

 

Wow, saw this thread and I thought he died again.

 

That would have been quite a feat.