Last
Thursday, the NBA world, the journalism industry and the Turner Sports family
lost the Emmy Award-winning Craig Sager after a brave two-year battle against
acute myeloid leukemia. His two-year battle inspired the sports world and all
of America to be brave and to live life like he did. He was never afraid to be
himself and he was that with his out of this world wardrobe as he was with his
amazing ability to ask tough questions to players and coaches of all pro
sports. That same spirit and respect was on display at his funeral on Tuesday
that featured a lot of laughter and tears.
Among
those in attendance for the late 65-year-old Sager’s funeral at Mount Bethel
United Methodist Church in Marietta, GA were San Antonio Spurs’ head coach; NBA
Commissioner Adam Silver members of the Turner Sports television and NBATV
family family like Reggie Miller, David Aldridge, Marv Albert, Lewis Johnson,
Kevin Harlan, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Mike Fratello and former color
analyst, now with ESPN Hall of Famer Hubie Brown.
Among
those who spoke at the service were Sager’s children Krista, Kacy and Craig
Sager II and his friend since childhood John Clark.
“When
I think of what drew the three of us Craig as kindergarteners is really the
same qualities that enabled each of you to draw to him and consider him your
friend,” Clark said to the audience.
“Simply.
He lived each day as an adventure. In his ESPY speech, Craig said, ‘He chose to
live life. Full of fun. Full of love. The glass was never half empty. Always
half full. That was Sag at age five and at age 65.”
Krista
talked about how her father talked about how each day was not a normal day with
him. That each day and each outfit that he dawned as she said to the audience
was, “absolutely outrageous.”
The
outfit that she wore to the funeral was one that her own dad would be proud of.
It was a jacket with ruffled colors that a certain someone gave to her for
Christmas in 2015.
“It’s
not the normal attire just like Randy and normally not in rainbow colored
French jackets,” she said.
Krista
also said that she will never forget the times that she shared with her father,
like the time when he had the day off and they were both in Miami, FL and on a
whim got on a plane and flew to the Bahamas.
“Didn’t
discuss it. Just went right ahead,” She said. “There was never a plan with dad.
He just wanted to make every single day the best it could possibly be.”
Kacy
talked about how her father was a great dad, but he was an even better wing
man. She described that when she started to date, her go-to first date move was
to ask the guy she was dating to a game with her and Mr. Sager to see if he
could hang.
“My
sophomore year at Georgia Tech, I was dating a football player and we met my
dad at a [Atlanta] Braves’ game,” Kacy said. “He asked him what position he
played and when he told him he was a linebacker my dad asked, ‘Oh. Have you
tackled my daughter yet?’
That
a nice laugh and chuckle from the audience and from that laugh, they knew that
answer was Sager in every sense of the word.
Craig
II, who the whole country saw when he interviewed Popovich in Game 1 of the
opening round of the NBA playoffs versus the Dallas Mavericks a couple of years
ago also expressed his feelings about his father.
“We’re
so proud of him and our incredible life together will always be our life
story,” Sager II said. “So I will never forget that you never gave in. We will
continue making the most out of life as our lives demand the most out of us. We
will live our lives full of love and full of fun. It’s the only way we know
how. Thank you dad and go Cubs!”
To
put the last part of what Sager, Jr. said about his father into perspective, at
the end of the procession, they played ,”Go Cubs. Go!”
The
great measure of a person’s life is how they are remembered when they pass on.
Craig Sager, Sr. was more than just a great sideline reporter for Turner
Sports. He was more than just an amazing father to his five kids. More than an
amazing husband to his wife Stacey. Craig Sager was a gentleman who always took
life by the horns. He was great at his job. He had the respect of those that he
interviewed, worked with and competed against when interviewing players at the
end of games in the locker room.
When
he was at Northwestern, he was the school’s mascot Willie the Wildcat, which he
was for the next three years as a collegian and he entertained us for many
years with his colorful wardrobe and his amazing reporting.
How
great of a colleague was he? Anyone that you talk to about Sager, no one had a
negative word to say about the man, even those that contended with him for
interviews with players and coaches during the postgame. To put that into
perspective, when it came time to talk to Popovich after games over the years,
especially after a tough loss, it was Sager who would be the first to jump in
and had the rest of the press breathing a sigh of relief when that happened on
many occasions.
Craig
Sager had the kind of support that most never get in a lifetime and he got that
in spades from those he worked with as mentioned earlier, with many of them at
his funeral on Tuesday.
“It
really reminds of what my father, there’s two things you got to live for in
life.” NBATV analyst Kevin McHale, a three-time champion with the Boston Celtics
back in the 1980s said on the early Wednesday morning edition of NBATV’s
“Gametime,” presented by Kia Motors. “Live a life that makes your creator
pleased. And secondly, when it’s your time… have him say that you were a good
man and I tell you what, everyone there said Craig Sager was a good man and I
never heard anybody say a bad thing about him. So Craig lived a life. He was a
spiritual guy and he lived a life where people said he was a good man. At the
end of the day, that’s been a life well lived.”
Former
New York Knick, Vancouver Grizzly Portland Trail Blazer and Seattle Supersonic
guard and current NBATV analyst Greg Anthony concurred those sentiments by
saying Mr. Sager was, “as good a person to work with and be around as I ever
met. As you get older in life if you realize what is really important, and it’s
about the relationships that your able to foster over your life. He touched a
lot of people throughout his life. It just wasn’t once he was diagnosed with
cancer. It was throughout the course of his entire life.”
Throughout
the league on Tuesday, that respect and loved was said with an exclamation
point as all the commentators for each NBA squad in action dawned attire in
memory of Sager from Mike Breen and Walt “Clyde” Frazier of the Knicks; Sara
Kustok, sideline reporter for the Brooklyn Nets; FOX Sports Wisconsin’s Sophia
Minnaert and Telly Hughes for the Milwaukee Bucks; FOX Sports Southeast
commentators for the Charlotte Hornets Eric Collins and Stephanie Ready;
Spectrum Sports sideline reporter for the Los Angeles Laker Mike Trudell; FOX
Sports Indiana sideline reporter for the Indiana Pacers Jeremiah Johnson and
FOX Sports Florida sideline reporter for the Orlando Magic Dante Marchitelli.
The
greatest honor for Sager on this day came from his longtime colleague at Turner
Sports Ernie Johnson, who delivered an eloquent poem expressing his fond
respect and love for Sager and a timeline of his life from beginning to brave
and heroic end.
“And
so here we gather on this December morning. Five days having passed since word
came with no warning. Our buddy, our brother, our friend for so long had left
us to ponder this thing ‘Sager Strong.’
He stood out as a new born. His blanket magenta, with hints of turquoise,
lavender and a touch of burnt sienna. Some babies had rattles and toys of their
own. Craig had a loud suit and a new microphone. He went to Northwestern honing
his skills where Wildcat football had few wins or thrills. Those fall days in
Evanston [IL] can be rather chilly when your dressed as a mascot freezing your
willie. Craig would have loved that line. He got his big break working in
Sarasota [FL]. Late me share with you this true antidote. The date Apr. 8 back
in [19]74. Hank Aaron was knocking on the great Babe Ruth’s door. Craig made
the trip north to watch 715 and he did something none of us had ever seen. When
Aaron connected on Al Dowling’s pitch, Craig ran down on the field that son of
a gun. The crowds going nuts as Hank circles the bases and there at home plate
amid all those faces is a guy in a trench coat that is not made to order. Yeah
that Sags with his Radio Shack tape recorder. You knew then and there that move
which took guts that great things awaited, no ifs, ands or butts. He took his
talents to KC and then he moved again, when stardom took hold as he hit CNN. A
studio host and a roving reporter, he covered the country from border to
border. Years at TBS followed and then TNT where his wardrobe some nights was
must not see TV. A paisley tie featuring diamonds was keen. A kangaroo blazer
jumped off the screen. A handwoven belt from the bark of a willow and shoes
fashioned from a diseased armadillo. But don’t think for a moment it was just
about style. If that is your thinking, your off by a mile. He prepped for each
game with meticulous flair. A pro’s pro does that when he goes on the air. And
that is why when Craig’s cancer fight became known that there was so much love
and respect being shown. Because coaches and players all know they arrived when
they stand next to Craig and the interviews live. They loved his work ethic,
when the truth at days end they viewed Craig as a colleague and above all a
friend. He asked the tough questions when it had to be done. Somehow the
subject would say, ‘that was fun.’ Now working with Craig here’s one thing you
should know. Did the man ever sleep? I do not believe so. He’d go running each
day and do research at night until he once went to Hooters and had a Bud Light.
The golf course was always for Craig a favorite destination. He took $10 million
off his friends by estimation. He won the Carmel Classic every year. Was
undefeated, and afterwards in disbelief he would say, ‘You think I cheated.’ I really
truly do believe that no man enjoyed life more. That laugh, that smile, that
joy we saw when he walked in the door and how he worshiped Stacey. How he loved
the sound of dad. How he knew the job was one everybody wished they had. That
vibrant thankful part of Craig was never lost or hidden. Even when his illness
laid him low and I’m not kidding. You’d visit him and hope to cheer him up or
lift his spirit. He’d express his hopeful outlook and make you glad that you
could hear it. There were countless chemo hours. Many a sleepless night that
marked this unreal ending, awe inspiring cancer fighting. Then there was the
profound impact that Craig, Jr. had. Not once, but twice this faithful son gave
life to his dad. In honesty, we weren’t surprised that Craig returned to work.
For all of us to see him on the sideline was a perk. To see him interviewing
Pop, Kyle or Doc, Sags was back and using every second of the clock. And how
that must have felt to hear the roar of fans league wide who cheered his
courage and took selfies standing by his side. I watched him work a playoff
game, fly home and right away have chemo, board a flight, and hit the sidelines
the very next day. In each NBA city, there were t-shirts, there were signs as
admiration freely flowed, arenas became shrines. Truly was miraculous was his
will. His fight, his grit. Its as if he said, ‘Your cancer hu? I don’t give a
darn.’ The man that we reflect on today was just a treasure. The number of
folks who he inspired, there’s no way to measure. At the ESPYs when they got
that honored named for Jimmy V in a room of marquee players, Craig is the guy
they came to see. He delivered the most eloquent and heartfelt speech that
night. He displayed that in our darkest times one man can be a light. The line we’ll
all remember cut through sorrow like a knife. ‘Time,’ Craig said with passion, ‘is
simply how you live your life.’ And so, all amid the tears and memories we
cherish now. We say farewell to our friend Sags and make this humble vow. There’s
no way to gage the days we have. No way to know how long, but know this Craig we’ll
do our best to live them ‘Sager Strong.’”
Information
and quotations are courtesy of 12/20/16 www.nba.com article/video of “Craig Sager
Remembered For Love of Family, Sports and Flashy Coats;” 12/21/16 2 a.m.
edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by Kia Motors with Casey Stern, Kevin
McHale and Greg Anthony and http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Sager.
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