Conley was also a hero off the field
The calls and emails began arriving early yesterday morning after friends and fans of the late Gene Conley saw a piece here recalling his remarkable two-sport career in which he backed up Bill Russell and struck out Ted Williams.
But if the 6-foot-8 nonpareil had read it, he probably would have regarded it as a swing and a miss because accomplishments in sports did not define this friend who died three days ago at 86. At least they didn’t in his mind. So call this a sequel. Writing a tribute to someone who’s passed on is like delivering a eulogy; what you have to say is not as important as what you think he (or she) would have wanted you to say.
In the 66 years Gene and Katie Conley were married, she never stopped being his sweetheart. Longtime marriages have always been of interest here, especially when they involve someone highly visible in sports.
You’ve read about many of them here over the years.
Maybe it was Johnny Pesky, married 60 years to Ruth, whom he called “the best catch I ever made.”
Maybe it was Bruins Hall of Famer Ferny Flaman, describing his wife Jeannie as “my teammate for 65 years, the real Hall of Famer in our home.”
Maybe it was the gruff Red Auerbach letting down his guard in a column long enough to tell Dot, his wife for 59 years: “I’ve been a very lucky guy. Our kids turned out beautiful and all the credit goes to her. I know I don’t say it as often as I should, but she deserves to hear it. So, ‘ Dot, it isn’t easy for an old coach to talk this way, but from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I appreciate everything you’ve done and I love you.’ ”
Conley had a moment like that in 1989, when Katie underwent surgery on a brain tumor.
“I’d better talk fast because I don’t want to cry,” he said.
“Yet I’d like to have our story told. We both would, because if just one husband or wife reads it and stops an extra minute to realize how lucky they are, maybe they’ll hang around the house a little longer before heading out the door, just to say a few things that probably should have been said before.
“We hope that happens because it would make us feel pretty good. When you have the kind of love we do, I guess you want to share it.”
So let that be how you remember Gene Conley.
It’s what he would have wanted you to read this morning.