WORDS FROM BILL CURRY

Before he was a coach, Bill Curry was coached by some of the legendary men of the game. Here are his thumbnail thoughts on those who shaped him and on the man he eventually became:

On Bobby Dodd (Georgia Tech): He was obsessed with education because he never got his diploma. He loved me unconditionally, and I still don’t know why. He was incredible.

On Vince Lombardi (Green Bay): Very complex. I couldn’t understand him because he wasn’t Bobby Dodd, and I couldn’t forgive him for not being Bobby Dodd. (After being released by the Packers through the expansion draft in 1967, Curry had criticized Lombardi’s methods. But the two later reconciled during a hospital visit as Lombardi was dying of cancer): I took his hand and I started stammering. I said,“Coach, I said some things I wish I hadn’t, but I came here today to say that you have meant a lot in my life.”He squeezed my hand and said,“You can mean a lot to mine if you pray for me.”What great people of faith do is forgive you when you least deserve it, and that’s what he did.

On Don Shula (Baltimore): Coach Shula gave me chance after chance after chance. He won more games than anybody in history with a bunch of guys nobody wanted. If he ever decided he believed in you he would never give up on you. It made you want to die for him.

And, finally, Curry on Curry: I’ve tried to be caring. And faithful, both in the area of faith and to people. And loyal, to a fault. I haven’t always been any of those things, those were recent developments. I came by them the hard way. I would like to be remembered as somebody who loved people and somebody who meant what he said and would be willing to confess when he was wrong. That was very difficult to learn.