Rant #2,339: Simply the Best

First off, yes, I overslept pretty badly today.

I was ultra-tired, and hit the sack early, but I woke up a few times, and I guess to make up for that lost sleep, I just slept past my usual time.

It happens, and it certainly happened last night.

Anyway, today's column wasn't going to be a long one, anyway, looking at the life of someone who passed away yesterday who had a definite impact on a lot of people's lives.

Cal Ramsey died yesterday. He was 81 years old.

The name might not ring a bell to you, but to New York basketball fans of a certain age, part of our childhoods went with him as he left us.

A New Yorker through and through, Ramsey was actually born in Selma, Alabama, in July 1937, but he came with his family to the Big Apple in the 1940s.

Ramsey first came to prominence as a basketball star first at New York's Commerce High School, and then at NYU, when the school's basketball program was nationally known and respected.

He was drafted by the NBA's St. Louis Hawks, and later played for the Syracuse Nationals and the New York Knicks. Although his NBA career was a brief one, he was a New York basketball legend, having been Rucker Tournament MVP and through his play against another New York basketball legend, Connie Hawkins.

With the Knicks, his genial personality and knowledge of the game led him to a long career off the court for the NBA team.

Ramsey held a number of positions with the team--most recently up to his death as the Knicks' community relations ambassador--but he is most fondly remembered by Baby Boomers as the team's TV color analyst from their last championship in 1973 through the mid 1980s.

He was a font of basketball knowledge, displayed his knowledge of the game on the air, serving as color analyst for Marv Albert and several other play-by-play broadcasters, and his ready and loud laugh was his trademark.

As Ramsey continued with the team as its ambassador, he always had the same seat in the Madison Square Garden crowd, a few rows behind the Knicks' bench,

What the public did not know much about was his continued participation in the NYU basketball program.

No longer a college basketball power, for the past 30-plus years, Ramsey served on the staff of the school's basketball team as an assistant coach.

So between his out-front work as Knicks ambassador to his behind the scenes work with NYU, Ramsey was a true basketball lifer, and he knew more about New York basketball than just about anyone, having been part of it on the court and in the background for more than 50 years.

He was also a member of the New York University Athletics Hall of Fame and and the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.

To honor his legacy, the Knicks plan to wear either a patch or a ribbon on their jerseys during their upcoming games as they play out their schedule.

"From Rucker Park to the Garden, Cal Ramsey was a New York City basketball icon. He was a kind and caring friend who gave so much to the game he loved," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wrote on Twitter, offering the league's condolences to Ramsey's family, friends and fans.

R.I.P. Cal. You done good.