yeah, that was me. some news station in lubbock published it without hornfans attribution or attributing it to me at all.
looking back, i might have written it a bit differently, but i was younger.
and a much better writer. jesus.
found the news station in lubbock, they still got it! haha.
https://www.kcbd.com/story/2463125/so-i-met-coach-leach-in-honolulu/
and pos rep for saving that GD photo. i have no idea where the hell a copy of that might be.
he was such a gentleman and was keen to talk my ear off, like many of the stories in this thread - that was him, it wasn't a put on. i met him for, what, 10 - 15 minutes of my life, and i'll never forget the impression he made on me - not just the skimmer and the hat, but just how much time he had for me to discuss football, the museum we were in, etc. i never want to be that guy who takes people away from their family, but he never made me feel weird for talking to him. he made me feel weirder for ending the conversation - like he had so much more to be said and he actually wanted to say it to me. like i was that important in that minute, even though he didn't know me from the museum lady hollering at him, but he didn't care.
i dunno - i will say that experience, as trivial as it was and makes for a funny story, did change the way i thought about things in a way, and made me more closely follow the dude through his career.
they always say never meet your heroes, but he wasn't my hero when i met him. he was just a coach that was kind of quirky and annoying because his teams were always a pain in the ass. but he was a presence. and we are all now lesser that he's gone. rip, coach.