Vin Scully on John Wooden

We lost one the greatest sports icons of all time this past month when John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins passed away at age 99. Perhaps the greatest sports figure in Southern California, Vin Scully, announced Coach Wooden's passing between innings of the Dodger game that night.

The announcement is embedded here; watch it and bear in mind that this wasn't rehearsed, Vin had just heard the news of the passing of one of his dearest friends, there wasn't time to prepare something formal so he just spoke extemporaneously while at the same time announcing this news to approximately 50,000 people at the Ravine as well as countless others watching the game on TV.

Having said all of that Vin Scully, who himself is 82 years of age, is such an excellent wordsmith that you would think that the announcement was prepared by Presidential speechwriters with the words placed on a teleprompter. He is a genius - everything, including the Shakespeare quotation came from him alone, communicated with his matchless talent.

We have been blessed to have lived in a time and at a place where we are privileged to be exposed to people such as John Wooden & Vin Scully.