bills44 Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 just heard this while watching the Lakers-Magic game. Damn...
Dr. Trooth Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Former Buffalo Brave guard & forward died of a heart attack at age 60 while on a treadmill today. 7
The Dean Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 How sad. Randy was one of the quickest and fastest players to ever play the game. RIP
Guffalo Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 One of the better Braves players from the early 70's. I loved his speed and quickness on the court, RIP Randy..
Lurker Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Can't find a link, but RIP (if true)... Thanks for the memories...
Corp000085 Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 link... http://www.wivb.com/dpp/sports/former_brav...ses_away_090604 RIP
Buftex Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Jeez...I am serious...David Carradine and Randy Smith were major figures in my childhood...if Leonard Nimoy were to pass away today, I would feel like I had a hellhound on my trail...
Mr. T Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Anyone else hear on the NBA broadcast tonight about Randy Smith dying today of a heart attack? Alot of memories of him at his prime with the Braves.
The Dean Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Anyone else hear on the NBA broadcast tonight about Randy Smith dying today of a heart attack? Alot of memories of him at his prime with the Braves. Yes, very sad. But, this is already on Off the Wall (where OT posts go). No biggie, of course. Just thought you should know.
ChasBB Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 My favorite Brave player. RIP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDmxZRrZKcw
DDD Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 The guy lived a few blocks from down from me on West Ferry near Elmwood Ave in the late 70's. Very pleasant man. RIP.
Bufcomments Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 RIP Randy I'm truly saddened to hear this. He was my favorite Buffalo Brave My mother help organize the Randy smith Tourney in MLK Park in the 70's I loved going to the park and I played on a few teams. It was the place to be back in the day every summer, meet alot of people who still are my friends now at those games. This has put a damper on my weekend for sure.
Bufcomments Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 RIP Randy I think it should be here on the Wall Lots of Braves fans sad tonight. Including me Lead story on the news tonight . I played in the Randy Smith league back in the day. It was the place to be at on the East side during the summer during those times. If you want to model your life after a pro , it would be RANDY nuff said
Buftex Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 RIP Randy I'm truly saddened to hear this. He was my favorite Buffalo Brave My mother help organize the Randy smith Tourney in MLK Park in the 70's I loved going to the park and I played on a few teams. It was the place to be back in the day every summer, meet alot of people who still are my friends now at those games. This has put a damper on my weekend for sure. When I was a kid, my family used to put on one of those Muscular Distrophy "carnivals" on every summer. One summer, we got Tom Donahue (the old GR55 Dj, currently on WECK), Craig Ramsey and Randy Smith to appear, and sign autographs. Randy was the coolest. I think he may have been the first black person to step foot on our suburban street. He braught along with him, a set of team photos, each one autographed by the Braves player depicted on it. I wanted those damn things bad, and tried to rig the drawing in my favor. My older sister caught on, and disqualified my raffle ticket... I did get Randy to sign a basketball card for me...still got it! Not sure if he still holds the record (I don't think so), but when he retired, Smith had started more consecutive games than any player in NBA history. He played for the Braves, the San Diego Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atanta Hawks, and New York Knicks. Sad day all around....and to top it off, the friggin' Lakers win... RIP Iron Man!
bbb Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 I agree that this should be on the wall. This is really big and bad news for anybody old enough to remember the Braves...........I just saw this when I went to the GR website to listen to some audio..........It's the first time I gasped when I saw that somebody died in a long time. He was such a supreme athlete, I thought he would live to 100. To have the career he had, coming from something like an 8th round draft pick was amazing. And, he was an incredible soccer player, too.
bbb Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Not sure if he still holds the record (I don't think so), but when he retired, Smith had started more consecutive games than any player in NBA history. He played for the Braves, the San Diego Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Detroit Pistons. Sad day all around....and to top it off, the friggin' Lakers win... RIP Iron Man! I think AC Green broke the record, but bogusly - making like one minute appearances when he was hurt.
nucci Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 I remember a game I attended and Smith did a reverse dunk and it was the 1st time any of us saw one. He was 6'3" and the Aud just went nuts. What a great player. I also remember the All-Star game when he won MVP. Just great to watch.
OCinBuffalo Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Disclaimer: Long post, but I tried to make it worth the read.... I have lived everywhere in my life. But, for one year, I lived in Buffalo as a supposed 1st grader, specifically on Highgate (street or avenue, I have no clue, and I don't care). That year was a "welcome to the real world" year for my sorry ass 7 year old existence. These were the days of "take 1 smart white boy and 1 smart white girl and bus their asses downtown because their example will set the tone for the rest of the black kids". I was the elementary "example" to be followed. (I can just see Kelly TFBD and the rest of the Obama lap dogs saying: why oh why did we send this idiot?) Answer: This is what happens when we let dumbass liberals "go wild". You think I'm kidding? Check out the theory of "inclusion" right here. Look, even an idiot understands that in 1978 a little, skipped a grade, d-bag like myself was not going to get all the black kids in the school to start taking an interest in doing math. Especially not Montessori math. And this was way before I was even kind of good at sports. We had just moved from Korea and all I knew was soccer....poorly. And there was this OJ guy.... As a necessity, I suddenly took on a strong interest in learning how to fight. I became, and for the rest of my life, really, really good at it, to my and my subsequent opponent's, great displeasure. But also, I found out that I could only whip the entire class so many times. I was suddenly "enlightened". I realized that I watched Randy Smith play basketball....the same as the rest of the boys. I realized that the only way I would ever have anything in common with anybody at that school was by talking about sports. More importantly, I realized that if us boys were talking sports, all the girls were told to STFU and get out of the way. Girls, then as now, were the root cause of most of my troubles. Mostly this had to do with my "peers" singing the Buffalo Braves song, which would always mean we would play with our pretend basketball, and they would have to step aside. For the youngins, you were cool if you could sing this song while you made a decent "move", with the "ball", to the basket: Buffalo...(bump, bump, bump).........Braves Buffalo...(bump, bump, bump).........Braves Just imagine Randy Smith pulling a power move on the "Buffalo" part, then pulling back to get the D help out of position on the "bump, bump, bump" part, shooting, and the ball going in on the "Braves" part of the song. And then they would "automagically" put up his stats on the screen. Swear to God, Randy Smith, in his own way, did more for me than is fathomable for most people...unless you were ever a "magnet kid". (My dad went to Bishop Duffy with Calvin Murphy....but that is another story.) I never knew the man, and I still don't care. But, my eternal interest in sports, and the value I place on being able to talk sports with anyone, anywhere, all started with Randy Smith. RIP Brother. Your ability and the theme song kept me out of more serious trouble that year...until we moved to Cleveland.
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