Yesterday morning I was driving to work when I heard the news that former Bulls player and long-time TV personality Norm Van Lier died at the age of 61.
This morning I was driving to work when I heard the news that former Bulls coach and long-time color commentator Johnny "Red" Kerr lost his battle with prostate cancer at the age of 76.
These guys were very similar. They both lived life to the fullest and they made sure they did. They were both the Harry Carry type of personality. They enjoyed an ice cold beer on many occasions and they loved the night life. They were very well known by every Bulls fan and the entire city of Chicago. They always made time for the fans and never turned down an oppurtunity to sign autographs. Van Lier worked for Comcast SportsNet Chicago as an on-air personality for the Bulls. He worked the Pre-Game and Post-Game shows and was always really enjoyable to listen to. One his best lines was when he was talking about Joakim Noah he said, "I have seen this kid do things that I have never seen done in an NBA game. And I don't mean that in a good way." Johnny "Red" Kerr was the first ever coach of the Bulls and is the only coach in NBA history to take an expansion team to the playoffs in their first year of existence.
I started this thread as a way of remembering them as, although they weren't really known nationally, they were a huge part of Chicago basketball over the last 50+ years. They will surely be missed.
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This is a giant hit for the Bulls everywhere, I know that many people thought of Norm Van Lier as a fan favorite. I don't know about Jimmy Kerr but thats sad that he lost his life.
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Johnny "Red" Kerr was there first coach and was there color commentator for a very long time. He called every game of Jordan's career. They had a ceremony for him during halftime on February 10th and Jordan and Pippen and a bunch of other former players and coaches showed up to pay their respects to him. A lot of them were saying that they were glad the ceremony happened because they weren't sure how much time "Red" had left. Also, many people consider him one of the best college basketball players ever.
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The Cubbies got me, got me questioning, where are the runs??
