Everyone Was Important to Him

About 15 years ago, I recall an occasion when Murray, seeing a young man he didn’t know working the phone desk, approached me.

“Who’s the kid answering the phone?” he asked me, quietly.

This was a man of immense stature in this business, asking about a 22-year-old.

I told him his name, and he walked over to the young fellow, saying: “Hi, I’m Jim Murray.” And he shook his hand.

I’ve long forgotten who the young man was, but I’ll never forget Jim’s gesture that day.

He was a great sports columnist.

And he was a great and decent man.