Thursday, August 31, 2017

Rollie Massimino (1934-2017)

Yesterday we got the sad news that Rollie Massimino had died at the age of 82.

2010 Phungo #10 Rollie Massimino

I am not originally from the Philadelphia area but I will always remember the 1985 Villanova Wildcats championship team. Winning that game made me a fan of the team for life.

I never expected to live in the Villanova community, but life's twists & turns brought me to a place where I reside less than five miles from the campus. The team has now returned to prominence and it is fun to be able to follow the local team.


March Madness 2009
I have gone to the opening rounds of March Madness when it has been hosted in Philadelphia several times. In 2009 I was checking out the lower level prior to the game and talking to a friend when Rollie Massimino passed right in front of him. We mentioned to Rollie how much we enjoyed the 1985 Championship team. He was congenial said thanks, shook our hands, posed for a picture and signed our tickets - the smudge and the fact that it is signed upside down are my fault.

Regardless it is a cool memory to have and one of the more fun artifacts in the Phungo museum.

Phungo Card
The picture I took made it onto a Phungo card back when I still made them. This is pretty early in the Phungo canon so we have a pretty vanilla design with the text being a snapshot from an excel spreadsheet. Pretty primitive, but considering my minimal graphic arts skills at the time, I am pretty proud of the finished product.

Rollie Massimino Index
2007 Donruss Extra Edition #65 (February 2016 Villanova reaches #1 for first time since 1985) 
2010 Phungo #10 (25th anniversary of 1985 Championship)
Game Report March Madness 2009


Wiki
I have a posted a few dozen of my photos to Wikipedia, this is the first of those pictures.

Sources and Links
Sports-Ref

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a thousand words

a thousand words
2008 World Champions