Teddy's death rattled me a bit. The man was so strong it seemed to me that he was invincible. I've never seen anyone with such a cast iron belief in his own abilities and who could not be intimidated by any man or any occasion.
I had crossed paths with him many years ago. He was a legend in my eyes and I felt honoured to be in his company. A year or two ago I saw him at a game (unsurprisingly) having not seen him for many years. I'm not a prominent figure and I didn't stand out when we had crossed paths all those years earlier so felt a bit awkward about even saluting him on the basis that he'd have no idea who the hell I was. I mean this guy was known across the whole country and must meet thousands of people every year. While I was weighing up whether to give him a nod of recognition, he saw me, called my name, came over, and we had a chat. I was blown away that he knew who I was. We just had a chat as equals about the game we were watching and sport in general. The game finished and we just drifted off home on our separate ways.
Teddy was rare mixture of an ordinary down to earth bloke who had achieved rare and exceptional feats. He had no airs and graces and treated the great and the good in the same way as he treated no marks like me. Such was the confidence in himself. He knew of no person better than himself and treated no-one as being less than himself.
