Unless you just got released from a Supermax prison, you know that Tony Dungy retired from coaching yesterday. It’s on 1A of both local dailies, with extensive coverage on the sports pages. It’s the lead story on TV sports nationally.
Dungy’s retirement is especially big news in Tampa Bay, where he’s a revered — make that adored — figure in the community. While his profile will be lower, of course, folks in this area are excited to see him return.
Dungy deserves the adulation. He rescued the Tampa Bay Bucs from the dregs, and did so with class and integrity. Even during his tenure as coach of the Indianapolis Colts, he maintained strong ties to Tampa Bay.
He's been canonized throughout the media, and there’s little I can add at this point, other than to agree with most all of it.
When a much-loved icon moves on, we like to indulge in a nice helping of sentimentality. And that doesn’t exclude journalists. Along with the sentimentality comes a share of revisionist history.
This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2009.