The sports world remembers Lamar Lundy as a fearsome defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams.
But
his hometown of Richmond, his teammates and his friends from around the country
remember him more as a gentle giant, an athlete of formidable strength
who was blessed with humility and a great sense of humor.
They remember him as a man of character and faith who battled each of his life-threatening illnesses with an unbending focus.
They remember him as a man who gracefully broke down barriers:
Lundy was the first black player to receive a football scholarship to
Purdue.
“He was a tremendous performer and a better person,” said former Rams teammate Merlin Olsen. “He’s been such a great fighter.”
Lundy died at 3:10 a.m. Feb. 24 while surrounded by family at Reid Hospital.
He was 71.
“He’s my biggest hero,” said son Marty Lundy of Richmond, who was there.
It
was time, he said, for the suffering to end for his father. “He’s been
dealing with this for more than half his life,” Marty Lundy said. “I
got to see him hit the tape. I feel good about seeing him get his
reward.”
Lamar Lundy died peacefully, his son said.
“From
Monday to Wednesday, he was in and out of consciousness, but, he still
held his personality,” Marty Lundy said. “On Thursday, he went to
sleep.”
Lamar Lundy leaves three other adult children.
Marty Lundy said the funeral is planned for 11 a.m. March 3 at Second Baptist Church in Richmond.
A viewing is planned from 2-7 p.m. Friday at Community Family Funeral Home, which is in charge of arrangements.
Lundy had tackled his ailments as aggressively as he had opposing quarterbacks.
“The idea of giving up was repugnant to him,” Olsen said on Saturday from his home in Utah.
Olsen visited Lundy in December and the two former members of the Rams’ Fearsome Foursome talked on the phone recently.
“He’s
been such a great fighter. But, I did have a sense that he had kind of
accepted the fact it was maybe time to go,” Olsen said.
Lundy
battled diabetes, Graves disease and myasthenia gravis earlier in his
life, then cancer and heart failure in the last decade.
“He
fought them and was able to overcome them. He had great heart and
spirit, but it came to the point he couldn’t go on any more,” said Tom
Milligan of Richmond, a close friend from high school and college in
the 1950s.
“He’s resting comfortably and permanently now.”
Lundy
said in December that he was ready for whatever happened to him, that
he didn’t worry about waking up in the morning because of his faith in
Christ.
“You learn you can’t resist,” he said. “The things that are coming are coming.”
He spoke with a good-natured humor toward a nurse despite obvious pain when he was moved. He often drifted off to sleep.
Lundy
knew death was a distinct possibility as his ailments compounded and he
became bedridden at Oakridge Rehabilitation & Specialty Care Center
in Richmond.
“Some things you know are going to happen. It goes
with having various diseases,” he said. “You don’t actually accept it.
But, sometimes the best is to meet it head on.”
He always did that with determination.
Marty Lundy said his father focused on reaching age 70. “He would set a goal and nothing could stop him,” Marty Lundy said.
During
a quiet moment earlier in the week, he said, “I bent over and told him,
‘Go ahead and retire. You’ve got all the pieces in place.’
“He lifted his head up and said, ‘I never retire. Just tell them I’m in overtime.'”
Lundy started playing with the Rams in 1957.
The Fearsome Foursome of Lundy, Olsen, Rosey Grier and Deacon Jones first played together in 1963.
Lundy received the least notoriety, something that’s unfortunate, Olsen said.
“He really was the stabilizing force, Mr. Consistency,” Olsen said. “He was an incredibly important part of that equation.”
Lundy never let the others forget that he was there first — in a humorous way. He could get them all laughing.
The players got together for signings through the years, the last time in Kansas City about a year ago.
“Each
of those reunions would take about 30 seconds to fall back into the
same warm banter, the sense of enjoyment we had in each other as people
rather than performers,” Olsen said.
“We really cared about each other. Everyone was able to park their own egos. We’d get together and enjoy each other.”
Marty
Lundy said his father had a gift as an unselfish communicator. “He had
a skill or talent to make everyone in the room feel they were most
special to him,” Marty Lundy said. “He wouldn’t let you concentrate on
him. He never made you feel sorry for him.”
Lundy leaves a
vibrant legacy in the world of sports and in Richmond, the hometown he
returned to in 1987 after living most of his adult life near Los
Angeles.
The 6-foot-7, 250-pound Lundy was considered one of the
best all-around athletes ever in Indiana and a prototype for today’s
fast and strong defensive ends.
He helped lead Richmond High School to unbeaten football seasons in 1952 and 1953 and to the final four in basketball in 1953.
He has been inducted in both sports to the Indiana basketball and football hall of fames.
Former
NFL player Paul Flatley of Richmond says he believes Lundy is one of
the best all-around athletes ever around the country.
“I don’t
know of another person who was the most valuable in basketball and
football at any college. That’s how good the guy was, so versatile,”
Flatley said Saturday morning.
As a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, Flatley played twice a season against Lundy in the early 1960s.
Flatley
always was impressed by Lundy’s humble and non-flamboyant personality
— and the fact that he was active within the community after returning
to Richmond in 1987.
Lundy came back to be closer to family and friends.
He and Flatley became close friends in recent years.
“He
was not a braggart. He never talked about himself or anything he
accomplished,” Flatley said. “He was just himself. He wasn’t just some
Fearsome Foursome guy.”
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