Friday, November 27, 2009

Remembering Brother Gabe's Passion for Sports 20 Years Later

In this blog and the next, I pay tribute to milestone family anniversaries: the 20th year since the passing of my brother Gabe and the 10th year since the passing of my dad. See the next blog for my discussion of Dad's connection to sports.
My brother was a gridiron genius. While living in Chicago and the chief physician at a renal dialysis center, Gabe struck up a friendship with Mike Ditka of the Chicago Bears. Mike often relied on Gabe to suggest plays and running patterns. During their friendship from 1984-1989, Iron Mike-- with a 67-12 win loss record --was the best coach in professional football.
How did Gabe communicate to Iron Mike? Through the use of an apple computer, Gabe, with a flick of his index finger would tap on a key that connected directly to Mike.
This was quite a feat for Gabe was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease in 1984 and progressively lost all virtual motor functions in his extremities. The Bears team hailed him as "Doctor Gabe." Gabe, you are a legend!

2 comments:

Doug Ingber said...
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Doug Ingber said...

Great Story I wish I knew him better but Glad to have met him and his kids. He used to come to the house on west street with his family. My mom loved him dearly