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Giants' Lynch all heart after his was broken

Neil Best

September 25, 2008

Dick Lynch, left, with former Giants broadcast partners Bob Papa and Dave Jennings in 2005. Lynch has died at age 72, three people with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday morning.

Shaun Powell never met Dick Lynch before Sept. 23, 2001, hadn't seen him play, hadn't heard him on the radio.

All the Newsday columnist knew when he arrived at Arrowhead Stadium for a Giants-Chiefs game was that Lynch had lost a son, Richard, in the attacks on the World Trade Center 12 days earlier.

"We were total strangers," Powell said, "yet we became like close friends, only because unfortunately we had something in common."

Powell lost a brother, Scott, in the attack on the Pentagon Sept. 11.

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"I walked up to him and said how sorry I was for what happened, and he said the same thing to me," Powell recalled. "Then the guy started crying.

"In a situation where I needed someone to be a soft shoulder for me, I was the soft shoulder for him. It was something I'll never forget."

How could he? From that day forward, Lynch always sought out Powell at games to say hello, and saw to it that some proceeds from the golf tournament he staged to benefit his granddaughter, Olivia, went to Powell's nephew and niece.

"He didn't have to do that," Powell said. "That spoke volumes about not only who he was but on how deeply that whole thing affected him. I think after what happened his life never was the same."

Friends agree Lynch forever was wounded, until the day he died yesterday at 72. No one fully recovers from the death of a child, but he was an especially emotional man and did not try to hide the hurt.

That was what made his appearance at Arrowhead even more impressive in retrospect.

"I'll always remember that game in Kansas City, his toughness that he was there," said Bob Papa, his radio partner for 13 seasons.

"Most people would have begged off that game. He was determined to not back down and not let those people who had killed his son beat him."

I was there that day, too, not sure what to say to Powell or Lynch. But even under those circumstances Lynch knew how to put me and others at ease. He always did, no matter whom he was around.

On the air, he was both maddening and endearing.

Off the air, he was an eccentric uncle who chomped on an unlit cigar and never carried himself like an entitled former jock, even though he was a one-time Pro Bowler and a staple for teams that advanced to four NFL title games.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin recalled Lynch attending a banquet in upstate New York when Coughlin was a high-school player. "There isn't a nicer guy, in my opinion, a more popular guy, a more popular Giant than Dick Lynch was," the coach said.

Said Papa: "No one schmoozed clients better than Dick Lynch. He made everybody feel important and valuable and worthy."

That was how he made Powell feel 12 days after both were shattered by loss.

A remembrance of Lynch that the Giants sent yesterday quoted him as saying that working that day was the toughest thing he ever had to do.

Of his meeting with Powell, Lynch said, "It was horrible, it was a tough experience and I really felt like I was on fire.

"We will never be beaten by terrorists, and I just wanted to let him know and my family know that we were going to move on and do it in their honor."

Said Powell: "I walked away thinking he was like my best friend. It was unfortunate our paths crossed in that manner. I'm just glad I met him."