RIP Flip Saunders

[TheLeviathan]

Wow...Wolves just tweeted out that Flip passed away.

[mikecgrimes]

 

Wow...Wolves just tweeted out that Flip passed away.

 

His final weeks had to be awful.  Had a feeling this was coming today and it was still a complete shock. 

[DaveW]

Ugh, terrible news

 

RIP Flip

[TheLeviathan]

Yeah, you know things were bad when everything went silent on his status, but this was surprising.

[gunnarthor]

[Moderator's note: I merged comments from another thread here in this thread gunnarthor started.]

 

Real bummer, obviously, I only knew him as a coach who made the T-Wolves relevant but I had a friend who had met him a few times and swore that Saunders was one of the nicest and most competitive people he had ever met.  Thoughts and prayers to his family.

 

Cancer sucks.

[PseudoSABR]

RIP Flip.  A real shame he didn't get to bear the fruit of his labors with this young team.  

[Seth Stohs]

Terrible news. 

 

I met Flip once, tailgating at a Gophers football game. He was walking through the area, talking to fans. He was walking with his daughters. They were selling dance team calendars, and he was signing them. Always a great ambassador for the Wolves and for the Gophers.

 

When we think Minnesota and basketball, there are names like McHale, Garnett... but Saunders is right at the top of that list too.

 

All the best to his family, friends and the Minnesota Timberwolves family.

[USAFChief]

Sad news. Thoughts and prayers to family and friends.

[biggentleben]

I walked off the court after singing the anthem at a Gophers women's basketball game, and he was waiting, gushing over my performance and asking me to sing for the TWolves. He took the time to get my name to give to the game day folks at the Target Center. The next spring, I sang for a TWolves/Raptors game, and he walked over after I sang to shake my hand and let me know he remembered me from that previous fall.

 

Great Gopher player, great TWolves coach, and I got to know him as the coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce as well. RIP Flip!

[ashbury]

Can't bring myself to click Like on any of the posts, so I'll just say it's terrible to hear this news.

[stringer bell]

I knew an "inside source" who told me awhile ago that Flip's situation was "desperate" so I am not totally surprised. Still, it is sad news and he was still relatively young (60).

 

He was a fine player for Musselman's early 70s Gophers, when Gopher basketball became relevant, so he'd been on the Minnesota basketball scene for a long time.

[bluechipper]

He seemed like a great guy. RIP Flip.

[mikecgrimes]

Sid confirmed on the sports show last night that Flip had been in a comma for several weeks.   Then he couldn't  stop talking about Bill Musseleman.   I don't get Sid, did he do this stuff 30 years ago or is it just his old age.  Good to know Flip didn't suffer though.

[Mike Sixel]

He always seemed so much more giving on the radio than some others, never heard him be condescending to the fans (admittedly, I didn't listen all the time). Good luck to his family.

[Vanimal46]

 

He always seemed so much more giving on the radio than some others, never heard him be condescending to the fans (admittedly, I didn't listen all the time). Good luck to his family.

 

That's certainly what I'll remember about Flip. I never got to meet him personally, nor do I care much about basketball. However whenever I did listen in to Flip's Friday Funkadelic with Dan Barreiro, he was very good and gave way more of an insight to the organization than any other person I can remember. It's tough not to cheer for a guy like that.