I'LL miss him. We'll all miss him.

This will be short.

I know George Steinbrenner was a tough task master if you had to work for him. I heard the stories. They weren't pretty. But the George I knew was a different man.

Years ago I was the Master Of Ceremony at an event in Tampa. George was the featured speaker. After he spoke (I was sitting next to him), I saw him pull a checkbook out of his suit jacket and watched him write a check for twenty-five thousand dollars to the group sponsoring the event. $25,000.00!! Can you imagine?

On a personal note, a few years later, my daughter won a public speaking contest for the hearing impaired at his hotel in Ocala, Florida. He was there that day and my daughter introduce herself to him. She told him I was her dad and he said your dad is "one of the good guys".

I don't know exactly what he meant, but it meant a lot to me that he said that.

I know Tampa is going to miss him more than he ever knew.

Bill Ratliff