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Apr 14, 2009 7:28 pm US/Eastern
The Ashburns Remember Harry Kalas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
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Rich and John Ashburn know what it's like to lose a father who is also a Philadelphia Phillies icon.
CBS
Rich and John Ashburn know what it's like to lose a father
who is also a Philadelphia Phillies icon.
Now, they've lost another one.
For three decades, Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn – a Hall
of Fame center fielder turned broadcaster – called Phillies games
together.
Kalas affectionately referred
to Ashburn as "Whitey."
Over their three decade partnership the Kalas and Ashburn
families became close.
They attended
family functions together and traveled together.
Their kids grew up together.
So for Ashburn's sons, Harry Kalas was like a second
father.
He was a man who supported them
when their own father died in 1997.
"Harry really kept dad alive these past 12 years, and he
really wanted to," said Rich Ashburn, Jr.
"Yesterday was a hard day.
Much
like when my dad passed away."
Ashburn, Jr. says it is easy to understand why thousands
of people felt a connection with Harry Kalas.
"He just was a down to earth guy.
He, like my dad, was the same guy on the air
that he was off the air.
Those qualities
come through, and I think that's why so many people really loved him."
John Ashburn recalled fondly how he saw Kalas charm rowdy
Mets fans at a bar after a Phillies-Mets game in the late 1980s.
It was an especially impressive feat given
the Phillies had just beaten the Mets.
"The Mets fans actually embraced him," he said.
"In the midst of Mets fans, Harry was doing
home run calls."
The two say they'd like to see a statue of Kalas near
their father's at Ashburn Alley in Citizens
Bank Park.
Or perhaps Kalas's should go behind home
plate, across the field, so the two can look at each other.
"There was a magic between them that I don't think any
other pair in baseball or football or any sport ever had," said Ashburn,
Jr.
The only thing making the loss easier, the Ashburns say,
is knowing that "Harry the K" and "Whitey" are together again.
"Dad and Harry were inseparable, and I think they always
will be," Ashburn, Jr. said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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