R.I.P. "Reggie Dunlop"

It is nothing really special to know that everybody has to die, but when a truly special person dies, the reminder of our own mortality strikes us all that much harder.

Paul Newman, who's legendary acting career would be recognizable to hockey fans in the iconic role of "Reggie Dunlop". Hockey players and fans still regard the 30-year-old movie, Slapshot, as the definitive example of the game on the big screen. Newman's role of an old style player/coach was portrayed with a grizzled edge that never needs sharpening. Despite Hollywood's best efforts, few actors are able to pull off the kind of cinematic magic to let the audience believe they are athletes. Newman's acting was so great in this film, audiences could actually believe he was a professional hockey player.

But if you watched Slapshot today, most of the dialog wouldn't make it theaters. It is a movie that threw around the "locker room talk" liberally in the streets, in the home, in bed, in the locker room, or on the team bus. The player/coach role is also quite outdated today. Do kids even know that was even possible?

Steve Carlson, known to everybody in Pennsylvania as "Steve Hanson", when told of Newman's passing, had this to say,

"Truthfully, I'm very saddened. Paul Newman was a great, great man. A great man. You know, we weren't actors. We were hockey players and he took us under his wing and guided us to what we had to do. With him there, we had a fabulous time doing it. He was one of the world's best actors but with us, he was just one of the boys. We laughed and had fun and worked when we had to work. We had a really good time doing that movie."

Ultimately, this is the true measure of a man when the kinds of things like the above quote is aplicable.

Paul Newman will be missed.

[Via: FOX News & NHL.com]