When I was a publisher at George Allen & Unwin in 1984 I commissioned a photographic essay of the great Seve Ballesteros by award winning snapper David Ashdown.
In 1988, I saw his triumph close up at The Open at Royal Lytham and St Anne's. He was a golfing magician and when he had mastered the tricks of the fairways and greens (getting to the "dance floor" as the early professionals called it in America) to charge them he would attract a huge following as the crowds left whoever they were following to run to wherever he was as the whisper went out that Seve's was taming not just one hole but every hole.
He was the greatest.
He started the European golfing fight back after fifty years in the doldrums. Every subsequent European golfer has been in his debt even if they'd never seen him play.
A week or so before Seve's sad demise another great sportsman passed away "Our 'Enery" Cooper who will always be remembered for knocking down another sporting legend - Cassius Clay - but alas not defeating him in a classic contest at the Arsenal football ground. Henry Cooper - Sir Henry after 2000 - was another person who transcended his sport.
Let's hope they'll be more Seve's and 'Enery's in this more commercial sporting environment..........