Goodbye to greatness

Thanks for writing this, Fluto. I also had Jack as a professor. I'll always remember him telling us how nervous he got before a lecture, but it never showed. He knocked it out of the park every time. I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to one of his classes on web journalism, and for my 20 minutes of "work", he took me to lunch and we talked for over an hour. Never met someone who truly enjoyed his craft more. You will be missed, Jack.

I did not know Jack personally, but I was deeply touched by your loving tribute to your dear teacher and friend. A man's true worth is measured by his legacy of love, and it surely seems he leaves quite a legacy. It is very apparent that his life was permeated by love, a true love that is characterized by the giving of one's self through gifts of time, interest, attention, and affection. Physical separation is so painful, but there is comfort in knowing that you can never be separated from the love he so freely shared with all his family and friends. My deepest sympathy to Jack's family and friends at your enormous loss.

Thanks for this article. I actually just met Jack through email earlier this year. About the time Saved came out. I wanted desperately to meet him. He was an inspiration to me, and to my writing. The hockey and writing worlds have both lost a great man.

Another student of Jack's checking in. I have a few tears in my eyes with this one, Fluto. I echo the sentiment that Jack was the best professor I ever had, and while I was dumb enough to lose touch with him over the last couple years, I will always consider him my friend and mentor, even though I haven't followed his career path. Jack was a wonderful human being and his family, BU, the hockey community and all of his former and current students have lost an absolute treasure of a man. I'll always treasure the emails I have sitting in my inbox, never to be deleted because I can always gain more wisdom and more laughter from them. Thank you Fluto for this story. And thank you, Jack, for being such a huge influence on countless lives.

Thank you, Fluto -- heart-felt, honest and beautifully written.

Thank you for remembering my brother so fondly and taking time to express it. He would be so pleased know a Fund will go to help future writers, and in the tradition of the Montreal Canadians, "pass the torch" to future writers.

I didn't know Jack personally, but he and I traded e-mails and a letter a few years ago. I work in Maine as a newspaper reporter, and Jack reached out to me after he saw a story that I wrote about playing goalie in an adult hockey league.

He sent a complimentary e-mail, then followed up by sending a copy of one of his books. He made a great impression with his kindness.

His passing is a great loss for the community at large, and especially for those who were lucky enough to know him as a teacher and a friend. My life is richer because of him. I will say a prayer for him and his family when I skate next, and I hope others do, as well.

Fluto, I was in Falla's class when you spoke this May. I agree whole-heartedly with your sentiments expressed here -- I was lucky to have him as a professor. He was the best professor I had at BU, too. He was a great teacher and it had nothing to do with the subject matter. It was because he cared -- about each and every one of us, every time we stepped through that door (even if we were a little late to class...yes, I occasionally had trouble with the eight a.m. start time).

I had kept in touch with Jack since I graduated in May, and had been thinking of sending him another email to let him know how I am getting along in my new (first) job. I'll never get to do that, now, and that makes me sad. But I'm happy that I met him, and I'll certainly never forget all he has taught me. RIP, Jack.

To you from failing hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high.

Thank you, Fluto, for this wonderful piece of work.

The torch has been passed, to all of us who have been honored to know this wonderful man.

Be it ours to hold it high.

I wasn't a journalism Major at BU. Nor was I priveleged enough to know Jack Falla as well as some of my classmates and colleagues did. However, I do know from experience how exceptional this man was as a professor and a person. Our sports communication class was early in the morning, in the basement of the COM building. 20 or so of us were crammed in this smoldering, closet of a classroom. Nobody was late. Nobody missed. Class was active, engaging and full of life-lessons encoded in anecdotes. He will be SORELY missed. My prayers go out to his family, friends and fellow students like me. If I know anything about Jack Falla, it's that If there isn't a hockey rink in heaven, he's building one.

Elizabeth, First let me say ,I am sorry for your loss..I saw the picture of your brother with his wife and thoughts of my dad crept in.I began reading it and B.U., the Montreal Canadiens,being a teacher, popped up,and I soon began to cry thinking of my Dad who passed away of cancer a few years ago.He played college hockey for B.U.back in the late 1950s,was a teacher,and was a huge Montreal Canadiens fan.Maybee your brother and my dad just connected and are tallking a good game of hockey.

You summed it up perfectly, Fluto - and I really appreciate you writing this. Jack was amazing in basically every way a human being can be. Talented yet (perhaps too) humble. Extremely caring and compassionate. Very funny but always tactful.

And man, did he enjoy life, which is great. Obviously I'll remember all the lessons and witty lines and sports metaphors (I believe he once told me he "audibled" in the produce department at the grocery store).

But I think above all I'll remember the look on his face when he was skating the Omni, calling for the puck this boyish grin even though he was facing no defense and no goalie with two poor skaters as his teammates.

Every time I'm ever having a tough day, it'll be Jack's voice in my head with perhaps his signature line. "You gotta play hurt."

This week, without Jack, a LOT of people are doing that.

Yet another former student Jack touched here. Thank you for this, Fluto. You should know that Jack never failed to mention your name with a great deal of pride when we spoke or emailed. One of the exceptional things about him (and they were legion) was the joy he took in his students' achievements after they left his care. I'll never forget the warmth in his voice or his encouragement when I told him about my first job.

Thank you for the beautiful article about Jack and capturing what was most important, his devotion to his family.

For those of us who had him as a student, he was the president of our little group. He liked to joke about helping his students find job so that he would have world wide domination of the sports world.

Like Lipka said earlier, Jack's favorite line "You gotta play hurt," I know I'll be hurting for a very long time.

I remember the one time I barely skated in to class at 8:01 am. Jack was just rounding the corner and I made it to the door about a step before he did. He looked at me and said, "You didn't beat the throw, Andrea, but you made it in just under the tag."

In my defense, I was working a FT job across campus and was a part-time student. But I was never even *close* to late again.

Jack and I kept up via email over the last four years, as I moved cross-country twice following my SID career path. I made sure he always knew where I was and what I was doing, work-wise. He invited me, as a first-year SID to lecture to his class about my job and how I finally(!) broke in to the field (which, by the way, entailed getting hired by another former student of Jack's). His warmth and humor never ceased to amaze me. He was the kind of person who believed you were capable of greatness and who inspired greatness because he expected nothing less.

I feel fortunate to have known Jack, as a student and as a friend. He will be greatly missed by me and the legion of students he left behind. We love you, Jack. Thank you for being the amazing person you were.

Jack was the only man I could ever talk to who could actually bring up Doug Mohns and Brian Wilson in the same sentence.

I hope the Hockey Hall of Fame will do the right thing and induct him this year.

I also hope that Brian and others will have the heart to put up the boards and the ice to the Bacon Street Omni this winter. To drive by there and see everything up would be heartbreaking - but also fitting and comforting as well.