His funeral is today and is beginning. Live streams: http://abc13.com/live/23374/ http://www.khou.com/videos/news/local/2014/07/29/12651418/ http://www.click2houston.com/sports/moses-malones-funeral-to-be-held-on-saturday-in-houston/35323178 Rest in peace Moses Malone. Edit: Charles just spoke. I have learned on making speeches the three b's: be brief brother. You know, you guys had a father, I called Moses dad. I haven't called him Moses since 1985. Every time I saw him, I called him dad. He was your father, my dad. When I got to Philly in 1984, we had tremendous older brothers on the team. I looked at those guys as older brothers. I never understood why he took me under his wing. He treated me as a son. I pulled him aside one day and said "I'm struggling, what can I do? Give me advice." He says, "Little fella, you're fat & lazy." I said, "What?" He said "You're fat and you're lazy. You're not really lazy but your so fat, you can't work hard so that makes you lazy. I said I want to be a good player. He said "You can't play ball being out of shape." He said "I'll work with you before and after practice." He said "Lose 10lbs." He said "You're working harder, I can tell." He said "Lose 10 more lbs." He got me down to 270. Moses said "Lose 10 more." I got down to 250. The rest is history. I never understood why a guy that great took a kid from Alabama under his wing. He said one day, "You want a job but you don't want to work." I said, "What?" He says, "When you have a job you ahve to work." He said "You young guys want a job but don't want to work." I tell that to kids today. ... Staying on my case at the time, it was a struggle but I cannot believe how lucky I am to have a father figure on me to keep me going forward. I always thanked him for that. ... I feel great sadness that I'm not gonna get to say "Dad, Big Mo" every time I see him. That hurts me. This guy was a humble person. I don't think I've heard someone say a bad word about Moses. I'm blessed to have been connected with him. Anyone who connected with him, you're a much better person. He's one of the best business men ever. People confuse that voice with "He don't know". He knows his stuff. The reason I call this bittersweet, I can't come close to knowing what the family feels. I share your pain but I call it bitter because I won't see him again, shake his hand or give him a hug. One other mentor is Bill Russell. I asked him about his greatest accomplishments. He said basketball is great but the only thing that matters is pleasing my dad. The sweet part for me, being up here today, when the family asked me to speak, it meant my dad was proud of me. This is one of the coolest things to happen to me. This meant Moses said he was proud of me. That's the sweet part. Today is bitter and sweet. I was blessed to have a connection with Moses and the world is sadder place because he isn't here.
I saw Moses Malone in the dmv office I work at several years ago. He was standing in line, towering above everyone else. i went over and asked him what he was there for. He was looking for the nearby vehicle titles office. I gave him directions on how to get there and that was that.
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Did anybody go to the funeral? I did and was very surprised by the nature of the event. Wonder if anybody else has the same issue or it was just me.
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Cheeks is a guy with incredible character to me. Every time I see him or hear his name, I think of this: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q4880PJnO2E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> These compliments, coming from a man I respect so much, mean that much more.
He was supposed to be there according to Malone's son. I'm still sitting here thinking about the legends Houston has had in each of the 3 big sports that all were some of the most humble/down-to-earth human beings ever, and how I was lucky enough to know they represented my city as I grew up : Moses Malone, Nolan Ryan, and Earl Campbell. Towards the end of his career, you could probably even throw Hakeem in there.
