Friends and Family say goodbye to “Daddy Rich”

TEQUESTA: The “Bad Boys” reunited to pay their respects Wednesday to “Daddy Rich”, aka Chuck Daly, who died last Saturday at age 78 after a short-lived battle with pancreatic cancer.  Daly has been known for shaping the Detroit Pistons when he became coach in 1983, and was also coach of the U.S. Olympic basketball “Dream Team”  in the summer of 1992 with players such as Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan.

With the notorious “Bad Boys” that includes Isiah “Zeke” Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, Dennis “Worm” Rodman, John Salley and Vinnie Johnson, Daly led the team to back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and 1990 under the mantra “Nothing’s easy!”

“Chuck was tough” former assistant coach Brendan Suhr told the Detroit Free Press Wednesday.  “He was a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of guy when it came to the hard work.  It got very physical, but he always told them that’s how’s it supposed to happen if you care about winning.  He never apologized for that.”

The funeral took place at South Florida, where Daly retired.

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