RIP Flip Saunders

[Big Circus]

Just came across Twitter. 60 years old.

 

[dixiehack]

No story yet, but CBS Sports app confirmed, although they had his age at 69.

 

[Dyno]

Holy ****. In August, they said it was "very treatable." Sad news.

 

[Matt1735]

**** cancer

 

[Killick]

Premature? Don't see any news stories yet...

 

[Donny in his element]

Got the AP alert on my phone.

 

[wicked]

Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders dies of cancer at age 60

 

[Small Town Guy]

Damn. Over the past month this seemed inevitable with the stories -- and lack of real news -- coming out about his health. He turned the Wolves franchise around in the 1990s. People joked about the first round exits those years, but check out the franchise's record before he took over as coach. Great basketball mind and always seemed like a good guy. I played JUCO ball in the same league where Flip got his coaching start, at Golden Valley in Minnesota. He went 56-0 at home there.

A lot of people didn't like that he had so much power with the Wolves but I really thought he had them on the right track with all that young talent, and to know he's not going to be there to see what happens is terribly sad.

He also played on the Gophers teams of Musselman, famous for their pregame warmups. Note: This isn't actually him on the unicycle, but he was involved.

1975 Minnesota Gophers Basketball Warm Up

http://strib.mn/1LvjLHc

 

[Gator]

Team confirms it on a Twitter. I remember running the cancer story a little while back and how upbeat he seemed to fight it. This is pretty shocking and very sad.

 

[Songbird]

 

[Songbird]

Busy dude the last 3 years ...

 

[Stoney]

When announced a couple months ago the report was "very treatable and curable", made it sound something he'd likely beat. Instead it took him in two months.

 

[Starman]

Non-Hodgkin's is unpredictable. My dad had it in his early sixties, went through a course of chemo and radiation, and beat it.

He was in basically good health until it came back when he was 75. This time it metastasized fast and he was gone in 3-4 months.

 

[Songbird]

ruuufioToday, the guy who believed in me since day 1 passed away. He was all smiles passionate and really loved this game. He gave everything to the Timberwolves and did amazing things for us. He was our leader. Really gonna miss you coach. RestInPeace Flip.

 

[old_tony]

****. Just awful news. Flip was one of the really good ones.

 

[TowelWaver]

RIP Flip. Terrible news.

 

[mateen]

When you kept hearing nothing you assumed things couldn't good, and there were hints here and there, but even up here in Minnesota, there was remarkably little said over the air and written in newspapers about his condition over the past few months. You can probably attribute that in part to just how well-liked Flip was.

 

[MileHigh]

Awful news. The KG photo is numbing.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Non-Hodgkin's is unpredictable. My dad had it in his early sixties, went through a course of chemo and radiation, and beat it.

He was in basically good health until it came back when he was 75. This time it metastasized fast and he was gone in 3-4 months.

He had Hodgkins lymphoma. He was diagnosed four months ago, but suffered a 'setback' last month. It's awful. Hodgkins is very treatable, like 90%+ survival rate.

 

[Machine Head]

RIP, Flip.