East Lansing – He was still too young, too robust, too filled with vitality and, seemingly, so flush with days and years ahead, that Michigan State was no more prepared than family or friends to say goodbye to Ron Mason.
With acceptance and sorrow, it was left to an aching community Thursday to offer its best tribute to an extraordinary college hockey coach, athletic director, and MSU luminary who died in Monday’s early hours of a heart attack at age 76.
“I didn’t live with him, I didn’t play for him, I just used him as a role model,” said Spartans basketball coach Tom Izzo, who was one of eight people who eulogized Mason during a 70-minute service at Munn Arena, the site where much of a man’s legacy took flower during his 23 seasons as Spartans hockey coach.