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Munson Awards winners still feel icon's impact

NEW YORK -- Nearly four decades ago, her heart still heavy, Diana Munson coordinated the first Thurman Munson Awards Dinner with modest expectations. The goal was to honor her husband, the late Yankees captain, along with those who continued his legacy of on-field excellence and community service. It was a short-term goal, conceived less than a year after Thurman Munson's death in a plane crash in 1979, at age 32.

"They said this night is built on sentiment, so don't be sad when it ends," Diana Munson said. "Thirty-eight years later, I'm not sad."

That Diana Munson said those words from behind a podium Tuesday, to a ballroom full of people, proves her husband's legacy has fizzled little.