OAKLAND — News of the passing of Warriors legend Nate Thurmond hit hard at the Coliseum on Saturday.
“One of the great, great athletes in Bay Area history,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.
[RATTO: Defensive dominator Thurmond one of NBA's most underrated all-time]
Thurmond died Saturday at the age of 74 after a battle with leukemia. Melvin spent lots of time around the Warriors as a youth because his godfather, Dick D’Oliva, was the team’s head trainer from 1967-87. That gave him a chance to get to know Thurmond, voted one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players of all time.