February 6, 1958

Today is the sad anniversary of the Munich air disaster in 1958, when a plane carrying members of Manchester United crashed on take-off from Munich airport. The team was returning from Belgrade. Some of us old timers from Summers Sports Pub can remember the moving description of the Busby Babes (as the ill-fated Manchester United squad was called) by a former Red Star Belgrade player Bronko, who was a regular at the fabled Arlington soccer pub.

Bronko played against the Busby Babes in that last match of their lives in Belgrade. You couldn't listen to him without sharing the excitement he still felt decades later competing against some of the best footballers England ever produced; or forget the emotion he still showed when forced to remember the crash. It was a rare privilege to listen to a detailed description of the match from the perspective of a Red Star player. (I also asked Bronko later who his favorite footballer was to play against of all time. The true athlete that he was, he said without hesitation "Georgie" - George Best.)

RIP, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, Duncan Edwards, Billy Whelan, Tommy Taylor, David Pegg and Geoff Bent … and Jackie Blanchflower and Johnny Berry.