Nate Thurmond: Great player, greater man

Nate Thurmond died at the age of 74.Walk into Oracle Arena in Oakland, cast a glance at the rafters, and you’ll see Nate Thurmond’s jersey, No. 42, hanging in the rafters, never to be worn by another.

Walk into Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, take a look above, and you’ll see Thurmond’s jersey, No. 42, hanging in those rafters too.

Walk into the shrine celebrating the 42 classiest men ever to walk the earth, and you’ll find Thurmond’s picture on the wall.

For the gaudy accolades and impressive statistics Thurmond compiled over his 14-year career provide not the slightest hint of the man’s most impressive characteristics. When Nate Thurmond died Saturday morning at age 74, felled by leukemia,…