The STL blues family lost one of its finest this past Wednesday the 24th. This one hit the STL community in the heart. Whether they knew him personally or not, all hearts were broken after the news broke Wednesday afternoon.

Plager was involved in a car accident Wednesday. It is reported shortly after that he passed away from cardiac related issues.  

Plager had a special personality. He was called The Original Blue for a reason. Stan Musial was called Stan the Man for that same reason. 

What is that reason. What made them loved by an entire community. What about them let them have the impact they had on the city of St. Louis. Both of these men set standards for what it meant to be a blue and what it meant to be a cardinal. 

One night about two years ago my family and I went out to dinner and we ended up realizing we were sitting next to Bob Plager. 

My Dad didn’t want to bother him, but he had to tell Plager a story and thank him. The story my Dad told him was from when he was eight years old. My Dad’s Dad used to take him to blues games. After the games they would go down to the tunnel that led to the locker room and see the players.

One night Plager came off the ice and through the tunnel and let my dad reach into his glove for a puck. This little act made an eight year old’s day if not month or year. 

When my dad told him the story he knew exactly what he was talking about. He said he used to put 3 or 4 pucks in his glove and when they were done all the time. My Dad Thanked him for that little gesture that meant so much to him when he was 8. Bobby thanked him for telling him the story and was happy to hear it. 

Bobby made it a point to do it because he probably knew how much it meant to the kid. Some don’t care about little things like this, but he did. 

My Dad being a baseball coach, I grew up in a varsity dugout. When I was 5, those nobody high schoolers were like Gods to me. When you’re that little, a big high school baseball player is like a celebrity to you, you don’t know any better. I still remember the guys that talked to me, had me do something, or just somehow acknowledged me. I thought it was the coolest thing. A little act, that most don’t think much of, could mean more than anything to a five year old kid or anybody. 

So what do all these guys have in common? Why does my dad remember his plager story. Why do I remember a couple nobody’s? Why does anyone who ever met Stan Musial remember it like it was yesterday? 

All these guys had one thing in common, they all cared about others more than themselves. If you’re all about you, you don’t go out of your way to sign autographs, you don’t go out of your way to shake somebody’s hand, and you don’t go out of your way to talk to a fan. 

If you play to raise your name, you will never make an impact like Stan the Man and Plager did on a whole community. 

Both of these men were loved by a whole entire community mostly because of the way they played the game for the front of the jersey and not the back.

We might have some striving to be like these men in this community, but these types of people don’t come very often. If you asked me who the Bob Plager is of WCA, one standout name doesn’t come to mind. Who could be that guy or girl to be that Bobby Plager personality in our WCA community? 

Bob Plager left a legacy for the St.Louis Blues to follow but he also left that same legacy for all athletes looking to make a positive impact on a community like he did.