Widow of Late Titans GM Floyd Reese Proud of Her…

Sally Reese said her husband was proud of that, even if he didn’t always show it.

“I’ll always remember Floyd as a kind, humble man,” said Sally, her voice cracking. “I always told him: You don’t sell yourself enough.’ But he didn’t want the credit. I’ll always treated people so well.”

In Reese’s tenure with the organization, the team advanced to the playoffs 11 times. As General Manager (1994-2006), he tallied 111 wins (106 regular season/5 postseason) and the Titans advanced to two AFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl (XXXIV).

Sally Reese was there every step of the way.

She was also there when he agonized over the hard times, and the tough losses.

“I bet you he watched the end of the Super Bowl, when Kevin Dyson got tackled at the one-yard line, 40 times,” Sally Reese recalled. “Same play, over and over again, he’d sit there picking his sideburn, one hand under his elbow, and the other one picking his sideburn – that’s what he did when he was nervous.

“I said, ‘Honey, I don’t care how many times you watch that, it’s not going to change (the result). He looked at me, and the look on his face, it wasn’t a happy one. Floyd hated losing. I’m not kidding, he would talk in his sleep over it.”

During a 45-minute interview on Monday, Sally Reese also talked about all the friendships Floyd made over the years, and all the good times he had around the game.

Floyd and Sally Reese had fun, too.

They raised two boys, and they took trips. There was even this time Floyd hit the jackpot when they were vacationing in Turks and Caicos.

While Sally was playing poker, Floyd went and played the slots.

“And he hit a slot machine that had never been hit before, and it rolled for 1 ½ hours,” Sally recalled, laughing hard. “It paid $10,000.”

Sally Reese said the casino manager took her husband into a back room and gave him $5,000 in $100 bills, and $5,000 more in $50s, $20s, $10s and $5s. Floyd told Sally to wait in the car while he dealt with the manager.

“They put all this money in a garbage bag, and when he came out he looked like Santa coming out of the casino,” Sally recalled, laughing. “Floyd jumped in the car, and we drove off. He kept his head on a swivel, thinking someone was going to come after him”

Sally Reese told one funny story after another about her husband of over 50 years, and you got the sense she could have gone on for days.

But she also stopped several times to collect herself, and fight back tears, because the fact he’s no longer here is still hard.

And, because more than anything, Sally wishes her husband could be on the field this Sunday for himself, to get the recognition he deserves.

Sally Reese kept her husband’s battle with cancer quiet in the final months of his life, because he wanted it that way. Floyd Reese ended up losing 100 pounds during his cancer fight, while the family prayed. He didn’t want to see visitors at the family’s home. In fact, the day he got his cancer diagnosis, he resigned from his position as a radio talk show host at 102.5 The Game, and he kept to himself.

“I knew this was coming,” Sally Reese said in a quieter, sadder moment. “When they told him fourth stage last November, we just prayed for a miracle. And Floyd, being the way he was, the day he heard the news he didn’t want to talk to people because he was such a private person. I think I’d be yelling for everybody to pray for me, but that was not Floyd’s style. He was really private.”

When the Titans announced Reese would be added to the Ring of Honor back in June, Floyd Reese was determined to make it.

Floyd Reese won’t be there in body on Sunday at Nissan Stadium, but he’ll be there in spirit.

Sally Reese knows he’ll be looking down, with a smile.

She’ll probably laugh some, and cry some.

“He’d lost 100 pounds, but he’d planned on going,” Sally said of her late husband, who was 73. “It would have been a shock to everybody, because no one knew (he had cancer). Unfortunately, he didn’t make it.

“But we are so thrilled that he’s being recognized, and we are so proud for him, and of him. You have no idea how proud we all are of him. And we are thrilled that he’s getting acknowledged. He earned it.”