Michael Moynihan: You just had to be there. That’s the Norman Lloyd line

Norman Lloyd pictured in 2015. Lloyd, the distinguished stage and screen actor known for his role as a kindly doctor on TV's "St. Elsewhere," has died at 106. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

The passing of an athlete always gives us pause.

The idea of losing someone we admired specifically for their strength and fitness, maybe for years, is often all the more powerful if you didn’t know them personally: they stand for something, and when they’re gone, what does that something mean any more?