Sad, but probably good that his suffering is over given his long battle with leukemia.

(07-30) 11:50 PDT —Bill Walsh, the imaginative and charismatic coach who took over a downtrodden 49ers team and built one of the greatest franchises in NFL history, has died at the age of 75 after a long struggle with leukemia, it was announced today.

A master of using short, precisely timed passes to control the ball in what became known as the West Coast offense, he guided the team to three Super Bowl championships and six NFC West division titles in his 10 years as head coach.

I grew up a baseball guy in a baseball family, but Walsh’s 49’ers are what got me interested in football.  He was a brilliant man, and a classy sportsman.