Sir Brian Lochore's death on Saturday has been met with an outpouring of grief from both the rugby community and wider public, but stories of the All Blacks great have also begun to surface as well.
1 NEWS Sport presenter Scotty Stevenson appeared on TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning to remember Sir Brian as well as share a few tales of the 1987 World Cup winning coach.
"He was a joy," Stevenson said.
"There are some people in life that you just meet and you think, 'I just have to impress this person, I'd hate to disappoint this man'.
Sir Brian Lochore was a humble farm boy who became a sporting legend. (Source: Other)
"He was a large man and he was a gentle man. I don't think he was a gentle man on the field - in fact, if you talk to anyone who played against him, he was a rugged bugger - but when you met in real life and he put out his big mitts and he shook your hand and would always have a conversation.
"The stories of legend of just the small acts of generosity that Brian was capable of."
One such story involved young Ethan Bai, who starred as the rookie rugby player Sir Brian walked out in the 2011 Rugby World Cup opening ceremony.
"Several months later [Sir Brian] was on his way to a function in Christchurch as part of the Halberg Disability Sports foundation. My friend Grant was driving him from the airport and he said, 'how long will it take to get to the hotel because I've got a date that I've got to stick to'.
"He had decided that because he didn't get to spend a lot of time with the child during the opening ceremony, he reached out to him and his father, organised a dinner for them, found a jersey at home - he'd already given away all his All Blacks jerseys so he found a Barbarians jersey he had - took that down to the little boy that had been part of the ceremony and had dinner with him and his father.
"That was just off his own back and that was BJ."
Stevenson said there are "thousands and thousands of stories" like that.
"The other thing about him was he was deeply involved in the game.
"He had this perception that I think is very rare in life. Sir Brian knew what was going on in the game with the players and they sought his counsel."
Stevenson said Sir Brian changed the game for New Zealand rugby with his style of play.
"He was a mobile Number 8, he was a passer, he could kick if he needed to, he had a beautiful swerve on him, he was fast and athletic from all that time chasing sheep around the Wairarapa.
"He did, in some ways, I think reinvent the position of No.8 for New Zealand rugby."
Sir Brian died late Saturday night after a battle with cancer, aged 78.
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