Lyndon Byers passed away over the weekend at the age of 61. For Bruins fans in the 1980s and early 90s, he was one of their all-time favorite tough guys. For WAAF listeners, he was a regular part of their mornings for 23 years. For anyone who was fortunate enough to meet him in any capacity, he was just a great guy.
For Greg Hill, LB was a dear friend and longtime co-host. Greg and the rest of the Greg Hill Show crew spent much of Monday morning paying tribute to LB and sharing memories of him. Listen to the full opening segment of Monday’s show above.
“I am gutted by the passing of our pal, Lyndon Byers, over the weekend,” Greg said. “LB and I were friends for 34 long years, and co-workers on the same radio show for 23 years. And so, there's a lot to talk about when it comes to LB.
“We last had him on the show in February. LB was a leap year baby, and so he was celebrating his birthday. And I think it was probably a month ago or so that I mentioned I had spoken to him, and he was in the hospital and dealing with some stuff. It's always a good lesson about making sure that you're always, when somebody is not feeling great, that you're always checking in with that person. Because you just never know. So, there's a lot to get to when it comes to LB this morning on this show and forever.
“He was a guy who was drafted in the second round by the Boston Bruins, and came here and turned into more of a Bostonian than a lot of people who live here. … When it comes to a period of time playing in that kind of a role for a sports franchise in the city, which is basically a goon role, I don't know that there's anybody who would go out and about after his career and was more beloved by the fans than LB was.”
“He was one of those guys, Greg,” added Jermaine Wiggins, “where it's like, when you don a jersey for one of the local teams and you're just like the fan favorite because you're a guy who plays with grit, who plays a specific role. And especially in hockey during that time, that enforcer, that guy that was there to protect everybody. So, when you have those guys and then they retire and they stay around and, obviously you and him and the rest of the Greg Hill Show on WAAF at the time with all those different characters becoming part of the fabric of people's everyday lives, kind of like what we do now.
“And you have a guy like that who, when you meet him, you're like, ‘Oh, wait a second, this is just a regular guy.’ Like I remember when he played for the Bruins, and then you get an opportunity to meet him. I played in a couple Bruins alumni games, and he was so nice to my youngest son, who was a hockey player. And I think those guys are hard to come by, where they give you everything they got on the field, but then off the field after their career, they do even more.”
“When it comes to charitable endeavors,” Greg said, “I will argue till I'm blue in the face, which I probably already am anyway, that there's nobody who did more of that than LB. You told him that you were trying to raise money doing something somewhere, he would show up and he'd hang out for five hours with everybody and have a blast. He might be late getting there, but he would be there and he'd have a great excuse. Nobody had a better excuse for missing work than LB.”
For anyone who listened to the Hill-Man Morning Show on WAAF, you know that last part is not meant as a criticism of LB. The excuses were just part of the LB experience, and part of what made him so lovable.
Courtney Cox asked Greg if he had any favorite excuses.
“I have a couple favorites,” Greg said. “At one point, because he would normally not be there for the show and we would scramble around wondering where he was and what had happened, and he wouldn't answer his phone, and then around 10:30 or 11 o'clock, we would hear from LB, and he would have an excuse. So, I would say among the best are, at one point, he apparently couldn't make it to work because he had been sprayed by a skunk. And so, lord knows you can't come to work when you have been sprayed by a skunk.
“Another time, he had had his hardwood floors redone, and he claimed that he was overcome by fumes, and so therefore could not make it in to the morning show on that day as well. So, nobody was ever better, and it's kind of hard when you go that deep into the excuse. It's kind of hard to call it out, you know what I mean?”
Former Bruins teammates Bob Sweeney and Ray Bourque also joined Monday's show to share some memories of LB, which you can check out below.
Rest in peace, LB.