Source: www.rucriminal.info
Well-known sports journalist, author of books about football Alexey Matveev continues the story about Spartak's "stars". Details - especially for the telegram channel of the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info.
"BURNED" IN THREE MONTHS
“Outwardly, nothing spoke of an imminent tragic denouement,” recalls the son of the legendary football player Vadim Logofet. - There are photos that captured our joint vacation in Italy. In August 2011, the whole company lived in a picturesque place there. I called my parents, my wife Katya - hers. We took our three-year-old son on that trip. Enjoyed two weeks.
Dad was cheerful. He walked a lot, talked with us. By tradition, I drank a cup of coffee in the morning, and - forward. I repeat, there are no external signs of approaching grief. Father could sip whiskey, wine, of course, Italian. In the evenings we visited local attractions with our grandson and son Nikita. Grandfather Gennady adored him. In the yard - mid-August.
Already in September, I noticed that my father was weakening before my eyes. The complexion has changed, he has lost a lot of weight. Guests arrived as usual. We sit at the table, dad will drink vodka, eat a cucumber. And it starts to "blow away". He still smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. He involuntarily exclaimed to himself: well, how can you smoke so much?! And from a young age, and, it turns out, until the end of days.
During his football career, he also did not stop "smoke". And club partners smoked day and night. How did they manage to run briskly during the matches, and even give out victorious results?! For me, it remained a mystery on the example of the pope.
CONTEMPT FOR DOCTORS
I must say, my father did not like doctors, he was not going to contact them. It was impossible to drag him not only to an examination, but to a regular appointment with a doctor. The second mistake: according to the pope, how much a person is measured, how much he will live. In general, health was left to chance, to chance, and the like. “Leave me alone, it will pass by itself, maybe an unnecessary piece will “fall off”, and everything will return to normal,” dad joked in response to my next requests, exhortations to go to the doctors.
There was nothing they could do to convince him. I won't say that my father gave up on himself. This would not be true. Naturally, he wanted to live. But he did nothing to take care of his health, if necessary, correct it. It turned out, and very soon, that it urgently needed to be corrected!
The scene is still in front of my eyes. He was already an adult. He literally knelt down before his father, begging him to go to the doctor, to be examined. For the sake of all of us, the grandson, first of all. “You still have to take Nikita to school, to give it to the sports section,” he said then to dad.
As a result, they received a terrible diagnosis from doctors - cancer of the caecum. Specialists gave dad only a month or two to live. Multiple metastases in the liver. “Your loved one can no longer be saved,” the doctor said. “He will start to give up quickly, be prepared for this,” and so on.
"Can't be!" - in turn, we were perplexed and indignant. They complained more about the fate of the villain than about the doctors. They realized that too much time had been wasted. “Yes, we will send dad to Israel, to the best clinic. We will pay any money! Meanwhile, my father was diagnosed with the last stage of cancer.
STATE OF SHOCK
Mom and I were truly shocked by what was happening to dad, but we didn’t give up. My condition was depressing also because I moved from one place of work to another. All signs of growth are present. And then with the father such a difficult story ...
Nevertheless, as I already said, they did not give up, they continued to desperately fight for the life of a loved one. Two or three more domestic doctors of the father were shown, a disk with a medical history was sent to Israel. Hoping for a miracle, real healing. Alas. Everywhere we were confirmed a terrible fact: with so many metastases in the liver, it is impossible to save our dad.
Doctors urged us to be strong, as they traditionally say in such cases. They advised us to make the final period of the life of our dearly beloved, close, wonderful, amazing dad, as happy as possible. Thus, at least somehow alleviate his physical suffering. Which it was impossible to guess if you didn’t know anything about the diagnosis at all.
The father did not betray himself in any way. Talked to me and my mother, as if nothing had happened. He joked, even cheered up. What if the disease wins? - this thought lived in us all the time, while dad talked to me, mom, less often with time-tested friends.
Gennady Olegovich did not know that he had cancer. But, I think, if he knew, he would not change anything in his lifestyle. Dad, I already said, has his own philosophy. Well, given to live 69 years, then so be it. This is not a drawing, not a pose, not a pretense. Indeed, such a warehouse man. Then, according to the father, the time will come to die. With deadly calmness, Papa talked about eternal values long before he left.
I remember that I didn’t pay attention to such a “trifle” as a problem with my knees. This is the "legacy" of big football. There with l people do not stand on ceremony, they hit desperately, sometimes not so much on the ball as on the legs. Often consciously, in order to injure more painfully, unbalance, sometimes completely deprive them of the opportunity to continue their career. Morals are still the same in Soviet football.
As a result, dad's knees in the usual sense are almost gone. No links, nothing. A solid mess - you have to see it inwardly to shudder, to be horrified. All the same, my father continued to play for the veterans' teams, no matter what.
I would like to tell you that after the tragedy with my father I changed my attitude to the issues of oncology, its prevention and treatment. In addition, no one in our family died of cancer. So, each of us at a certain stage of life should be examined. And do not be shy about it, do not run away from possible problems. The words I've made.
For example, a tumor of the caecum found in the father did not manifest itself in any way. Nothing hurt, meanwhile, cancer was already doing its “dirty” deed, destroying the body, you understand? Father, it turned out, “burned out” literally in just three months. The last thing we did was take a loved one to the 68th hospital in the capital at Kolomenskaya. From there he never left. Died December 5th.
It was terrible to look at my mother, she was so “killed” by grief. It's no joke, thirty-five years to live with dad. Soul to soul. The grief was even bitterer, more deeply felt from the loss of a dearly loved person.
Time cures? Not sure. The bitterness of an irreparable loss is still felt. And it doesn't go away with the years.
"TEAR THE RED BEAST"!
Frankly, I saw little matches with the participation of my father and his Spartak of those years. Except on video, on the Internet. I was born in the 79th. And dad and the team took the "gold" of the championship in the 69th, the Cup of the country in the 71st. I remember his amazing ball to Rostov SKA in the Cup final. Father literally equalized the score in the last seconds. The next day, in the replay, the Spartacists did not miss the opportunity to take the honorary trophy.
And the ball to Dynamo Kyiv in Luzhniki also became legendary, laid the foundation for the championship in the same 69th. It seems that according to his role he is a defender, but he decided the fate of decisive matches for his team with one blow. Smart, thoughtful, and not adventurous connections to the attack. He was very friendly with Evgeny Lovchev, despite the age difference. Evgeny Serafimovich, along with his father and other partners, forged that victory in the championship.
At home, on Nakhimovsky Prospekt, a very memorable photo, dear to our hearts, is kept. On it is dad with world-famous football masters - Lev Yashin, Franz Beckenbauer. These are the people who came to visit. Just in time for the housewarming party, their visit came, we received a brand new apartment at that time on Nakhimovsky in 1982.
Someone will ask, but what about Sokolniki, the true homeland of the Spartacists? Why didn’t the Logothetes settle there, because it is on the territory of a wonderful area that many Spartak football players and hockey players still live to this day.
It so happened that in Sokolniki we did not have an apartment or any other real estate. Dad at one time received housing on Butyrsky Val, where he lived with his wife and daughter. Then he met my mother, they rented square meters. Only years later, they celebrated the housewarming party, which I have already mentioned.
... This is DNA, I don’t like CSKA, only Spartak! Just as I can't stand Dynamo Kiev, the antipode of my favorite team in the Soviet championships. The history of the family, which has also become somewhat legendary. Dad in his youth lived with his parents in a house on Berezhkovskaya embankment. The guy is only 20 years old, he has already played at the base of the popularly beloved Spartak.
Ordinary Soviet courtyard. The men at the table are playing dominoes, a truly popular game for those times. They know that young Gesha is about to leave for Luzhniki for the game against Dynamo Kyiv. And they admonish the young genius: “Yes, you tear the red-haired beast!”. I meant, of course, Valery Lobanovsky, a colorful player of Kiev at that time. Moscow fans did not like him, like the whole visiting team. Gesha tried not to deceive the expectations of ardent, sometimes overly emotional fans. The call of the fans - "to tear" - fell just in the 62nd year, when the "red-whites" really beat everyone. And they became national champions. The most faithful, amazing fans of Spartak!
By the will of fate, years later, dad then worked with Valery Vasilyevich in the Soviet team. Moreover, Lobanovsky called his father to the United Arab Emirates as an assistant, an expert. Along with Morozov, Mosyagin. A little later, Shubin joined them.
The Soviet block of coaches, headed by Lobanovsky, prepared the local national team for the matches. Valery Vasilyevich appreciated the knowledge of specialists, regardless of their club affiliation. Because he himself was an outstanding personality in football ...
Alexey Matveev
Source: www.rucriminal.info
