Photos: Life of A’s legend Rickey Henderson celebrated at memorial in Oakland

Friends, family and fans filled the Oakland Arena to give tribute to Rickey Henderson, the greatest Oakland A’s player of all time, who died at age 65 in December. Rapper MC Hammer, former A’s pitcher Dave Stewart, former NBA player Gary Payton and former MLB player Ken Griffey Jr. were among those that spoke about Henderson.

Other luminaries in attendance included former major league manager Dusty Baker, Barry Bonds, Joe Torre and Harold Reynolds. Former A’s teammates included Reggie Jackson, Dennis Eckersley, Jose Canseco, Mike Norris, Mike Davis, Dwayne Murphy, Carney Lansford, along with manager Tony La Russa.

Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson was born in Chicago in the back seat of an Oldsmobile before his mother could get to the hospital. He often joked of his arrival that Christmas Day in 1958 that, “I was already fast.”

Henderson’s family relocated to Oakland, where he became a star athlete at Oakland Tech High. Another often-shared story was that Henderson, a high school All-American running back, dreamed of playing for Oakland’s other team – the Raiders. But his mother, Bobbie, persuaded him to turn to the baseball diamond because he was less likely to get hurt.

Read a related stories about Henderson here, here and here: