Whether encountered via a crunching tackle on the pitch, or whether you were the recipient of a bone-crushing handshake off it, Kevin Ball left his mark.
The word 'legend' has long since become overused and devalued in football terms, but 'Bally' is one man who merits the label in its old-fashioned sense.
And that is why the ending of his three-decade-long association with Sunderland today is big news.
It has come at a bad time for Sunderland, just at the very moment when the Black Cats' fortunes have nosedived on the pitch and matters regarding the ownership of the club have further inflamed supporters.
Bally had been quietly sidelined for some time, furloughed from his role as a club ambassador when the Covid pandemic struck in 2019 never to return, and although he is believed to have been offered an alternative role it was clearly not something that appealed.
He is a great loss because in Bally Sunderland had a straight-talking communicator whose commitment to the club and its supporters could not be questioned.
He was, and is, trusted by supporters, and that kind of connection is something the club can ill-afford to lose right now.
The bond between Bally and Sunderland fans has been more than 30 years in the making, dating from his arrival in the summer of 1990 when Denis Smith brought him from Portsmouth to Roker Park for a bargain £350,000.
Born on the South Coast, Bally moved to the North East earned first the appreciation and then the adulation of Sunderland fans - and he it says much about his character that he is also one of that elite group of players and managers who are afforded bi-partisan respect on Tyneside as well as Wearside.
During his nine-and-a-half year stay as a player Bally made almost 400 appearances in central defence and midfield, including in the 1992 FA Cup against Liverpool at Wembley, and led Sunderland to promotion to the Premier League in 1996 and again in 1999, when the Black Cats amassed a then-record 105 points.
He succeeded Paul Bracewell as captain, and as well as being an inspirational leader on the field, he also ruled the roost in the dressing room, keeping players in line, and acting as a conduit betwen them and the manager.
Bally left for Fulham in December of 1999 and finished his career at Burnley, but he returned to Sunderland in 2003 as a coach under Mick McCarthy.
He spent time in charge of both the U18 sides and U21 sides at the Academy of Light and was later assistant academy manager, and was instrumental in overseeing the development of youngsters including future England internationals Jordan Henderson and Jordan Pickford.
He demanded high standards of the young talent, both in terms of their football and also their behaviour, and many of the players who went on to make careers either at Sunderland or elsewhere still keep in touch with him to this day.
Bally also had two spells as caretaker-manager, holding the fort following McCarthy's sacking in 2006 and again in the wake of Paolo Di Canio's dismissal in 2013.
He took on the ambassadorial role in 2014, representing the club, speaking to supporters, and attending functions across the North East and beyond.
Social media has been full of stories today about fans' various meetings with Bally, his willingness to give his time, and his random acts of kindness.
I remember one of my colleagues telling me many years ago that, when a Sunderland-supporting member of his family was terminally ill, he contacted the club asking if there was any chance of a signed football to give his relative a lift.
The signed ball duly arrived, hand-delivered out-of-the-blue by Bally who spent hours of his time with the relative, without any fanfare and without being asked to do so by the club.
And during his first spell as caretaker-manager Bally, a stickler for timekeeping, instituted a system of fines for journalists who were late to his press conferences at the Academy of Light - and on the one occasion he was 30 seconds late, he fined himself!
At the end of the season, when he handed over the managerial reins, the monies collected were put behind the bar at a pub in Durham for a drink or two to mark the occasion.
Sunderland fans will have plenty of similar tales of their own.
They are the sort of touches that elevated Bally from important player and well-liked figure, to a club legend.
It is a great shame that the club he served with such distinction can no longer find a fitting role for him.
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