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Dan Shaughnessy

Why we love Larry Lucchino

“Maybe to everybody we have something to prove,” said Sox president Larry Lucchino.MATTHEW J. LEE/GLOBE STAFF

FORT MYERS, Fla. — How much do I love Larry Lucchino? Let me count the ways. I may not be able to come up with 100, but there’s a lot to love about the Red Sox CEO.

■   He played basketball at Princeton with Bill Bradley.

■   He built Camden Yards, the ballpark that changed everything about the way ballparks are built over the last two decades.

■   The late George Steinbrenner hated Lucchino.

■   It was Lucchino who oversaw the spectacular renovation of Fenway Park.

■   Lucchino dated Maria Shriver.

■   Larry changed the Culture Of No at Fenway Park. He came to Boston in 2001 and announced that the Red Sox were “in the Yes Business.’’

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■   Larry was a star baseball player at Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh. It’s the same high school that produced Curtis Martin.

■   Lucchino is the only man on the planet with a Final Four ring, a Super Bowl ring, and a World Series ring.

■   If Mike Brown had hired Larry to teach the Princeton offense, Brown would still be coaching the Los Angeles Lakers.

■   Larry’s mom, the late Rose Lucchino, was a member of a bowling league well into her 90s and kept score at every baseball game she attended in Box L-1 at Fenway.

■   Larry called Scott Boras a liar. To his face.

■   Lucchino built Petco Park in San Diego.

■   His mentor, Edward Bennett Williams, went to Holy Cross and was perhaps the greatest trial lawyer of the 20th century.

■   Lucchino was the only member of the Sox ownership trio who called Terry Francona after the Globe’s explosive story on the ex-manager in October of 2011.

Larry Lucchino offered “no comment” to two questions posed by Dan Shaughnessy on Thursday, but answered similar questions posed by other reporters. Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff/Globe Staff

■   Larry got to hang out with Elizabeth Taylor on football Sundays at RFK Stadium when Williams owned the Redskins.

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■   He brought Janet Marie Smith to Boston.

■   He gave Theo Epstein his first break in big league baseball.

■   He beat cancer. Twice. And is a champion for the Jimmy Fund.

■   As a Yale law student, Lucchino worked alongside classmate Hillary Rodham on the Senate Watergate impeachment committee.

■   He invented the concept of ball club “roundtable” sessions where players could exchange ideas with ownership.

■   It was Lucchino who brought maestro Dr. Charles Steinberg to Boston.

■   Lucchino grew up near Forbes Field, a classic old ballpark. He borrowed from Forbes when he built Camden Yards and renovated Fenway.

■   He is well-read. Lucchino said he is reading a Jefferson biography at the moment.

■   His wife, Stacey Lucchino, rides in the Pan-Mass Challenge and works for multiple charities, including the YMCA of Greater Boston.

■   The Lucchino family comes from Calabria, the toe of the boot in Italy. “Stubbornness is supposed to be a trait of the Calabrians,’’ Lucchino told the Globe in 2002.

■   He was the first to refer to the Yankees as “the evil empire.’’

■   He is exceptionally loyal. If you take a bullet for Larry, he takes care of you for the rest of your life.

■   He looks a lot like Tommy Lee Jones.

■   Lucchino engaged in a $20,000 bet to see if Francona could quit chewing tobacco in 2009. Francona lost the bet and Lucchino gave the money to Children’s Hospital.

■   In Earl Weaver style, Lucchino loves a good argument, has thick skin, and doesn’t take things personally.

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Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com