We already knew Bob Costas was a decent, stand-up guy. But he proved it once again to everyone on the day of the Runyon banquet.

Despite our best-laid plans, Costas missed his flight from LaGuardia Airport to Denver on the morning of the banquet.

Undeterred and true to his word, he chartered a private jet at his own expense and -- thanks in part to some expert fast driving by Runyon co-chair Mark Stutz -- he made it to the reception in the nick of time.

Costas delivered what may go down as one of the funniest speeches in Runyon history. Among the topics covered: some very funny Yogi Berra stories, a yarn about Miss Cheesecake USA and a darned good imitation of a St. Louis Cardinal’s baseball game play by play.

He also turned serious at the end by decrying a culture where vicious personal attacks on talk radio and cable television were becoming the norm. He drew a standing ovation for his denunciation of the kind of people who coarsen the public airwaves in a cheap grab for higher ratings.

And despite the fact that he was at the end of an exhausting day with an early flight home the next morning, Costas stayed and talked at length with several of our Runyon scholarship winners, and signed plenty of autographs and posed for many photos.