Meet The Sports Writers

[Bill Burgess]

Frank Edward Luksa

Born: February 25, 1935, Harris County, Texas
Died: October 23, 2012, age 77

Texas sports writer;
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Dallas Times Herald
Dallas Morning News, ? - 2004

Father: Frank Edward; Mother: Millie Marie Slovacek;

Longtime North Texas newspaper sports columnist Frank Luksa died early Tuesday morning. He was 77.

One of Luksa’s two daughters, Elise Daniel, said her father died peacefully at a Plano rehabilitation center. Luksa had triple heart-bypass surgery in August, Daniel said, and had been in and out of medical facilities since then.

Luksa had long and distinguished careers at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Times Herald and The Dallas Morning News. He retired from The News in 2004.

Luksa was a longtime voter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which, in 1992, bestowed Luksa with the Dick McCann Memorial Award. The award is annually presented by the Pro Football Writers of America in recognition of long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football.

During the week of Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium, Luksa, Pat Summerall and Dan Jenkins were presented with the Blackie Sherrod Award for their long and distinguished careers in North Texas covering pro football.

Elise Daniel said that a memorial service for her father has been set for 2 p.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church in Dallas, on 1928 Ross Avenue. Luksa is survived by his wife, Henrietta, daughters Elise Daniel and Laura McMillin, and five grandchildren.

[Bill Burgess]

Robert Lewis Teague, Jr.---AKA Bob Teague

Born: January 2, 1929, Milwaukee, WI
Died: March 28, 2013, Monmouth, NJ, age 84,---d. caner, T-cell lymphoma

New York sports writer / journalist;
District 4, Carroll, TN, 1.5-year old, (April 4, 1930 census)
Paris City, TN, 11-year, (April 5, 1940 census)
Graduated University of Wisconsis, 1947 - 1950(football star)
Milwaukee Journal,
US Army, 1952
CBS radio news writer, 1956 -
New York Times, sports copy editor, 1961? - 1963
WNBC-TV (New York), 1963 - 1991

Father: Robert Lewis, born Tennessee, around 1905; Mother: Kathelen, born Tennessee, around 1905.

New York Times' obituary, March 28, 2013
Bob Teague, WNBC Reporter Who Helped Integrate TV News, Is Dead at 84, By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Bob Teague, who joined WNBC-TV in New York in 1963 as one of the city’s first black television journalists and went on to work as a reporter, anchorman and producer for more than three decades, died on Thursday in New Brunswick, N.J. He was 84. The cause was T-cell lymphoma, his wife, Jan, said.

Mr. Teague, who lived in Monmouth Junction, N.J., established a reputation for finding smart, topical stories and delivering them in a sophisticated manner. Though he later criticized TV news as superficial and too focused on the appearance of reporters and anchors, his own good looks and modulated voice were believed to have helped his longevity.

Mal Goode became the first black network TV reporter in 1962. He was assigned to the ABC News United Nations bureau because network executives feared his presence in the main studio would be too disruptive, TV Guide reported.

WNBC, the NBC-owned station in New York, hired Mr. Teague, a seasoned newspaper reporter, the next year. As racial tensions mounted in the 1960s, he was often sent into minority neighborhoods. In July 1963, he was a principal correspondent for “Harlem: Test for the North,” an hourlong network program prepared after riots broke out in the neighborhood.

“They felt black reporters would be invulnerable in a riot,” Mr. Teague said in an interview with The Associated Press in 1981. They were not, but he and others proved themselves to be good reporters. He won praise in September 1963 for his first-person report about protesting racial injustice on a picket line.

Just two years after being hired, Mr. Teague was given his own weekly program, “Sunday Afternoon Report.” He also became a frequent replacement on NBC network news and sports programs.

But even as he carved a niche at NBC, including occasional service as anchor, he grew disillusioned with many aspects of the TV news business. In his 1982 book, “Live and Off-Color: News Biz,” he complained that executives’ lust for ratings led them to prefer spectacle over serious news.

“A newscast is not supposed to be just another vehicle for peddling underarm deodorants,” he wrote. “The public needs to know.”

He criticized the major stations’ practice of all scheduling their news programs at the same time of day, saying this meant they all provided the same information. He suggested that each channel present the news in a separate time slot. The slots could then by rotated so all would get access to the most popular times.

Robert Lewis Teague was born in Milwaukee on Jan. 2, 1929, to a mechanic and a maid. He was a star football player at the University of Wisconsin, winning all-Big 10 honors. A journalism major, he passed up offers from four professional football teams to become a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal. He joined the Army in 1952.

In 1956, he moved to New York and found work as a radio news writer for CBS. He soon joined The New York Times as a sports copy editor and went on to cover major sporting events.

He left The Times for the NBC job.

In 1968, he published “Letters to a Black Boy,” written in the form of letters to his 1-year-old son, Adam, many about race. The letters were meant to be read when Adam was 13.

At the time he wrote the book, Mr. Teague’s views were growing more conservative. “Government handouts constitute the most damaging assault on black pride and dignity since the founding of the Ku Klux Klan,” he wrote. He generally supported conservative candidates, including Herman Cain for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. He retired from NBC in 1991.

Mr. Teague’s first marriage, to the dancer Matt Turney, ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, the former Jan Grisingher, he is survived by his son and three grandchildren.

The changing public response to Mr. Teague and others in the first wave of black television journalists was suggested in a letter he received that he described in an article in The New York Times Magazine.

“When you first began broadcasting the news on television, I watched you every night, but I realize now, years later, that I was so conscious of the fact that you were black that I didn’t hear a word you said about the news,” it read.

“Now, I am happy to say, I still watch you every night, but only because you are a damn good newscaster.”

[Bill Burgess]

Tom Leo

Born: April 21, 1957, Syracuse, NY
Died: April 12, 2013, age 56,---d. after a long illness of cancer.

Syracuse, NY, sports writer;
Attended Le Moyne College
Finger Lakes Times (Geneva, NY), ? - 1984
Syracuse Herald-Journal, February, 1984 - 2013 (29 years)

Tom Leo, who worked for the Syracuse Newspapers for 29 years, died today after a long illness. A native of Syracuse, he would have been 56 on Sunday.

Leo attended St. John the Baptist High School and Le Moyne College before moving onto St. Bonaventure in Olean. Upon graduation, he worked for the Finger Lakes Times in Geneva before joining the Syracuse Herald-Journal in February of 1984.

Among his beats with the Syracuse Newspapers were Syracuse University football and the Syracuse Chiefs. He’d spent the past few International League seasons serving as the official scorekeeper at Chiefs games.

Leo is surived by his wife of nearly 31 years, Diana, and their three children — AnnMarie, Sam and Brian.

[Bill Burgess]

David A. O'Hara---AKA Dave O'Hara

Born: October 21, 1926, Boston, MA
Died: April 10, 2013, Winter Haven, FL, age 86,---d. cancer at his home.

Boston sports writer;
Stoneham, MA, 3.5-year old, (1930 census)
Boston, MA, 13-year old, (April 18, 1940 census)
Associated Press (Boston office), 1942 - April, 1959; July, 1965 - August, 1992
Associated Press (Milwaukee office), April, 1959 - July, 1965

Father: John M., born Massachusetts, around 1894; Mother Marion G., born Massachusetts, around 1896;

Dave O'Hara Dies: AP Sports Writer Covered Boston for 50 Years

Thursday, 11 Apr 2013 07:45 AM
Dave O'Hara Dies: AP Sports Writer Covered Boston for 50 Years
Veteran Associated Press sports reporter Dave O'Hara, who covered Boston greats from Ted Williams to Larry Bird during a 50-year career, died Wednesday. He was 86.

Dave O'Hara died of cancer at his home in Winter Haven Fla., his daughter, Debbie O'Hara-Rusckowski, said.

Popular with his Associated Press colleagues and admired for the speed and accuracy of his reporting, Dave O'Hara began his career in May 1942 as a 15-year-old copy boy in the Boston bureau.

"Dave O'Hara was a no-nonsense sports writer who brought gusto and grit to his work for half a century. He was every bit the epitome of Boston sports as Williams, Orr, Russell, Auerbach and Bird," AP Sports Editor Terry Taylor said. "He gave readers a front-row view of their heroes and heartbreaks, equally at home in the press box or the clubhouse."

Six months after being hired, O'Hara helped cover a fire that killed 491 at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston.

"Dave wasn't just a sports writer," said Joe Giuliotti, a retired Red Sox beat writer with the Boston Herald. "He was a reporter, and a great one."

With a break for Korean War service, he worked in Boston until April 1959, when he was transferred to Milwaukee. He covered the Green Bay Packers and coach Vince Lombardi during their championship seasons of the early '60s, and the Milwaukee Braves when current baseball commissioner Bud Selig was an owner and Hank Aaron was their star.

O'Hara returned to Boston in July 1965 as AP's New England sports editor. He held that position until his retirement in August 1992, becoming a fixture at Fenway Park and Boston Garden.

"He'd say, 'I'm the luckiest man in the world. I had the greatest job. I have the greatest family,'" his daughter said.

Said baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski: "Dave was a real class act, a real pleasure to work with."

O'Hara also was a mentor to freelancers who worked for him at games.

"He covered every major sporting event in Boston for four decades and did so always under the gun of the AP sports deadline, which meant getting it done fast and accurately," said Nate Greenberg, former assistant to the president of the Boston Bruins who worked with O'Hara as an AP freelance writer while in college.

In 1993, the Boston Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America established the Dave O'Hara Award for long and meritorious service to the chapter. He was its first recipient.

A Boston native, O'Hara had been living in Winter Haven, where he had covered spring training.

[Bill Burgess]

Robert Alan Eger---AKA Bob Eger

Born: November 20, 1941, Yuma, AZ
Died: June 24, 2008, Phoenix, AZ, age 66,---d. heart attack at home.

Phoenix sports writer;
Graduated Arizona State University, 1964 (mass communications degree)
Associated Press, sports writer, ? - 1966
Arizona Republic, sports writer, 1966 - 1996
Associated Press,

Eger, a 1964 ASU graduate, who covered Arizona State athletics since the 1960s, was most recently the Sun Devil baseball radio analyst. A Yuma, Ariz., native, Eger earned a mass communications degree from Arizona State, where he served as sports editor of the student newspaper, The State Press.

He covered sports for the Associated Press before joining the Arizona Republic in 1966. During a 30-year career with the Arizona Republic, most of which was spent covering ASU athletics, he was a seven-time winner of the Arizona Sportswriter of the Year Award. He contributed to the ASU Alumni Magazine and in 2001 authored a 300-page book, "Maroon & Gold, a History of Sun Devil Athletics." He performed the research for ASU's Bill and Judy Schaefer Athletics Hall of Fame.

[Bill Burgess]

Robert Earl Moran, Jr.---AKA Bob Moran

Born: December 24, 1952,
Died: March 4, 2008, Chandler, AZ, age 55,---d. 3.5 year battle with stomach cancer
Buried: Southern Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Father: Robert Earl Moran, Sr.;

Arizona sports writer;
Attended Universidad de Salamanca, 1969
Graduated Southern University Laboratory School, 1970
Ohio University (Athens, OH), 1974 (degree in Journalism)
East Valley / Scottsdale Tribune (AZ), 1987 - 2004

Longtime Tribune writer Bob Moran dies
By Craig Morgan
Tribune
Bob Moran Longtime Tribune sports writer Bob Moran, 55, died at his Chandler home Tuesday after a 3½-year battle with stomach cancer. Sign the guest book for Bob Moran Moran covered Arizona State athletics for the Tribune from 1986 until 2004 when he was diagnosed with the disease. Opinionated, knowledgeable...

[Bill Burgess]

Mary Ellen Garber

Born: April 19, 1916, New York, NY (NYC)
Died: September 21, 2008, Winston Salem, NC, age 92
Buried: Saint Pauls Episcopal Dalton Memorial Garden

North Carolina sports writer;
NYC, 4-year old, (January 16, 1920 census)
13-year old, (April 10, 1930 census)
Winston Salem, NC, newspaper reporter, (April 17, 1940 census)
Winston-Salem Journal, sports writer, 1946 - 1986, (continued part-time until 2002.)

Father: Daniel M., born Washington, DC, around 1889; Mother: Grace A., born New York, around 1891;

Wikipedia
Mary Ellen Garber (April 16, 1916 – September 21, 2008) was an American sportswriter, who was a pioneer among women sportswriters. She received over 40 writing awards and numerous honors in a sports-writing career that spanned seven decades, the most prestigious of which was the 2005 Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) Red Smith Award. Garber, the first woman to win the APSE award, also became the first woman to be inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame in 2002.

Life and career

She was born in New York City in 1916, but relocated to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her family in 1924. At the age of eight, she had two passions: journalism and sports. She not only read the sports page, she played football—tackle football—for the Buena Vista Devils. As she matured, her five-foot, ninety-pound frame limited her to softball and tennis, but her love of sports never slackened. While other girls swooned over movie stars, Garber, a huge Knute Rockne fan, wrote letters to Notre Dame football players.

Garber graduated from Hollins College in Virginia, in 1938, with one goal: to become a newspaper reporter. In an interview with local historian Frank Tursi, Garber said, "I never considered anything else. But never at any time did I think about being a sportswriter".

In 1940, the aspiring reporter entered journalism as the society editor at the Twin City Sentinel. America's entry into World War II created a vacuum in the newspaper that enabled her to become a general assignment reporting. Later in 1944, when the high school sports stringer at the paper graduated and enlisted in the U.S. Navy, Garber filled his slot. At the end of the war, she moved back to general assignment reporting but not for long. After a year of dogging sports editor Carlton Bryd for sports assignments, both Bryd and managing editor, Nady Cates, agreed: Garber belonged on the sports beat.

In 1946, Garber joined the sports department and never left. Two things distinguished her career. For 30 years, she was the only female sportswriter in the Winston-Salem (ACC Conference) region and one of the few in the country. Also, when she entered sports journalism in 1946, she started covering the two black high schools in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County region, Atkins High School and Carver High School.

She also covered Winston-Salem State University, a black university. Her appearance at those schools launched her as an advocate for black athletes and coaches in the segregated region. Prior to her, both Winston-Salem papers, the Twin Cities Sentinel and the Winston-Salem Journal, used school correspondents to call in game results.

As a woman, Garber was not allowed into team locker rooms and so had to wait outside the door, hoping to get quotes from coaches and players. At North Carolina State games, a security guard named John Baker (Raleigh NC police officer) hauled athletes out of the lockers to make sure she got her quotes.

When the Winston-Salem Journal acquired the Sentinel in the 1980s, Garber moved with it. She retired from the Journal in 1986, but continued working part-time until 2002. In 2006, the Association of Women in Sports Media (AWSM) renamed its Pioneer Award the Mary Garber Pioneer Award.

In 1998, Garber received the Mel Greenberg Media Award.

In May 2008, Garber was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Garber recounted her life and career in a series of interviews for the Washington Press Club Foundation's Women in Journalism Oral History Project.

A girls' high school basketball tournament, called the Mary Garber Holiday Tip-Off Classic, is named in Garber's honor and has been held annually in Winston-Salem since 1989. Garber died in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

[Bill Burgess]

Caulton Wayne Tudor

Born: June 30, 1947, North Carolina
Died: Still Alive

North Carolina sports writer;
News & Observer, sports writer, 1969 - March 1, 2013

Caulton Tudor, whose sports columns for The News & Observer and Raleigh Times have informed and entertained readers for more than 40 years, is retiring.

Tudor, 65, has been a fixture in ACC press boxes and press rows since 1969. His opinions and analysis, from typewriter days to the laptop age, have been a constant voice of the newspapers’ sports pages, offering time-honored perspective.

“Caulton is an ACC and North Carolina sports writing institution,” UNC basketball coach Roy Williams said.

Tudor recalls writing his first sports stories as a seventh grader in Angier, using an old Royal typewriter that was World War II surplus and now is long gone.

“Dugout Chatter” was Tudor’s weekly column in the Harnett County News in the early 1960s. It was mostly tidbits about high school sports and semi-pro baseball teams in the area.

A former paperboy for the Raleigh Times, he once riled North Carolina’s agriculture commissioner as a kid reporter, and later got his first full-time newspaper job while laying a sewer line in Garner.

Tudor now has a MacBook Pro laptop. He has written about the excellence of Dean Smith, the inspiration of Kay Yow, the intensity of Mike Krzyzewski and even occasionally about hockey, a sport he has come to appreciate but jokingly says has one “halftime” too many.

In the 50 years that have passed since “Dugout Chatter,” Tudor has become arguably North Carolina’s most readable, insightful and likeable sports columnist. He also can be called venerable, and knows what that word implies.

“Yeah, I’m old,” Tudor said, laughing.

Tudor will retire March 1, ending a run with the Raleigh Times and The News & Observer that has included 6,000 sports columns, 40 ACC tournaments, 24 NCAA Final Fours and innumerable memories.

“For Caulton Tudor, he has been the ACC,” Krzyzewski said. “There are not many people who have been here longer than me and he was here long before I was. He’s really given his life to covering the ACC.

“He has a very unique perspective on things and he’s always willing to share that with his readers. Caulton was always honest and trustworthy. When you read something, there wasn’t a hidden agenda. I think he handled journalism with class and professionalism. And, he’s really good.”

The awards have been many for the Angier native, the son of the late Wayne and Mary Lillie “Boots” Tudor. He has been named N.C. sportswriter of the year multiple times by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame. And he has been honored by the ACC.

And yet, to his peers, he’s simply “Toot.”

“The genius of what he’s done as a columnist is to just be natural and be himself,” said former Winston-Salem Journal columnist Lenox Rawlings, who recently retired. “It’s not like he’s posing for anybody, or trying to put one over on anybody or be sanctimonious. He’s just straightforward. Personally and as a columnist, he’s completely unpretentious.”

Tudor first recalls upsetting a coach at Angier High, where he played for the football team and called in the game reports to the newspapers. Seems after one game, Angier coach Rudy Brown told the team that its play was “lousy.” Tudor then reported that Brown had, in fact, said the team was “lousy.”

“Coach was hot about that,” Tudor said.

Not that he was kicked off the team. “Heck no, I was the starting center,” Tudor said.

Tudor’s one foray into the political arena was in 1960. Lynton “Stag” Ballentine was running for re-election as N.C. agriculture commissioner, a campaign appearance was held at Angier High’s cafeteria and Tudor covered it for the Harnett County News.

“I walked up, in my little necktie, and asked him how a political candidate could justify using a public school cafeteria for a rally,” Tudor said. “I guess that created a stir. He was pretty mad.”

Tudor then stuck to sports and became a stringer for the Raleigh Times, which until its demise in 1989 was the afternoon newspaper owned by the Daniels family that shared space with The News & Observer on McDowell Street in downtown Raleigh. He wrote features, took calls in the office and covered games.

There also was “The Longest Game.” While in high school, Tudor played every minute of the epic 13-overtime basketball duel between Angier and Boone Trail, eventually won by Boone Trail.

One summer while attending East Carolina, Tudor says he was working with Barnes Plumbing and installing a sewer line. Turns out, the line ran in front of the Garner home of Bruce Phillips, who was the sports editor of the Raleigh Times.

The two struck up a long conversation and Tudor was hired as a full-time sports department employee. His starting salary: $95 a week, plus 10 cents per mile for assignments outside of Wake County.

Tudor wrote about high schools. He wrote about the ACC. He was one of the first to analyze college recruiting and grasp the readers’ appetites for it.

Tudor was in Greensboro in 1974 when N.C. State outlasted Maryland in the classic ACC championship game. He was in New Orleans in 1982 when Michael Jordan’s jumper won an NCAA title for North Carolina. He was in The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M. when Dereck Whittenburg’s air ball was dunked by Lorenzo Charles and N.C. State won it all.

Tudor covered Jim Valvano at N.C. State, trading quips with Coach V. He covered Smith at UNC, slipping Smith a postgame cigarette from time to time. He covered the rise and fall of UNC football coach Butch Davis.

“For 44 years, he consistently and skillfully turned out insightful stories and columns, often under extreme pressure,” said A.J. Carr, a former N&O writer and colleague.

Tudor calls Charles’ championship-winning dunk the most memorable moment of his career, but says Gio Bernard’s game-winning punt return for UNC against N.C. State last fall may be a close second. As for the most embarrassing, he says he once was imitating former UNC football coach Mack Brown, only to turn and see Brown was in the room.

“But then Mack goes, ‘Caulton, that’s pretty good,’ ” Tudor said.

A special moment for Tudor was receiving the Skeeter Francis Award at the 2012 ACC basketball tournament. The award is given annually for significant contributions to the coverage of ACC athletics. It’s named for the former assistant ACC commissioner who was a good friend of Tudor’s until his death in 2004.

For many years, Tudor was a part of the annual ACC Football Tour headed up by Francis, traveling by bus from school to school during the preseason, writing, playing bridge, talking to coaches, socializing.

Tony Barnhart, now a CBS college football analyst, notes Tudor always enjoyed the last stop on the tour, at Clemson, especially when colorful Danny Ford was the Tigers coach and holding court.

“We’d have the party on Lake Hartwell when Danny Ford would ‘loosen up’ and lecture Tudor and me about how everybody else was cheating,” Barnhart said.

Like most sportswriters, Tudor’s time away from home meant his wife was alone at home. But Inez “Diz” Tudor was always understanding and supportive.

Tudor did, for a long time, have “Betsy” along as a traveling companion. That’s the laptop he reluctantly parted with when it reached relic stage.

But regardless of the work: blogging and tweets and rewrites and long hours, Tudor has never lost his humor. He always has the right line to ease the tension, to make his peers smile.

Once, at a N.C. State-UNC football game, Tudor overheard an editor ask a writer at the end of the third quarter, “If the game ended right now, what would the lead to your story be?” The writer mumbled something about turnovers and rushing yards, and the editor walked off.

Tudor leaned over to deadpan, “In the most startling development in ACC football history, a game was called after the third quarter. ...”

John Drescher, executive editor of The News & Observer, calls Tudor “one of those people who really is the backbone of the N&O.”

“Nobody knows more about the ACC than he does,” Drescher said. “He knows the people, he knows the history, he knows the state. He really cares about his readers and he really cares about ACC sports, and that all comes through in his work.”

Drescher says Tudor could decide to return at some point to write occasional columns for the newspaper.

“I hope that will happen. We’re going to miss him,” Drescher said. “What we bring on our beats is expertise. That’s what really distinguishes The N&O, expertise, and Caulton has tremendous football and basketball expertise. That’s why he’s so widely read.”

Tudor says he hopes to keep working, keep writing, keep being read.

“Nothing lasts forever,” he said. “The world is full of former newspaper people looking to write, and I think I can still write.

“My biggest thrill has been working alongside so many talented, dedicated people the last 40 years. I’ve also truly appreciated the readers – those who disagreed, those who agreed and those without a strong opinion who still took the time to read.”

[Bill Burgess]

William Charles Jauss---AKA Bill Jauss

Born: February 8, 1931, Chicago, IL
Died: October 10, 2012, Wilmette, IL, age 81,---d. at home

Chicago sports writer;
Chicago, IL, 9-yer old, (April 11, 1940 census)
Graduated Northwestern University
Chicago Daily News, 1955 - 1968
Chicago Today, 1968 - 1974
Chicago Tribune, 1974 - 2005

Father: William, born Illinois, around 1900; Mother: Marie, born Illinois, around 1900; Wife: Kenmar

[Bill Burgess]

John Frederick Hoey---AKA Fred Hoey

Born: August 31, 1883, Natick, MA
Died: November 16, 1949, Winthrop, MA, age 65,---d. accidentally left kitchen range on, filling the house with gas.

Boston sports writer;
Natick, MA, 16-year old, printer, (June 3, 1900 census)
Natick, MA, Printer, Publishing House, (April 29, 1910 census)
Boston Post, newspaper compositer, (September 12, 1918 WWI Civilian Draft Registration)
Boston, MA, compositer, Printing office, (January 4, 1920 census)
NYC, Printer, Stone, (April 28, 1930 census)
NYC, Printing, Printer, (April 24, 1940 census)
baseball broadcaster, 1925 - 1936
Boston Journal, 1909
Boston Post,
Boston American, ? - 1925, 1936 -

Father: John F., born Massachusetts, June, 1841; Mother: Mary Lavas, born Ireland, December 1860; Wife: Grace L., born Massachusetts, around 1885;


-----------------------------------------1945----------------------------------------------------------------------1913----------------------------------------1937.

[Bill Burgess]

George Oliver Greene, Sr.

Born: December 21, 1870, Chesterfield, VA
Died: January 15, 1938, age 67,---d. heart attack at Richmond hotel

Virginia newspaper editor;
Roanoke Wolrd (VA), editor
Staunton Daily Spectator, staff
Danville Register, 1899-1902
Buchanan, VA, Mayor
Superintendent of schools, Allegheny County, 1907-1908
Assistant clerk, Virginia House of Delegates, 1910 - 1938, death
Clifton Forge (VA) Daily Review, editor
Chesterfied, VA, 9-year old, Attending school, (June 28, 1880 census)
South River, VA, day labor, (June 12, 1900 census)
Clifton Forge, VA, editor, newspaper, (April 26, 1910 census)
Clifton Forge, VA, editor, city paper, (January 18, 1920 census)
Clifton, VA, newspaper editor, (April 5, 1930 census)

Father: Samuel S., born Maryland or Virginia, around 1832; Mother: Lucy A. born Virginia around 1840; Wife: Emma Martin, born, Virginia, August 6, 1872, died April 19, 1941; George married Emma October 5, 1892. Son: Samuel Saunders Greene, born Virginia, August 26, 1895, died Detroit, MI, September 5, 1963; Son: Burnley Greene (sports editor of Clifton Forge (VA) Review); Son Sam was sports writer for Detroit News, 1924 - 1963.

George established Stuart Buchanan, VA, 1897-1923;

[Bill Burgess]

Joseph William Bostic, Sr.---AKA Joe Bostic

Born: March 21, 1908, Mt. Holly, NJ
Died: May 29, 1988, Brooklyn, NY, age 80---d. heart attack at Southhampton Hospital, (L.I.), NY

New York sports writer;
Graduated Morgan State University, 1932
Amsterdam News, sports editor,
WCBM (Baltimore, MD), announcer,

Wife: Dorothy; Son: Joseph, Jr.; Son: Lee; Daughter: Debra Nelson

New York Times' obituary, June 2, 1988, by Thomas Rogers.
Joseph Bostic, 79, A Sports Journalist And a Disk Jockey
Joseph Bostic, was a newspaperman, broadcaster and promoter who fought against racism in the sports world.

Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 when he was signed to a Brooklyn Dodger contract by Branch Rickey. Two years earlier, Mr. Bostic escorted two players from the Negro leagues to the Dodger spring training camp at Bear Mountain and demanded tryouts for them. At the time, Mr. Bostic was an announcer for Negro league games and the sports editor of People's Voice, a weekly newspaper read widely in black communities.

As a newspaperman, Mr. Bostic, who was also the sports editor of The Amsterdam News, was the first black admitted to the Boxing Writers and Track Writers associations. After his graduation in 1932 from Morgan College (now Morgan State University), he became the first black announcer at WCBM in Baltimore.

Jet Magazine obituary, June 20, 1988, pp. 50.

[Bill Burgess]

Lawrence J. Felser---AKA Larry Felser

Born: April 5, 1933, Buffalo, NY
Died: April 24, 2013, Getzville, NY, age 80,---d. at Beechwood Continuing Care facility in Getzville, NY

Buffalo (NY) sports writer;
Cheektowaga, NY, 7-year old, (April 12, 1940 census)
Canisius College
US Army, (cryptographer)
Buffalo Courier-Express,
Buffalo News (NY), 1965 - 2012

Father: Leonard, born New York, around 1900; Mother: Mary, born New York, around 1902;

A Buffalo native, Felser began his newspaper career as a copy boy at the Courier-Express in 1953 and worked there for 12 years before joining The News. He covered the Buffalo Bills from their inception in 1960 to his retirement in 2001. He continued to write a weekly sports column in The News until 2012. He held the title of sports editor for the last 20 years of his News tenure.

[Bill Burgess]

Andrew Haliday McCutcheon, Jr.---AKA Andy McCutcheon

Born: May 12, 1927, West Virginia
Died: February 12, 2012, Richmond, VA suburb, age 84,---d. cancer, at the Hermitage at Cedarfield, located in a suburb of Richmond, VA

Richmond (VA), sports writer;
Webster, WV, 2-year old, (April 3, 1930 census)
Attended University of Tennessee
Graduated Washington and Lee University,
US Navy
Richmond News Leader, sports writer;

Father: Haliday, born West Virginia, around 1906; Mother: Elsie, born West Virginia, around 1907; Wife: Charlotte; Daughter:

Richmond Times (VA) obituary, Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 12:00 am, by RANDY HALLMAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch
A.H. McCutcheon Jr., a former sports writer, dies
You could talk to Andy McCutcheon for hours, and you would know he was a gracious, engaging fellow. You would know he was a great listener with a gentle sense of humor. You would know why people were drawn to be his friend.
But there's a good chance you would not know he had helped engineer another Virginian's meteoric political career, earned national acclaim as a sports writer, been the communications bedrock for a major corporation and played football for a team that went to the Rose Bowl.

That's how modest he was.

Andrew Haliday McCutcheon Jr. died of cancer Sunday at the Hermitage at Cedarfield, his home in western Henrico County. He was 84.

A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church at 1101 Forest Ave., where he was a trustee.

"Andy was one of the easiest people in the world to be with," said Charlotte Daughtrey Andrews McCutcheon, his wife of 60 years. "He was one of the good guys."

A West Virginia native, Mr. McCutcheon was a lineman for the University of Tennessee team that lost 25-0 to the University of Southern California in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1945. Later he would point out with typical modesty that he was a third-stringer and had a hurt foot, so he didn't see any action in the bowl game.

After service in the Navy stateside in the last days of World War II, he finished his college education at Washington and Lee University, and in 1949 went to work for The Richmond News Leader. Jennings Culley, who would later become The News Leader's sports editor, recalled working alongside Mr. McCutcheon, one of three sports reporters on the staff.
"He was a great guy, well-liked by everybody," Culley said. "And he was an excellent writer. I used to tell him that if he had stayed at the paper, he would have been sports editor and I wouldn't have had to do all that work."

Mr. McCutcheon's beats included University of Richmond sports and Richmond's AAA baseball franchise. Both beats produced stories that were included in books that collected the year's best newspaper and magazine sports writing.
The 1956 book included a story about "Hot Rod" Hundley, flamboyant basketball star for Richmond foe West Virginia University. The 1961 collection included Mr. McCutcheon's poignant look at the plight of Cuban AAA players whose team, the Sugar Kings, had been uprooted from Havana and moved to New Jersey — the result of political unrest after Fidel Castro came to power.

Mr. McCutcheon gave up his glittering newspaper career to pursue another abiding interest, politics. After serving as executive assistant to two congressmen, he was special assistant for Sargent Shriver at the Office of Economic Opportunity when it was creating vital jobs programs.

Then he gave up his job and ran for a seat in Congress himself, trying to upend Republican incumbent William L. Scott in the sprawling 8th District.

Drafted to run, Mr. McCutcheon depleted his family savings to take on his better-funded opponent. "We decided we would do that, but we wouldn't mortgage the house," said Mrs. McCutcheon.

The all-volunteer campaign was a family endeavor. The couple's daughter, Sallie, who was 11, would wear a blue dress with a green-ribbon "M" sewn on as one of the "McCutcheon Girls."

Mr. McCutcheon was beaten soundly. "We knew it was coming," said his wife, "but it was a great experience. Andy said it was as good as getting a Ph.D."

Their daughter, Sallie M. Johnston of Henrico, now a special-education teacher at J.R. Tucker High School, took the loss hard. When the returns came in, she left the election-night gathering for a while. "I walked around the parking lot crying," she recalled. "I couldn't believe for a single moment that my dad wouldn't be elected."
Johnston's own husband died at age 44 when her two daughters were 12 and 15. "Dad just stepped in for them – he was the greatest granddad," she said, tears welling in her eyes.

She said Mr. McCutcheon was proud that both granddaughters had also become special-education teachers.
After his run for Congress, Mr. McCutcheon went to work for Reynolds Metals Co., where he was a marketing and recycling officer and headed government-relations departments. Long before he retired as vice president in 1992, he became the company's font of family and corporate knowledge.

"He knew everything about the history of Reynolds Metals and the Reynolds family," said Randy Reynolds Sr., who was vice chairman of the company before Alcoa bought it, and is now one of the owners of Reynolds Development.
"I once gave a speech at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College," he said, "and Andy brought me up to speed. He knew things I didn't know."

Likewise, J. Sargeant Reynolds Jr. recalled giving a speech about his father "and Andy wrote it. He was like a member of the family."

In 1969, Mr. McCutcheon took a year away from his Reynolds Metals corporate career to serve as campaign manager for J. Sargeant Reynolds Sr.'s successful run for lieutenant governor of Virginia. After his victory, Reynolds was widely regarded as the "golden boy" of the Democratic Party, but he died of a brain tumor in 1971, only 34.

Mr. McCutcheon co-wrote a book about his boss's brief, brilliant career, "Sarge Reynolds in the Time of His Life."
In retirement, Mr. McCutcheon never stopped serving. He had been president of the Metro Richmond YMCA. He maintained an active interest in politics. In addition to his work at St. Matthew's Episcopal, at the time of his death he was on the boards of the Library of Virginia and of the J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Foundation. He was on the screening committee of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and had remained active in Washington and Lee alumni affairs.

In addition to his wife, daughter and two granddaughters, Mr. McCutcheon's survivors include a sister, Judy M. Smith of Richmond. His brother, Joe McCutcheon, died eight years ago.
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Library of Virginia e-newsletter, March; Former Library Board Member Andy McCutcheon Dies at 84
"A true gentleman." That's the phrase that comes to mind when thinking of Andy McCutcheon, along with "gifted writer"; "devoted husband, father, grandfather, and friend"; "accomplished public relations executive"; "raconteur of great political and sports stories"; and "public servant."

Andrew H. McCutcheon Jr. died of cancer on February 12 surrounded by Charlotte McCutcheon, his wife of 60 years; his daughter and her husband; his granddaughters; and his sister. He was 84.

McCutcheon became a member of the Library of Virginia family when he was appointed to fill an unexpired term on the Library Board by Governor Doug Wilder in 1989, and was reappointed for a full five-year term in 1992. He served two terms as chair of the Library Board, guiding the Library through a period of budget cuts and the planning for and opening of the new Library of Virginia building at 800 East Broad Street. He played an instrumental role on the Library Building Committee and the Dedication Committee for the new Library of Virginia facility. He understood the awesome responsibility the Library had to hold in trust for the people of Virginia: its irreplaceable and priceless historic collections. In one of his last communications as chair of the Library Board he urged Governor Allen "to consider carefully what the Commonwealth and its history mean and to provide the funding necessary for the Library to continue its role as the State's preeminent library and archives."

After his tenure on the Library Board he continued to serve the Library as a member of the Library of Virginia Foundation from 1997 to 2007. His thoughtful leadership on both boards resulted in greater visibility and increased support for the Library.

"Andy McCutcheon was one of the dearest people and most conscientious of board members I have ever known. Always upbeat and positive, with an infectious twinkle in his eye, Andy gave his all to anything he undertook. He loved the Library, its people, and its collections, and we were the better for his experienced perspective and advice. We will miss him terribly and extend our sympathy and love to his wife, Charlotte, and his devoted family," said Librarian of Virginian Sandra G. Treadway.

After graduating from Washington and Lee University, McCutcheon began a career as a sports writer for the Richmond News Leader. He served as executive assistant to U.S. Representatives J. Vaughan Gary and David E. Satterfield, served as a special assistant for Sargent Shriver at the Office of Economic Opportunity, and in 1968 he ran for Congress, losing to incumbent William L. Scott. He served 24 years in various capacities with Reynolds Metals Company. In 1969 he took a year off from Reynolds to run J. Sargeant Reynolds Sr.'s successful campaign for lieutenant governor. McCutcheon later co-wrote Sarge Reynolds: In the Time of His Life, about the charismatic young politician who died of an inoperable brain tumor at 34.

McCutcheon was a longtime member and chairman of the Metropolitan YMCA Board, active with the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, a supporter of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, a trustee of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, chairman of the Richmond Forum, and a member of the Richmond Urban League.

[Bill Burgess]

Charles Richards Gordon---AKA Dick 'Scoop' Gordon

Born: January 15, 1911, St. Paul, MN
Died: December 8, 2008, St. Paul, MN, age 97

Minnesota sports writer;
St. Paul, MN, 9-year old,(January 14, 1920 census)
St. Paul, MN, 19-year old, (April 11, 1930 census)
Sports Illustrated,
Minneapolis Star,
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minneapolis Villager
Baseball Digest
Sporting News

Father: Charles William, born Minnesota, around 1862; Mother: Charlotte Bishop, born Connecticutt, around 1875;

Wikipedia
Charles Richards Gordon, known as Dick "Scoop" Gordon (January 15, 1911 – December 8, 2008), was an American sports journalist whose works were a regular feature in venerable sports magazines like The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, and Baseball Digest. After earning his nickname "Scoop" in 1930 by reporting for The Daily Princetonian that golfing legend Bobby Jones would be retiring from active competition, Gordon went on to a sports reporting career which ended in 2008.

Charles Richards Gordon grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Charles William Gordon, the proprietor of the fur clothing manufacturer Gordon & Furguson, Inc. His mother, Charlotte Bishop Gordon, was a native of Connecticut. At the time of the 1920 United States Census, Gordon was living with his parents, an older sister (Virginia), and two servants at 378 Summit Avenue in St. Paul, in the home of his grandfather, Richards Gordon, a deacon of the Episcopal Church and a board member of the new "St. Paul Institute" (now the Science Museum of Minnesota). The younger Gordon attended St. Paul Academy and wrote for the school newspaper Now and Then. The school's headmaster reportedly opined that Gordon was a better writer than F. Scott Fitzgerald, who had been a student at the St. Paul Academy from 1908 to 1911.
Princeton and early career

Gordon later attended Princeton University, graduating in 1933. While attending Princeton, he was a reporter for the The Daily Princetonian. He received the nickname "Scoop" in 1930 for being the first to report that professional golfer Bobby Jones was retiring from the sport. After graduating from Princeton, Gordon returned to Minnesota and became a sports writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In January 1939, he joined the Chicago Daily News as a sports writer.

[B]World War II
During World War II, he served in the United States Marine Corps for 26 months. He served as a Marine Combat Correspondent in the Pacific Theater of Operations. In November 1943, his story about a U.S. Army baseball team that endured six months at Guadalcanal was published in The Sporting News. After over two years of combat action, Sergeant Gordon was returned to Minneapolis and worked for a time as a U.S. Marine recruiter. On April 26, 1945, Gordon married Adelaide Washburne, a Smith graduate who had been teaching at the University of Minnesota and worked in the American Red Cross during World War II. After the war ended, Gordon returned to his job as a sports reporter for the Chicago Daily News.

Post-war career
From the late 1940s through the 1970s, Gordon was one of the leading sports writers in the United States. Between 1946 and 1976, almost 250 of Gordon's works were published in The Sporting News, an American-based sports magazine established in 1886. From 1949 to 1970, Gordon's baseball writings were a recurring feature in Baseball Digest, the oldest continuously-published baseball magazine in the United States. When Sports Illustrated magazine launched in the mid-1950s, Gordon was one of the budding journal's first writers. On a daily basis, Gordon worked the sports desk for the The Minneapolis Star, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Villager newspapers in the Twin Cities. He wrote articles about the Minnesota Twins baseball team, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and the Minnesota Vikings. Gordon covered the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, California where the U.S. men's ice hockey team won gold. He continued to write for the Villager until he retired after a long career in early 2008.

Family and death
Dick Gordon and his wife Adelaide spent 61 years together, their marriage producing three boys. Adelaide died in early 2007, and Gordon followed on December 8, 2008. Sports Illustrated, the Star Tribune and his college newspaper all reported the passing.