Meet The Sports Writers

[Bill Burgess]

Stewart Sargent Bell---AKA Salty Bell

Born: August 15, 1874, Andover, MA (Massachusetts births)(possibly June 23, 1874?)(WWI Civilian Draft Registration form lists his DOB as July 15, 1874.)
Died: July 18, 1947, Wood, WI, age 72---d. heart ailment, Veterans' Hospital; Buried: Wood National Cemetery, Milwaukee, WI

Boston / Chicago / Milwaukee sports writer;
Andover, MA, 6-year, (June 18, 1880 census)
Took part in the Spanish American War, was with landing party, July 26, 1898.
Reading MA, Superintendant, (June 1, 1900 census)
Reading, MA, salesman of electrical supplies, (May 14, 1910 census)
Boston Globe, marine editor
Reading, MA, Electrical Engineer, (worked in Boston, MA)(September 12, 1918, WWI Civilian Draft Registration)
Reading, MA, Traveling Salesman of electrical supplies, (January 14, 1920 census)
DuPage, IL, newspaper sports writer, (April 7, 1930 census)(listed as S. S. Bell)
Milwaukee, WI, no occupation listed, (April 9, 1940 census)
Chicago Daily News, sports writer, 1926 - 1940; was also their Bridge expert, and also their yachting expert.
Milwaukee Journal, yachting reporter, July 20, 1941? - August 5, 1945

Father: Charles H., born 1832-1835?, Goffstown, NH, died June 11, 1897, Andover, MA; Mother: Christina R. (Walker), born Scotland, August 8, 1835, died February 2, 1911, Lawrence MA, arrived in US, 1845; Charles married Christina May 6, 1855 in North Andover, MA; Wife: Lucy Mary Carleton, born Reading, MA, October 14, 1876; Daughter: Lucy Katherine, born Massachusetts, August 23, 1901; Stewart married Lucy October 4, 1900 in Reading, MA. When Charles married Lucy, he was listed as an electrician. Wife 2: Marguerite A. Davern, born August 5, 1895, Illinois, died July 10, 1991; Daugher: Elinor (Patek), born February 1, 1916, Illinois, died December 19, 1991; Daughter: Carol.

Salty was a very great checkers player and was a Checkers champion, 1919 - 1920's. Salty was an authority on Yachting, billiards, bridge, chess and checkers. He had blue eyes, light brown hair, & was 5'8.

Salty enlisted in the US military on May 12, 1898 as a private in the 6th Massachusetts infantry. He was discharged and lived in Boston, MA. He was admitted to a US Veterans' home for disabled soldiers on May 31, 1917 in Dayton, Ohio. His occupation was a salesman. Possibly of electrical supplies. He listed his age with them as 42 years old, at 5'8, dark complexion, gray eyes, dark hair, and was Catholic.

Here is an except from an online article on checkers champion, George M. Tanner.
"In 1919 Tanner beat Stewart S. Bell 4 to 2 and 9 draws, the exact same score that he beat Morton B. Speilman! In 1920 Tanner again beat Stewart S. Bell 3 to 1 and 15 draws. At this time in checker history, Stewart S. Bell was a very famous and a very strong player! As a matter of fact he came in tied for 5th and 6th place in the 6th American Tournament, ahead of Tanner who came in 7th. In the 5th American National Tournament in 1922 he came in 9th place ahead of Harrah B. Reynolds who finished 11th. He lost to Asa Long the eventual winner of this tournament. But he forced Long to 14 games before Long could beat him after 13 hard draws! Not too shabby a showing against the new U.S. Champion! In the playoffs of this tournament he beat H.B. Reynolds (Internationalist) 1-0-3."

Milwaukee Journal, Sunday, March 29, 1942, Section III, pp. 3.


Boston Globe, October 5, 1925, pp. 22.-------------------------Dayton, Ohio, US National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 Form.----------------------------Sporting News' obituary, July 30, 1947, pp. 22.

[Bill Burgess]

Andrew Palich---AKA Andy Palich

Born: August 12, 1915, Mountain Springs, PA
Died: December 4, 1964, Akron, OH, age 49,---St. Thomas Hospital, died of injuries received in a 2-car collison in Akron, OH, October 29, 1964.
Buried: Oakwood Cemetery, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

Cleveland sports writer;
Arrived in Akron, OH at age 5, around 1920.
Graduated North HS (Akron, OH)
Shratton, CO, 4-year old, (February 24, 1920 census)
Akron, OH, 14-year old, (April 9, 1930 census)
Akron, OH, city of Akron, Assistant custodian, (April 5, 1940 census)
Attended Kent State University
Cleveland Plain Dealer, sports correspondent of their Akron bureau, 1945 - 1964
In 1965, they created an Award to honor him. The Andy Palich Memorial Award.

Father: Michael Pahulych, born Poland, July 29, 1889, died Summit, OH, April 27, 1973, immigrated to US, 1909; Mother: Anna Pocono, born Pennsylvania, June 7, 1897, died Summit, OH, April 18, 1972; Wife: Margaret Mary (McFarland), born June 14, 1919, died 1958; Daughter: Joyce Ann (Balthazar) of Rocky River; Daughter: Nancy Jean Palich; Son: Gerald A. Palich; Daniel A. Palich. Andrew married Margaret on September 30, 1939 in Summit, OH.

Andy was an Akron, OH fireman for 4 years and was a janitor at North HS at the end of the depression era.

Annually, since 1965, the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame (SCSHOF) has presented a special award to individuals who have made a major contribution for the betterment of athletics in the county, Ohio or nationally other than as a player, coach and/or manager. That award is called the Andy Palich Memorial Award in memory of Andrew “Andy” Palich, a long-time Akron area sports reporter and a member of the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame Committee.

A native of Mountain Springs, PA, Palich took an indirect route into the newspaper business. Before becoming a full-time reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Akron bureau chief in 1945, he had worked as a fireman and a school custodian.

Palich was only five when his family moved to Akron. He was a graduate of North High School and attended Kent State University. Friends said Palich always had a deep interest in sports of all kinds.

As a reporter he covered sports activities in Summit and Portage Counties, including The University of Akron and Kent State. Andy had a reputation as “a guy coaches and athletes liked to confide in.”

Palich died on December 4, 1964 from injuries suffered in a traffic accident on October 29. Ironically, the 49-year old Palich was to have attended the SCSHOF banquet the day of the crash, which ultimately took his life.

The Andy Palich Memorial Award is a fitting tribute to a man who devoted his life and career to writing about Akron area sports.

Hartford Courant obituary, December 5, 1964, pp. 17A.-----------Oakwood Cemetery, Cuyahoga Falls, OH.


Cleveland Plain Dealer obituary, December 5, 1964, pp. 15.

[Bill Burgess]

Albert Thomas Parsley

Born: September 13, 1898, Quebec, Canada
Died: December 10, 1962, Montreal, Canada, age 64

Montreal sports writer;
WWI, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
Montreal Herald, sports writer, 1922? - 1957
Montreal Star, sports writer, 1957 - December 10, 1962

Father: William Herbert Parsley, born March, 1862, Franktown, Ontario, Canada; Mother: Rose Dodd, born May 4, 1874, Brockville, Ontario, Canada; Wife: Evelyn Florence Green (Parsley), born Liverpool, England, 1902, died Montreal, Canada, January 11, 1942.

Had been with Montreal Star and Montreal Herald for more than 40 years. He was preceded by his wife, Evelyn Green, in 1942.

Montreal Gazette obituary, Wednesday, December 12, 1962, pp. 23.--------------------------------------------------------------------------Hartford Courant obituary, December 12, 1962, pp. 19A.

[Bill Burgess]

John Murray Wieman---AKA Murray Wieman

Born: August 7, 1925, Walbrook, MD
Died: January 9, 1998, Washington, DC, age 72,---d. cancer at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

Baltimore sports writer;
Graduated Baltimore Polytechnic Institute,
Baltimore, MD, 4-year old, (April 3, 1930 census)
Baltimore, MD, 14-year old, (April 19, 1940)
US Army, 1944 (wounded during training and granted medical discharge
Earned his bachelor's degree at Notre Dame University (South Bend, IN), 1949
Baltimore Evening Sun, sports writer, 1950 - 1973
Bud Shenton Realty, Inc., (Baltimore, MD), broker, April 20, 1975? - April 29, 1979?

Father: Frank H., born Maryland, around 1902; Mother: Dolores M., born Maryland, around 1901; Wife: Gladys Kathryne Carlon;

Murray covered high school sports for the Evening Sun in the early 1950's, and was a baseball scout who signed Al Kaline in 1953, fresh out of Southern High for Detroit.

------------------------------------------------------Baltimore Sun obituary, January 17, 1998, pp. 4B.

[Bill Burgess]

Henry Austin Bealmear---AKA Austin Bealmear

Born: October 24, 1911, Hunnewell, Kansas
Died: April 20, 1997, Shell Knob, Missouri, age 85,---d. at St. John's Regional Health Center, Springfield, after a sudden illness.

Associated Press sports writer;
Blackwell Ward 2, 8-year old, (January 12, 1920 census)
Blackwell, OK, Daily newspaper, journalist (April 21, 1930 census)(listed Austin Belevear)
Oklahoma City, OK, Associated Press, sports writer, (April 3, 1940 census)
Graduated Blackwell HS (OK),
Attended University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK), majored in journalism
Associated Press (Oklahoma City), June 15, 1936 - 1942
(Associated Press (New York, NY), 1941 - 1944, (sports / foreign desk)
Associated Press, European correspondent, (London/Paris), WWII, 1944 - June 24, 1945?
Associated Press (New York), 1946 - 1949, (sports desk)
Associated Press (Oklahoma City), 1949 - 1955
Associated Press (Milwaukee), bureau chief, 1955 - July, 1968
Associated Press (Kansas City), July 10, 1968 - February 3, 1971
Hallmark Cards, Inc, public relations staff (Kansas City, MO), February 3, 1971 - 1974

Father: Henry, born Missouri, 1879?, was barber in 1920 census; Mother: Bertha, born Nebraska around 1887; Wife: Crystal Aileen LaRue; Austin married Crystal February 21, 1941, at Tulsa, Okla.

Henry Bealmear
SHELL KNOB, Mo. - Henry Austin Bealmear, 85, Shell Knob, died at 5:25 p.m. Sunday, April 20, 1997, at St. John's Regional Health Center, Springfield, after a sudden illness. Mr. Bealmear was born Oct. 24, 1911, at Hunnewell, Kan. He was graduated in 1929 from Blackwell (Okla.) High School. He attended the University of Oklahoma at Norman, where he majored in journalism. He joined the Associated Press in 1936 and worked for the wire service for 35 years as a reporter, sports writer, foreign correspondent and bureau chief. After he retired from the AP in 1971, he worked four years in corporate public relations with Hallmark Cards Inc., Kansas City. He moved to Shell Knob after he retired in 1975. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and the Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists. He was a lifetime member of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He was a past member of the Shell Knob Lions Club. He was a member of Central Community United Methodist Church, Shell Knob. He married Crystal Aileen LaRue on Feb. 21, 1941, at Tulsa, Okla. She survives. Additional survivors include a son, Robert Bealmear, Nashville, Tenn., and a brother, Gus Bealmear, Midland, Texas. Services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Central Community United Methodist Church, Shell Knob. The Rev. James Lee will officiate. The body will be cremated. Arrangements are under the direction of Williamson Funeral Home, Shell Knob. Contributions may be made to Central Community United Methodist Church, Shell Knob, in care of the funeral home.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch obituary, April 23, 1997, pp. 5C.
Austin Bealmear, who helped cover World War II for The Associated Press and later served as an AP bureau chief in three cities, died Saturday (April 19, 1997). He was 85.

Mr. Bealmear died in a hospital in Springfield, Mo. His wife, Crystal, said he fell that day in their home in Shell Knob and broke his leg. He was taken to the hospital, where he died of a blood clot in the lung, she said.

Mr. Bealmear spent 35 years with the AP, joining it as a newsman in 1936 in Oklahoma City. He transferred to AP's New York headquarters in 1941. He was sent to Europe in 1943 to help with AP's coverage of World War II. Crystal Bealmear said he first was assigned to London, often interviewing pilots returning from bombing missions. He was assigned to Paris shortly after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

After the war, Mr. Bealmear returned to New York, where he worked in AP's sports department. He was appointed bureau chief in Oklahoma City in 1949, in Milwaukee in 1955 and in Kansas City in 1968.

Mr. Bealmear left the AP in 1971 and spent four years in corporate public relations with Hallmark Cards in Kansas City.

Among the survivors, in addition to his wife, are a son, Robert, of Nashville, Tenn., and a brother, William, of Midland, Texas. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday in Central Community United Methodist Church in Shell Knob.

Miami Herald obituary, April 24, 1997, pp. 4B.

Joplin Globe (MO) write-up, February 3, 1971, pp. 7C.

[Bill Burgess]

Frederick James Hewitt

Born: May 7, 1873, Cobaux, Ontario, Canada
Died: November 7, 1915, Toronto, Canada, age 42,---d. at Hospital for the Insane, Township of Globicone. Had suffered from a nervous breakdown for 5 years. Had suffered from Paresis for 3 years, and cardiac asthma for 2 weeks. Buried in Toronto, Canada

Canadian sports writer;
Cincinnati Post, sports writer
San Francisco Examiner, April 20, 1906
San Francisco Chronicle, 1906
Chicago Inter-Ocean, November, 1910
New York Sun
New Orleans

Father: James Thomas, born Toronto, Canada, died 1883, Toronto, Canada; Mother: Sarah Wilkinson Hopkins, born Northern Ireland; Wife: Ida Anderson; Brother: William Abraham, born May 15, 1875, Northumberland, Canada; Brother: George; Brother: Art, born Cobourg, Ontario; Brother: James born September, 1870, Cobourg, Ontario; Sister: Annie Eliza Hewitt, born May 17, 1876; Sister: Margaret Lilian, born August 16, 1878 in Cobourg, Ontario; Sister: born June 7, 1873. James Thomas married Sarah Hopkins January 1, 1873.

Biloxi Daily Herald obituary (MS), February 7, 1916, pp. 5.

[Bill Burgess]

John Isaac Johnson

Born: August 1, 1896, Warrenburg, MO (Date of Birth confirmed by WWI Civilian Draft Registration.)
Died: April 11, 1960, Kansas City, MO, age 63,---d. at Veterans Administration Hospital, Kansas City, MO, where he was taken when stricken on April 5. He died a day after suffering a stroke. Chronic glomerulonephritis.

Kansas City sports editor;
Lived Warrensburg, MO, (1910 census)
Chauffeur for private family, (January 6, 1920 census)
Warrensburg, MO public school teacher, (April 21, 1930 census)
Warrensburg, MO, teacher, public school, (April 6, 1940 census)
Graduated Lincoln University (Jefferson City, MO)
Warrenburg, MO, student, (WWI Civilian Draft Registration)
Arrived in Kansas City, MO, 1940 (worked as barber in Castle Barber Shop on 12th street.)
WWII, employed as counselor at North American Aviation, Inc. of Kansas (B-25 bomber plant).
Kansas City Call (MO), sports editor, August 27, 1945 - 1960
Was well-known figure at boxing events.

Father: John E., born Warrenburg, MO, around 1873; Mother: Katie Talbert, born Missouri around 1878; Wife: Elizabeth Burris, born Missouri around 1903, married on May 20, 1920. Daughter: Mrs. Joan Elizabeth Whiters, born Missouri, around 1936.

Atlanta Daily World obituary, April 21, 1960, pp. 7.-------------Atlanta Daily World obituary, April 19, 1960, pp. 5, by Marion E. Jackson.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sporting News' obituary, April 20, 1960, pp. 36.

[Bill Burgess]

Looks like I made a mistake with Danny Knobler starting in 1970. Can anyone help me out?

[Phantom Dreamer]

With Mike DiGiovanna being the obvious target.

[Phantom Dreamer]

Jon Paul Morosi

Born: 1982, Michigan
Died: Still alive

Detroit sports writer;
Bay City Times (MI),
Seattle Post-Intelligener, sports writer,

Jon Paul Morosi is a National MLB Writer for FOXSports.com. He previously covered baseball for the Detroit Free Press and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He began his journalism career at the Bay City Times in his native Michigan

Morosi is at it again...

Daniel A. Knobler---AKA Danny Knobler

Born: June 26, 1961, Columbus, OH
Died: Still Alive

Detroit sports writer;
Detroit sports writer, 1970-2011

1970?

[Bill Burgess]

Dave Beronio

Born: May 16, 1921, Vallejo, CA
Died: December 28, 2013, Carmichael, CA, age 92,---d. renal failure

San Francisco Bay area sports writer;
Graduated Vallejo HS, 1939
WW II,
Vellejo Times-Herald (CA), sports editor, (40 years), ? - 1978
Vallejo Independent Press, sports writer, 1978 -

Wife: Kay, died 1994; Son: Barry; Son: David, Jr.; Son: Ronald;

Dave was born in Vallejo, CA and lived there until August, 2013, when he moved to Carmichael, CA, to be near his children.

Vallejo Times-Herald obituary, December 31, 2013, By Rich Freedman/Times-Herald staff writer
Longtime Vallejo sports journalist Dave Beronio dies at 92

Dave Beronio wrote for a generation of sports fans, sketched national and Bay Area sports legends, and covered everything from the Olympics to Super Bowls.

Despite awards and accolades, the former Times-Herald and Vallejo Independent Press sports editor never left his cherished hometown, said Beronio's youngest son, Barry.

"He was offered other jobs, but he loved Vallejo too much," said Barry Beronio on Monday, reminiscing about his father who died Saturday of renal failure at 92.

Dave Beronio had lived at Merrill Gardens from 2009 until this past August when he was moved closer to family in Carmichael, his son said. A diabetic for many years, Beronio was put on kidney dialysis two years ago.

"He's now out of pain," Barry Beronio said.

A 1939 graduate of Vallejo High School, Dave Beronio was a professional boxer before his journalism career, most of it as the Times-Herald sports editor. As "Dynamite Dave," he fought 14 or 15 bouts, his son said.

"It was the Depression era. You worked to survive anyway you could," Barry Beronio said. "And boxing was his great love."

The elder Beronio established friendships with Rocky Marciano and Archie Moore and sparred with Joe Louis and Ezzard Charles.

PAL Boxing director Drew Trujillo said he lived near the Beronios and after striking up a conversation with Dave one day, was invited into the house to see the artwork.

"I always thought he was talented," Trujillo said. "He was gifted. I wish I had known him a little better."

Beronio was a WWII hero, his son said, piloting 35 missions out of England and returning home with the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Beronio spent some time in Hollywood handling press for returning G.I's before returning to Vallejo to assume sports editor duties. He was with the Times-Herald for 33 years, leaving to join the Vallejo Independent Press in 1978, when newsroom employees started that newspaper after a bitter labor dispute.

"Drawing was his passion but the writing opened doors for other things," said Barry Beronio, the journalist's youngest son following David Jr., and Ronald.

Newspaper work led Beronio to covering 28 Super Bowls and eight Olympiads for the Associated Press and United Press International, winning the National Headliner Award for writing in 1957.

Never, Barry Beronio said, would his father shed his trusted typewriter.

"I used to tell him all the time, 'Dad, you can read newspapers and emails on the computer. It's like typing on your typewriter,' but he never caught on," Barry Beronio said. "He was old-school. Technology and him didn't go hand in hand."

Beronio became friends with many of sports elite, his son said, from golf buddy Joe DiMaggio to Olympic gold medalist Bob Mathias.

When former 49er Bob St. Clair was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990, Beronio was his presenter.

Because of Beronio's long-time relationship with Bay Area athletes and teams via his drawings and reporting, the 49ers continued to allow him press box access after retirement until 2005.

"Candlestick is going out as well as Dave Beronio," his son said.

Beronio befriended Arnold Schwarzenegger when the former California governor was Mr. Universe and the two occasionally exchanged letters, Barry Beronio said, adding that he was often his dad's right-hand man when his dad dictated stories.

"He would often say, 'Sunday's my dad off and I'm working,'" Barry said. "I did get to see some great games over the years. I had an enviable childhood."

Beronio's favorite nonprofits included the Vallejo PAL and the NFL Alumni Golf Tournament, his son said.

"He was always great about being involved with kids and he loved being involved with the newspaper business," Barry said.

Barry Beronio said his father had a simple philosophy of life: "He liked good conversation, good food, and good booze, but not to excess."

"He had a wide circle of friends," Barry Beronio said. "He was quite a guy. They don't make 'em like that anymore. He was a great dad."

Beronio's wife, Kay, died in 1994. He is survived by his three sons, long-time companion Carol Alexander, four grand-children and three great-grandchildren.

The family suggests donations in Beronio's name to the Vallejo Police Activities League; National Football League Alumni Association, San Francisco Chapter (Caring for Kids); St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School.

There will be a private family-only funeral and a Celebration of Dave's life will be announced at a later date.

[Bill Burgess]

There are a couple of minor changes that you may want to make in your article. The first Hearst game was in 1946, not 1947. The actual number of players to make it to the big leagues is 89 (although it is always subject to change pending further research). Whitey Ford did not play in the Hearst Classic. He played in "Brooklyn Against the World" an event sponsored by The Brooklyn Eagle, in 1946. There were, in al, 29 All-Stars. In addition to the ones you named, the most prominent was Ron Santo.

Ruth was honorary chairman in 1947, as noted, and the game was played in his honor in 1948. He had did shortly before the game was played.

Alan Cohen

Thank you, Alan. I made the corrections. Always appreciate an assist.

[adc0317]

I am doing research into the Hearst Sandlot Classic and enjoyed reading more about Max Kase. That picture of Kaline receiving the MVP is a winner. I wish we had been able to get our hands on it when we put the article in the Baseball Research Journal. The JA archives are at the University of Texas, but the person there was not able to find all the photos that I had seen when I went through the JA microfilms at the new York Public Library.

There are a couple of minor changes that you may want to make in your article. The first Hearst game was in 1946, not 1947. The actual number of players to make it to the big leagues is 89 (although it is always subject to change pending further research). Whitey Ford did not play in the Hearst Classic. He played in "Brooklyn Against the World" an event sponsored by The Brooklyn Eagle, in 1946. There were, in al, 29 All-Stars. In addition to the ones you named, the most prominent was Ron Santo.

Ruth was honorary chairman in 1947, as noted, and the game was played in his honor in 1948. He had did shortly before the game was played.

Alan Cohen

[Bill Burgess]

Hugh Roderick Beaton, Jr.---AKA Rod Beaton

Born: September 28, 1951, Augusta, GA
Died: June 22, 2011, Arlington, VA, age 59,---Lewy body dementia, Parkingson's disease.

Rod Beaton, USA Today sportswriter, dies at 59
By Matt Schudel,July 16, 2011
Rod Beaton was a sportswriter who covered baseball for USA Today.
Rod Beaton was a sportswriter who covered baseball for USA Today. (Family photo/ )
Rod Beaton, a sportswriter who covered baseball for USA Today for many years, and who once had a testy clubhouse confrontation with superstar Barry Bonds, died June 22 at Emeritus of Arlington nursing home in Arlington County. He was 59 and had Lewy body dementia, a progressive neurological disorder, and Parkinson’s disease.

Mr. Beaton was a member of the original staff of USA Today when the newspaper was founded in 1982. He covered the National Hockey League for four years before turning to baseball.

As a national baseball correspondent, Mr. Beaton toured spring training camps each year and attended the All-Star Game and World Series for two decades. He was among the first sportswriters to focus attention on amateur and minor league players before they became big-league stars.

He cultivated a network of scouts and coaches around the country and often traveled to distant corners of the country for firsthand glimpses of young players. He collected his observations in columns that highlighted minor leaguers from each franchise and discussed draft prospects and rumors of potential trades and free-agent signings. Many future stars gained their first national exposure through Mr. Beaton’s writing.

“Back before the internet gave us so much information so easily about so many teams,” baseball reporter Tom Verducci wrote on the Sports Illustrated Web site, “if you wanted to learn something about teams outside of your home market . . . you read Rod Beaton.”

Mr. Beaton interviewed hundreds of athletes over the years, but he had a particularly testy encounter with Bonds, the volatile slugger of the Pittsburgh Pirates and later the San Francisco Giants.

In 1996, while Mr. Beaton was waiting before a game to interview one of Bonds’s teammates with the Giants, Bonds ordered him to leave the clubhouse. Mr. Beaton said that, by major league rules, he still had 15 minutes to talk to players before the game.

“Time, dude, gotta go,” Bonds said, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. “Time to get out of here.”

Bonds then approached Mr. Beaton, waving a finger in his face before shoving him in the chest.

“I stepped back and slapped his hand away,” Mr. Beaton told the Chronicle. According to other reports, he added, “Barry, you’re not my social director.”

Members of the Giants front office and coaching staff stepped between the two to keep the tiff from escalating. After the game, the Giants’ public relations director tried to restore a measure of amity by having Bonds speak to Mr. Beaton.

“He accused me of having an attitude,” Mr. Beaton said at the time. “I told him he went over the line by shoving me, but there was no apology.”

Several years later, after symptoms of Mr. Beaton’s illness had become apparent, he was unable to rise from a chair at a baseball gathering. Other sportswriters and baseball officials walked past, but when Bonds saw him struggling to stand, he helped Mr. Beaton to his feet.

After that act of kindness, Mr. Beaton’s wife said, her husband never again criticized Bonds.

Hugh Roderick Beaton Jr. was born Sept. 28, 1951, in Augusta, Ga., and grew up outside Wilmington, Del. After graduating from the University of Delaware, he became a reporter for the Wilmington News-Journal in 1978.

He covered dog shows and high school sports before becoming the paper’s hockey writer, covering the Philadelphia Flyers in the waning years of their fame as the “Broad Street Bullies.” He also covered the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles baseball teams.

Although Mr. Beaton concentrated on hockey and baseball at USA Today, which is based in Northern Virginia, he also covered the Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500. Of all his assignments, Mr. Beaton particularly enjoyed writing about minor league baseball.

“He loved it because it would allow him to go to out-of-the-way places,” his wife, Maria Beaton, said in an interview.

Mr. Beaton was gregarious and had a booming voice that could be heard across a room. He was renowned for his wide-ranging and opinionated views of restaurants around the country, the more obscure the better. An excellent cook, he was especially proud of his spicy chili and baby-back ribs.

His marriage to Janice Wooten ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 26 years, the former Maria Bedard, and their two sons, Kyle Beaton and Cody Beaton, all of Herndon; and a brother.

Mr. Beaton’s Parkinson’s disease was diagnosed in 2000. Doctors did not diagnose his Lewy body dementia, the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, until 2007, but his wife said he had shown signs of altered behavior — including occasional outbursts of violence — as early as the mid-1990s.

As his condition worsened, Mr. Beaton stopped writing for USA Today in 2006. He had three brain operations and had been in a nursing home for the past two years.

In his final months, one of his few solaces was watching baseball games on television.

[Bill Burgess]

Raymond Francis Ryan, Jr.---AKA Ray Ryan

Born: July 22, 1927, Seattle, WA
Died: October 21, 2013, Grays Hasrbor, AZ, age 86,---d. cancer

Arizona sports writer;
Graduated Lakeside School (Seattle, WA),
Attended Stanford University
University of Washington, degree in business administration
Daily World, sports writer, 1965 - 1992

Daily World obituary, October 22, 2013 - 8:32am
Ray Ryan, longtime Daily World sportswriter, dies at 86
By Rick Anderson

Father: Raymond Francis Ryan, Sr.; Mother: Virginia Benson; Son: Patrick; Son: Michael; Son: Kevin: Daughter: Jean Fairbrther; Daughter: Becca;

The Daily World

Ray Ryan, a Daily World sports writing legend who covered Twin Harbors athletics for nearly 50 years, died Monday in Tumwater.

Ryan, who had been battling cancer for several months, was 86. Funeral arrangements are pending and are scheduled to be announced later this week.

“For me and thousands of others whose lives he touched in a half-century on the Harbor, Ray Ryan will always be unforgettable,” former Daily World editor and publisher John Hughes wrote in an email. “He was a big-time talent in a small town that he adopted as his own. What a blessing that was. We may never see another one like him.”

Ryan was known for his passion for sports, his encyclopedic knowledge of Twin Harbors athletics and a vivid writing style often laced with sarcastic humor. A stickler for precise language, he often consulted a newsroom dictionary before using unfamiliar terminology in a story.

“While it’s impossible to quantify how much one person’s life may or may not have influenced another’s, I am certain that Uncle Ray influenced mine,” said former Daily World Entertainment Editor Jeff Burlingame, an Aberdeen High graduate who is now an award-winning author of biographical books. “Growing up reading his material certainly shaped my career pattern.”

“His knowledge of Harbor sports was second to none,” added Hoquiam track & field coach Tim Pelan. “He was just a wealth of information.”

But Ryan’s impact went far beyond his game stories and columns.

He was exceptionally active at St. Mary’s Catholic Church throughout his 48 years on Grays Harbor, serving as a lector and usher and volunteering on many other church projects, including the Feed the Hungry program.

An avid track and field follower, he founded the Grays Harbor Greyhounds youth summer track club that toured the Northwest for many years.

“For me, that is what got me to love track and field,” his son Mick, a member of the Aberdeen High Hall of Fame and later the coach of an Olympia High School state championship track team, recalled in 2001. “Those meets were our summer vacations. My dad would take kids from Hoquiam, Aberdeen, Montesano, Elma and the beaches to meets all over Washington, British Columbia and Oregon and it was a great way of seeing different parts of the state.”

Along with the late Hoquiam High coach Bill Jamison, Ryan was largely responsible for reviving the Grays Harbor All-County Track Meet.

“I appreciate people who love the sport and put the time in and there’s no greater person on the Harbor who enjoyed track and field more than Ray,” Pelan said.

Although inextricably linked with Grays Harbor sports writing, Ryan was a Seattle native who had never written professionally before moving to the Harbor in his late 30s.

A graduate of Lakeside School in Seattle, he attended Stanford University and earned a degree in business administration from the University of Washington. Following a pair of military hitches with the Navy and Air Force, he began a career as a bank clerk in Seattle. Unhappy with that profession, he applied for a Daily World opening as an East County reporter and was hired in 1965.

“He left a boring job as a Seattle banker to follow his first love — sports writing — in a small town,” Hughes remembered. “In nothing flat, his byline translated to ‘read me.’ He wrote quickly, with flair and wit. … Whenever Ryan wrote ‘And then Mo Mentum swapped jerseys,’ it never seemed like a cliche.”

Ryan succeeded Robbie Peltola as sports editor a few years later, but voluntarily relinquished the editor’s job in the mid-1970s to focus primarily on writing.

Retiring as a full-time writer in 1992, he agreed to continue as a part-time correspondent for “a few years.” Those few years turned to be nearly as long as his career as a full-time employee. He covered occasional games and wrote periodic columns through early this year and had intended to continue his weekly high school football prediction column this fall until his condition worsened.

Ryan’s writing attributes included a flair for nicknames.

He first dubbed Elma High School basketball sharpshooter Rod Derline “The Rifle,” a moniker that stuck through Derline’s professional career with the Seattle SuperSonics. His initially tongue-in-cheek designations for Hoquiam High School’s gym (Hoquiam Square Garden) and track (Sea Breeze Oval) also became universally accepted.

A fine all-around athlete in his youth, he returned to competition following his retirement. He won a slew of medals in senior track meets — although he puckishly acknowledged that he tended to seek events in which there were no other entrants.

Inducted into both the Aberdeen High School Hall of Fame and Grizzly Alumni Association Roll of Honor, Ryan received another tribute in 2011 when he was named the Polson Museum’s Pioneer of the Year.

“When you think about the number of individuals who you’ve had some part in their lives … you’ve made an impact here in a major way,” Polson Director John Larson told Ryan.