RIP Steve Repko...

Was my first boss in sports...

A guy with a good heart, even if absolutely had to have every Monday off for bowling night -- even the one where my headgasket blew...

Loved covering the Tigers and all baseball, and championed EMU -- back when the Hurons were competitive, and not any of this Eagles' crap.... And was angry as hell when a Metro Detroit columnist/future co-worker tried to keep him from his lifetime BBWAA card.

RIP Boss...

Steve Repko, a former sports writer, columnist and copy editor at The Oakland Press newspaper, died Friday, Dec. 31 of complications from several illnesses.

Repko, who was 58 years old, worked seven years at The Oakland Press before leaving the company nearly three years ago because of illness. He was a longtime sports editor for the Ypsilanti Press newspaper before the paper folded in the late 1990s.


http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2011/01/01/sports/local/doc4d1fc280e5644953180552.txt?viewmode=fullstory

 

Steve was a good man with an eye for talent, as proved by his hiring of our friend Slappy.

 

I'll echo the previous comments. Good man and good journalist.

RIP Steve

 

r.i.p., steve. sounds like you were a fine member of our community.

damn, i hate hearing of folks passing during holiday season. i know we can't pick our time, and the timing is NEVER good for your loved ones, but i always fear that dying on or near prime annual holidays can scar a family's celebration for years to come... i know too well how the anniversary of a loved one's passing becomes a date of infamy for us all. when it coincides with a traditional day of celebration it just strikes me as piling on, if you will.


here's my sincerest wishes that steve's family is able to eventually celebrate his life and not allow the time of his death to haunt their future new year's celebrations. i'm pretty sure that is among the last things he'd want to come as a result of his passing.

 

Shockey,
Your wishes are bittersweet. His family won't have those memories, because there aren't any. His dad died about 20 years ago, his mom maybe four or five. His only brother lived in Connecticut and committed suicide maybe 20 years ago. Rep never married, but had a lot of close friends -- mostly at Eastern Michigan at in Ypsilanti.


This was written a little over a year ago, told more about him for those not in SE Michigan.
He wasn't always the perfect boss, but then again, I wasn't always the perfect employee -- which I know shocks most of those who know me.

http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2009/08/27/sports/doc4a9650b9d765f432331277.txt

 

I want to echo Slappy, Hank and Crusoes - all former co-workers of mine. Steve was a good man. He hired me at the Ypsilanti Press as a stringer. It took him a while to forgive me for jumping to that other defunct Washtenaw paper (where I worked with the abovementioned three), but he was always very kind to me and glad to hear from me when I called the OP for playoff scores.

Steve and I even took a couple EMU baseball road trips together when I was a student. It was on one of those road trips that he got word of his brother's death.

Steve had a passion for his hometown of Ypsilanti, and being the Press' sports editor was the perfect job for him.

RIP, Steve - you will be missed.

 

RIP Steve. He strung for AP while I was there and was always a pro.

 

Like KJIM, I worked with Steve when we were both stringing for AP, and he was always one of the best people in the business. A pro to work with, and one of the nicest guys in any press box.