RIP Bill Halls

[Jake from State Farm]

He covered the 1967 Detroit riots for the Associated Press and the Pistons for 30 years at the Detroit News
Bill Halls was a legend in the business and a terrific guy
David Stern honored him on his 80th birthday
A stalwart reporter for The Detroit Sunday Journal
You already are missed, Hallsy

Ex-Detroit News sportswriter Bill Halls dies at 86

 

[Joe Williams]

IIRC, NBA PR chief Brian McIntyre convinced Halls in retirement to come to NBA playoff games anyway, just so there'd be someone in the postgame media sessions who could ask smart questions. This was when a lot of the media folks were from newspapers throughout the league, and their deadlines kept a lot of them out of the interview room. With Halls there, the podium stuff wasn't limited to "talk about..." or worse from morning-zoo radio types or foreign press.