RIP Chris Mortensen

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I worked a lot of Atlanta sports events back when and got to know Mort well enough to know he was a great guy as well as a great reporter.
 
Mort covered baseball pretty well also.

A young Mort appears at 1:16:05 of this video.

 
And a gem of a tribute from Arthur Blank ...

In a statement released by the Falcons, owner Arthur Blank said: “I join the immeasurable number of hearts across the nation, in journalism and the sports community, as we mourn Chris Mortensen. I’m grateful to have had the privilege of knowing Chris through his incredible work beginning at his days at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and like so many, being blessed by his professional excellence and personal grace through the many years that have followed. I considered Chris a personal hero of my mine and it is truly hard to imagine sports journalism without him. His ability to take on life’s obstacles with grit and determination was always truly inspiring and his enormous impact on so many, me included, will live on through this work and unwavering friendships. I send my deepest condolences to Chris’ family and friends, and pray they find peace in the honorable legacy and positive influence that Chris leaves behind.”

https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-...en-dead-at-age-72/GFNL72DQFZHQVHND2QITKDXE44/
 
Octave said:
Mort covered baseball pretty well also.

A young Mort appears at 1:16:05 of this video.

Click to expand...


Sorry, Joe Torre's face broke the playback for me.

Seriously, though, sounds like the kind of guy that you can look up to, professionally and personally. We're gonna lose a lot of those "golden age" guys in the years to come. Hell, we already almost lost Gammons a couple years back. Trying to think of some of the others in that cadre, but what a wonderful tradition to demonstrate for "kids" like me just out here trying to do good work and be a good person.

Edit: I got it to work. You should check out the video for Mort's mustache alone.
 
UPChip said:
Sorry, Joe Torre's face broke the playback for me.

Seriously, though, sounds like the kind of guy that you can look up to, professionally and personally. We're gonna lose a lot of those "golden age" guys in the years to come. Hell, we already almost lost Gammons a couple years back. Trying to think of some of the others in that cadre, but what a wonderful tradition to demonstrate for "kids" like me just out here trying to do good work and be a good person.

Edit: I got it to work. You should check out the video for Mort's mustache alone.
Click to expand...

Bruce Benedict came off as an entitled asshole with his comments.
Mort got the last laugh, though. Who the hell remembers Bruce Benedict?
 
MileHigh said:
Yup, but started at the Daily Breeze. in the South Bay. Perhaps @ChrisLong can provide some insights.
Click to expand...

Mort and I were the same age, but he was one year ahead of me in school. He went to North Torrance High and was the second baseman on the Bay League's best team. I went to Santa Monica High. We were in the same league. In 1969, North came in first, Samo second. That was Mort's senior year.

In 1971, he was at El Camino College, I was at Santa Monica College. We were fledgling prep writers, he at the South Bay Daily Breeze and me at the Santa Monica Evening Outlook. The Breeze covered the entire South Bay up through Westchester. The Outlook covered the Westside down to LAX. Westchester was an overlap area that both papers covered. There are two high schools there, Westchester and St. Bernard.

Over the next few years, our paths crossed a few times at games and All-CIF meetings. He was outgoing and very knowledgable and he "knew the room." He commanded a lot of respect. An example of that was in 1976 during the Southern California Athlete of the Year voting. There were three final candidates -- Dennis Smith of Santa Monica, Ronnie Lott of Eisenhower in Rialto and Tim Hovland of Westchester. Smith was first-team All-CIF in football, all-league in basketball and high jumped 7-feet on his first attempt with no practice during a track meet. Lott played football, baseball, basketball and wrestled. Hovland was all-league in football, All-City in basketball, City Player of the Year in volleyball. Mort nominated Hovland. Our paper nominated Smith and we thought our position was more valid in the discussion because we covered both Smith and Hovland. Hovland won because of Mort's influence.

Mort worked hard and played harder until later in life when he found religion and toned down his act. He got the Dodgers beat in the late '70s and was a relentless reporter. He moved easily around the clubhouse because he looked like a player, right age, right stature. He stupidly caused an injury (severed wrist tendons) to another writer late in 1980. I got the Dodgers beat in 1981 and we traveled together that season and 1982. There was a memorable trip to Hawaii (Waikiki) for the Winter Meetings in 1982. A bunch of us went to Maui for a week after that. Eight of us in 2 condos. He finished the season and left for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to cover the Falcons. Later, he went to ESPN where he became a top pro football analyst. I didn't see much of him after he left Southern California but kept track of him via ESPN.
 
Slacker said:
Wow, what's that story?
Click to expand...

There was a going-away party for a writer who was leaving the Dodgers beat and moving to a paper in another part of the state. The tables were arranged in a U formation, the departing writer sat at the outside base of the U and others were sitting around, inside and outside of the U. There was plenty of alcohol. The "program" included some roast-style speeches and Mort had some phony telegrams to read. He came around behind the guest of honor and climbed up onto the back of his chair, being supported by guys on either side. After a couple of minutes, Mort decided to try to jump over the table into the middle of the U. He came up short, and his foot crashed into a glass, jamming it into the back of the departing writer's wrist. He was taken to the emergency hospital. He also had to begin his new job at another paper with a huge cast on his arm and being unable to write.

Another time, a few of us were having dinner on the patio of a restaurant in the Mount Adams district in Cincinnati. Mort lit up a cigarette. I said, "Mort, what the hell are you doing? You don't ****ing smoke." So he threw the lit cigarette at me. No harm done, this time.
Like I said above, he cleaned up his act and found religion. He was excellent at his job.

During wilder times, Mort and Bob Cox, another fantastic NFL beat writer from the Daily Breeze, shared an apartment in Redondo Beach that was party central. Cox died 3 months ago.
RIP, Mort ... and Coxie.
 
ChrisLong said:
There was a going-away party for a writer who was leaving the Dodgers beat and moving to a paper in another part of the state. The tables were arranged in a U formation, the departing writer sat at the outside base of the U and others were sitting around, inside and outside of the U. There was plenty of alcohol. The "program" included some roast-style speeches and Mort had some phony telegrams to read. He came around behind the guest of honor and climbed up onto the back of his chair, being supported by guys on either side. After a couple of minutes, Mort decided to try to jump over the table into the middle of the U. He came up short, and his foot crashed into a glass, jamming it into the back of the departing writer's wrist. He was taken to the emergency hospital. He also had to begin his new job at another paper with a huge cast on his arm and being unable to write.

Another time, a few of us were having dinner on the patio of a restaurant in the Mount Adams district in Cincinnati. Mort lit up a cigarette. I said, "Mort, what the hell are you doing? You don't ****ing smoke." So he threw the lit cigarette at me. No harm done, this time.
Like I said above, he cleaned up his act and found religion. He was excellent at his job.

During wilder times, Mort and Bob Cox, another fantastic NFL beat writer from the Daily Breeze, shared an apartment in Redondo Beach that was party central. Cox died 3 months ago.
RIP, Mort ... and Coxie.
Click to expand...

Footage of Mort’s dive exists:

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/xJEWI95mtYE
 
Why would anyone ever need to get drunk in Southern California?
 
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