RIP Craig Schmidt - aka Frank Ridgeway

[Drip]

And here's something else to add to that list. Too many of you guys walk around with chips on your shoulders about people, posters, what have you. Stop. Be a little kinder and tolerant. Don't be so quick to nit pick and dismiss someone because their opinion is different or because of some other silly notion such as skin tone or weight. Life is too short to be so miserable.

 

[Webster]

I loved reading his posts, especially about clothing. I remember having a civil disagreement with him about some fashion choice -- he let me know that I didn't have a clue what I was talking about in the nicest way possible. I remember reading his gentle rebuke with a huge grin.

You could tell he was a true gentleman. RIP

 

[jr/shotglass]

And here's something else to add to that list. Too many of you guys walk around with chips on your shoulders about people, posters, what have you. Stop. Be a little kinder and tolerant. Don't be so quick to nit pick and dismiss someone because their opinion is different or because of some other silly notion such as skin tone or weight. Life is too short to be so miserable.

Amen, brother Drip.

 

[petewevurski]

Feel like I just got kicked in the stomach. What a horrible shock. Craig's career and mine criss-crossed the country many times. We never actually worked together but it often felt as if we had. He was such a reasonable presence here and on Facebook. He took the nom de plume Frank Ridgeway because he liked that character from "Eddie and the Cruisers," one of his favorite films with a Jersey touch. Condolences not only to Craig's family but to everyone he connected with or touched in a great many newsrooms and on the FB & SJ sites. I can just imagine the SJ reunion going on right now among Craig (Frank), Ron Drogo (Spnited), Craig Stanke (SF Express) and Paul Needell (Shockey). Wonderful friends and colleagues, all.

 

[Bob Crotchet]

Well, just ... damn. I met Craig in the early '80s when were were both getting started in Tucson. RIP. Too young.

 

[rico_the_redneck]

Terrible news. Always came away from a conversation with him having learned something new or thinking about a topic in a different way. I consider Frank_Ridgeway to be one of my journalism mentors, even though I never had the good fortune of working with him. RIP.

This. I realized ~15 years ago when I was a relative newbie in this business that Frank/Craig was someone on this board I should reach out to. I PM'd him and developed an online friendship with him. I sent him clips of my work and he graciously took time to read them and give me advice on how I could get better. I remember talking education with him one time -- I didn't have a degree in journalism when I got in. Craig told me wisely that if I went back to school there was no point in majoring in journalism because I had learned everything I'd ever need to know from working at a newspaper. That stuck with me when I eventually finished my bachelor's in economics. When I think of mentors who made me better, Craig Schmidt was it. I knew he was pretty young and my heart sank reading this news. I am a better writer and journalist thanks to Craig.

 

[Moderator1]

As noted, going to the memorial tomorrow with Amy and Cranberry. Amy found this great Craig/Frank post on appropriate dress for a memorial service:

"I went to a work-related funeral about 10 years ago and the boss, while he did at least wear a jacket, was dressed festively and brightly -- I recall a flourescent green shirt. He looked like he had just stepped off a golf course or the lido deck and thrown on a linen jacket, his greasy hair slicked back like Pat Riley's. I couldn't believe that asshole. For chrissakes, show some common sense and appear somewhat somber. I wore a dark gray suit."


I'm going to wear the most "Frank" thing I own. It's a Brooks Brothers suit, very nice and easily the most high-end thing I own. And I got it very, very, very cheap tailored to fit (well under $200). Only thing that would make it better is if it came from a thrift shop. He was going to show me some of those, too, on our next Jersey tour including a place that sold hats. I don't have a hat to wear that's appropriate with this suit.

 

[cranberry]

I'll be wearing a somber, dark gray suit and thrift shop tie.

 

[BDC99]

Damn. Never had any interaction with him, but always respected what he had to say, and he clearly knew the business and was good at it. This from the obituary was sad to see, as well, because he would have been damn good at it, I'm sure:

He last worked at the New York Daily News and was thrilled about an interview at the New York Times on the day he passed.

 

[Riptide]

I found this quote yesterday and loved it all over again. I couldn't begin to comprehend it then or now without looking up photos of those types of shoes. I mean, I had an idea of what brogues were, but bluchers? What the hell are bluchers?

And then I saw that those Allen Edmonds shoes go for $300 to $700 a pair.
Dunno what kind of bargains Craig/Frank got, but his shoe payments were more like car payments to me. :)

I wear black Allen Edmonds wingtip balmorals for job interviews, but I am not not all that concerned that newspaper editors are going to nitpick on that. I would wear the more traditional black captoes if someday I can acquire a quality pair at a price I'll pay. I've built my shoe collection gradually and usually when a bargain presents itself.

Most say you shouldn't wear a blucher with a suit, but I've read that black Florsheim longwing bluchers (nicknamed "gunboats") were part of the uniform in IBM's heyday and that's what people wore to interview there, in black. Over the past few years I've acquired vintage, made-in USA Florsheim gunboats in black, brown pebblegrain and No. 8 shell cordovan (horse) and I would not hesitate to wear any of them with a navy suit, although probably only the black ones for a job interview. Really, those old gunboats are so solidly built that if someone didn't see them as serious business shoes, you could just kick him in the shins until he offers you the job.

 

[Dog8Cats]

Longtime lurker, infrequent poster …

Frank_Ridgeway is the only SJ member whose true identity I really wanted to learn. His posts were of such value – they advanced a conversation, put forth a point of view worth considering, demonstrated impeccable writing and editing – that I wondered who this person was. I’m pretty sure I’d never worked with him, but had a colleague, or a former colleague? What else could I learn from him? From some of his comments, I figured we might have Advance shops as a commonality. (We did.)

Reading his travel piece about Greenville, South Carolina, I was struck by a couple of things:

1) Thank God the NYDN resisted AP’s style change to spell out state names.

2) Frank_Ridgeway could write. From the first paragraph to the last, he knew what he was doing when he chose the words he did. “GREENVILLE, S.C., is a daring, darling Dixie city …” and “quality shopping that outclasses trinket mongers clogging quaint but essentially useless downtowns.” “Trinket mongers” – I’ll go to my cremation wishing I’d thought of that phrase. Anybody who brandishes the opinion that “editors do what they do because they can’t write” will get a fight from me, and I will brandish Frank_Ridgeway as Exhibit 1.

F_R clearly cared about the craft of producing a product meant for widespread public consumption. The words matter. The sequence they’re used matter. Some of his thoughts as expressed on S_J made me pretty sure he was at least a little older than I was, and I was correct. He (and, by extension, I) was an endangered species when it came to ensuring THE exact word was used to convey the proper image in a reader’s mind, as opposed to ensuring a web headline would entice the maximum page views. To be honest (and don’t take offense, anyone), it’s alarming that F_R and SF_Express are worshiped on this board as paragons of style and usage and such; shouldn’t EVERYONE in the business be as concerned with such matters (the serial comma, “workmanlike” incorrectly used to mean “methodical” or “rough-hewn,” “compared to”/”compared with,” “allude”/”refer” – and don’t get me started on someone “referencing a play from two years ago” as a stand-in for “referring to …”) as these two were?

When still in the newspaper biz, I took heart from his reassurances that print would survive and could even thrive as times changed. His tone – please understand, I viewed this anonymous Oracle as worthy of faith -- carried such assurance, my worries waned. (I take less heart now, and am, gratefully, out of the print biz.) His death doesn’t mean anything for the fate of printed newspapers as a profitable industry. But his death does mark the passing of a man who exemplified the best of the profession (the best of any profession, really) – earnest striving to do the best job possible, in honor of the craft.

 

[Sxysprtswrtr]

So very sad to hear this news. As many, many others have stated before me, Frank_Ridgeway was someone who made this board/website interesting and worthwhile in so many ways. I never met Craig in person, however, he was always responsive to messages and offering advice.

Sending thoughts and prayers to his family and friends. SJ.com has lost yet another gem.

 

[Monday Morning Sportswriter]

For all Frank's chatter about Brooks Brothers and style, he usually tucked that shirt into a pair of Harbaugh khakis, every night for the 10 years or so we worked in the same newsroom. Frank didn't necessarily always dress like a million bucks but he appreciated a well-made shirt and a solid pair of shoes.

 

[Moderator1]

Memorial was very nice, big crowd and his wife was a rock. Not sure I would have been able to show her strength

 

[spaceman]

This saddens me. He was way too young.

 

[Cape_Fear]

I saw on Facebook that Craig died but never realized he was Frank. Our only interaction was nine years ago when I was planning the honeymoon for Mrs. Fear and myself to San Diego and he recommended a place on the travel thread. We had a great time and I messaged him thanking for the suggestion. That was just one of the many tips he passed along here thanks to his posts.

I'm think I'm going to listen to the Eddie and the Cruisers soundtrack tonight.

Rest in peace, Frank.

 

[MileHigh]

Saw the thread title last week and I've been sad the past week. Our board is a lot darker with him gone. Whenever I saw his name next to a post, I paid extra attention. RIP to a board Hall of Famer.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

Not to get dark in here, but how many regular board posters have died?

Off the top of my head: Frank, spnited, SF Express, Overrated, Tripp McNeely, editorhoo ... seems like there's at least one more I'm missing. And of course there's probably posters who disappeared when they died, but we never knew.

A college sports message board I visit has a "retired jersey" section for regular posters who died. Jerseys Retired - CSNbbs. I wonder if something like that wouldn't be appropriate here.

 

[Riptide]

Shockey, too.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

There are certain people on here where, you see their screenname and you have to read their ****. Regardless of the topic. And if they've posted multiple paragraphs - meaning they've told a story - then it was basically appointment reading. spnited was like that and so was Craig. Sad to hear about this, especially at such a young age.