RIP Dave Newhouse

[HanSenSE]

Another old-school SF Bay Area columnist passes away. Worked mostly for the Oakland Tribune, but also self-syndicated himself, wrote several books on sports in the Bay Area and did a stint hosting "SportsPhone 68" on KNBR most remembered for the time Woody Hayes hung up on him when asked if he had any regrets over how his career ended.

And, yes, a San Jose State guy. When I was sports editor of the Spartan Daily, he was in town to do a story and stopped by our office to say hello to our editor, who had been an intern at the Trib that summer. Came over to our corner of the newsroom and one of the first things he said to me was "I hear we're getting paid now."

A gentle soul who will be missed. Gifted link.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/...0NDNkLTg0ZjEtYTJlZmNhNDMzOGU1&sharecount=MQ==

 

[maumann2]

Man, as soon as I saw the thread title, I thought back to the many times I read his writing in the Peach. RIP, Dave.

Oh, the 1970s were a heady time for sports journalism in the Bay Area. The Chron, the Examiner, the Trib. And then so many healthy independent rags: the Contra Costa Times, the I-J, the Mercury News and probably another half-dozen that I haven't mentioned. Dad subscribed to the Tribune and the "Green Sheet," but I'd read the Chronicle in the school library every morning as well.

I'm certain the reason why I was influenced to attempt a living in sports journalism was in no small part by Dave Newhouse and all the other great writers of that era. Plus Bill King, Lon Simmons, Roy Storey and Joe Starkey on the radio.

 

[DanOregon]

Imagine you are a kid working their first newspaper job and you get a compliment about a story you wrote from the guy you grew up reading and listening to on the radio - and eventually feel like a regular colleague to. My goodness, a sad day for sports journalism. Great writer. Better person. Saw him a few years later after moving to Oregon at a Cal game at Tennessee and had lunch. Really, we talk a lot of crud about the job, the career - but some of the people you meet and get to know through the job - I felt like a kid getting to be teammates with Mantle and Mays. Think of the era he covered in East Bay Sports with the Raiders, A's and Warriors all winning championships in the 70s and 80s. RIP.

 

[HanSenSE]

Man, as soon as I saw the thread title, I thought back to the many times I read his writing in the Peach. RIP, Dave.

Oh, the 1970s were a heady time for sports journalism in the Bay Area. The Chron, the Examiner, the Trib. And then so many healthy independent rags: the Contra Costa Times, the I-J, the Mercury News and probably another half-dozen that I haven't mentioned. Dad subscribed to the Tribune and the "Green Sheet," but I'd read the Chronicle in the school library every morning as well.

I'm certain the reason why I was influenced to attempt a living in sports journalism was in no small part by Dave Newhouse and all the other great writers of that era. Plus Bill King, Lon Simmons, Roy Storey and Joe Starkey on the radio.

Which is why I was laughing to myself, posting the Chronicle's obit of a Tribune columnist. There wasn't one on a BANG page this morning. I'm reminded of when Herb Caen died. He passed on a Saturday morning, but after the Chronicle's last print deadline. So the Examimer had dibs on the story for a day and a half.

 

[ChrisLong]

Imagine you are a kid working their first newspaper job and you get a compliment about a story you wrote from the guy you grew up reading and listening to on the radio - and eventually feel like a regular colleague to. My goodness, a sad day for sports journalism. Great writer. Better person. Saw him a few years later after moving to Oregon at a Cal game at Tennessee and had lunch. Really, we talk a lot of crud about the job, the career - but some of the people you meet and get to know through the job - I felt like a kid getting to be teammates with Mantle and Mays. Think of the era he covered in East Bay Sports with the Raiders, A's and Warriors all winning championships in the 70s and 80s. RIP.

I retain fond memories of my college years in L.A. when I was the "kid from the school paper." The grizzled veterans treated me like one of their own, not the tag-along kid. Mitch Chortkoff (who later became my co-worker and boss a couple of times) and Mal Florence were my two biggest influencers/inspirations. There were a lot of others.
RIP, Dave.

 

[HanSenSE]

And now comes word another former Tribune columnist, Carl Steward, has died. May be paywalled.

 

[maumann2]

So much institutional knowledge of Bay Area sports between those two. What a blessing to have had them as leaders in our industry. RIP, Carl.

 

[DanOregon]

Oh dang, Carl was a good dude. He hooked up the sports staff with the Northern California Golf Association Media Day at Poppy Hills. It was a junket more or less. Pay a $25 membership fee and you went down and played 18 at Poppy when it was it was part of the ATT/Crosby - an incredible lunch, a bunch of "tee prizes" and just getting to play that course for free more or less. What a fun day. I was terrible and embarrassing, but made sure to wear a collared shirt at least. Felt like "Caddie Day" at the Bushwood CC.
The thing I appreciated most about Newhouse and Steward was they didn't just write about the pros. They would write about high school coaches, whether they were John Beam winning titles or some girls coach who was retiring after 30 years of middling success. A person running a youth league, a golf pro at a local muni, they really captured the enthusiasm for sports in the area at all levels. I don't know if the area realized how good we had it at the time.

 

[HanSenSE]

Those types of stories are the ones that fall through the cracks when newspapers become homogenized. Same column in 3-4;different papers in the region.

Plaschke is an example of this, taking on the Rams or the Lakers, but at the same time knocking one out of the park on an inner city high school girls soccer team that can't afford new uniforms. Simers would rip Frank McCourt a new one one day, then write an absolute tear jerker about a kid in the hospital who loves the Dodgers, but would get no closer to Chavez Ravine than his television.

Who will pick up this gauntlet, or will they keep rehashing more clickbait?

 

[HanSenSE]

 

[qtlaw]

Such a classy move (not unexpected) by Kerr, he understands history and the intersection with journalism and culture.

Even though I grew up on the Chronicle Green Page in SF, I later had access to Newhouse and Steward through the Tribune/Mercury/Times. Enjoyed their POV very much. May you RIP.

 

[HanSenSE]

Damn dust.

 

[DanOregon]

Aw dang. I hadn't heard about David Bush. He and his wife were good friends with my folks when they lived in Walnut Creek. He took my dad to a Cal football game pre-Covid, they sat in the press box. My dad was so impressed. It might have been the last big sports event he has attended. It meant a lot to my dad.
Those four covered just about everything in Sports in the Bay Area during the era of greatness between the 70s and 00s. Nice for the Giants to remember them.