Send a card

Bill Hickey, former tv critic and instigator of the infamous Sake Bowl, is battling cancer, reports Dan Coughlin. You can send Bill a card at 29932 Ednil Dr., Bay Village, Oh 44140-1628.

All his sources are in jail

Reporter Joe Wagner said he had to retire from the PD. All his sources are in jail, he told about 50 people at Massimo de Milano Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010. But some of those sources seemed to send telegrams of farewell, read by Powell Caesar, friend and coroner's office spokemen. For more photos go to www.flickr.com/photos/photos

Look who you missed

About 30 mostly PD alumni gathered for their quarterly luncheon at Der Braumeister on the West Side Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. In the crowd: Wilma Salisbury and Dan Coughlin; Tom Quinn and Bob Dolgan; Pat and Ralph Gessler.

Eat and greet

More faces at the lunch: Jud Shelnutt and his wife Marty; Patti Graziano and husband Tim; "It really happened," Don Bean tells Chris Jindra; Janet Beighle French takes photos;

More diners

Among the diners were
Richard Conway, Bill Wynne, Bob Finn, Tom Gaumer and Helen Cullinan, top; Donna Hayes, right. Millie and Vince Mattecci and Dan Coughlin; John Coyne and Doris O'Donnell, Don Bean and Mary Engle, formerly of the Catholic Universe Bulletin, (we think)

Chris Pettridge retires!

Here's a note from Chris:

Yes, I bailed out at the end of the year from the Post-Gazette, and it feels very strange now, living a deadline-free life. I've been looking at the clock since 1963 when I started as an apprentice reporter on a weekly paper in England, mostly interviewing the local vicar on what he said in his Sunday sermons and sitting in a hospital emergency room hoping for some disastrous collision that would make a story.
I emigrated in 1966 to be with my beloved (She Who Must Be Obeyed) and happened to get off a Greyhound in Cleveland. I walked into the PD with my clips looking for a job and was pretty much hired on the spot because on my accent (the executive editor was a Scotsman, Tom Guthrie). Try doing that today.
After three years as a suburban reporter I was invited to join the U.S. Army -- a charming interlude in Fort Campbell, Kentucky -- before rejoining the paper, where they decided I was prime material for the copy desk. That gave me the chance to have all my headlines rewritten by Art Milner before I saw an opportunity to escape into laying out pages, working with Van Richmond.
Since then, putting out the paper each night has been my amusement. Even the move to Pittsburgh in 1985 as AME/Graphics at the Post-Gazette changed little. The same rhythms of news still apply, although I have missed all the joys of the composing room and surly printers in recent years.
I guess we retirees should be grateful for having caught a wave in print journalism. We experienced some of the glory days of newspapers, although we may not have realized it at the time.
Now I am trying to justify my existence with a bunch of things: Resuming my rowing career, running a lot (I did a 60K last month in New Zealand's Southern Alps), volunteering for the local nature conservancy, traveling with Jean (mostly to Kiwiland) and, of course, enjoying our kids and the little grandnippers on the West Coast.
Hope I have a chance to see you guys under happier circumstances than Snyderman's funeral last year. You can reach me at pettridge@verizon.net
Bottoms up!

Chris PR
-----

Do you blog?

Here's note from John Kroll:

I'm sure many former PDers are now writing blogs, or even using Twitter. Could you use your blog to tell them that we're now compiling what we hope will be a fairly comprehensive list of NEO blogs and Twitter feeds? The registration forms are up now. We'll have the searchable directories online in a few weeks, once we've got a substantial number of entries.
>
> http://bit.ly/75KhFS>
> thanks,
> John
>
> John Kroll
> Director of Training and Digital Development
> The Plain Dealer<

Party time for Joe

Former Plain Dealer colleagues and associates --

Joe Wagner left the PD rather quietly (for such a vocal guy), after a long and legendary career of busting pols, cops and more.

But don't let him slip into obscurity and flakdom without a sendoff. His friends at The Plain Dealer have organized a party and asked me to help find former PD staffers/ friends.

Come eat, drink, roast and salute Joe after 6:00 on Thursday, Jan. 28, at Massimo da Milano, W. 25th and Detroit.

$12 will cover a full buffet, a modest gift, and, if any spare change remains, a donation to Joe's alma mater. (If you need to ask where, you don't know Joe.) Pay at the door. Cash bar.

Pls RSVP, if you can to me (cjindra@gmail.com) by Friday, Jan. 22.

-- Chris Jindra

Next Lunch Bunch scheduled for Jan. 29

PD Editorial Retirees & Expatriates

Casual unstructured lunch troupe

Gather for lunch on the last Fridays of January, April, July and October

Spouses and guests always welcome

NEXT LUNCHEON: Noon, Friday, January 29

PLACE: Der Braumeister, 13046 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland

(Intersection with W. 131st Street)

Interstate 90 West to W. 117th Street, south to Lorain, then west

Park behind restaurant, on the street, or in CVS lot not near the door to drugstore

Luncheon Choices

Jager Schnitzel (veal in creamy mushroom sauce) $9.95

Chicken Paprikash (chicken in sour cream sauce over spaetzle) $8.95

Peanut Crusted Tilapia (fish with choice of potato or dumpling) $9.95

Munich Melt (roast beef w/grilled onion, provolone & horseradish sauce) $8.95

Maul Taschen (Vegetarian, pasta pocket filled w/ spinach, goat cheese w/ sauce & vegetables) $9.95

Most meals include soup or salad. Beverages, tax and tip extra.

RSVP by January 22

Janet Beighle French (216) 221-2318, or email jabfr519@sbcglobal.net

JoAnn Pallant (440) 734-1923, or email japallant@sbcglobal.net

Bob Stock's Advice for Journalists

In light of all the deaths, memorials, funerals on this blog in recent months, it was decided to run this piece from the late reporter Bob Stock, a wry wit. The article is dated but still amusing to those of us who remember the good old days. But so many things are gone: copy paper, Perk, makeup men, office parties, the Press, new hotels. The yellowed clipping had no date but an ad on the back had a 1978 date. It ran on the op ed page which Stock edited. He died in 2003.

So here’s Bob Stock’s Advice for Journalists:

In his recent talk to Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalism society, Mayor Perk was kind enough to quote from a column I wrote for the Sunday Magazine some years ago.

It seems only fair that I share the entire essay with persons, especially young journalists, who could not have read it the first time it was published.

It went as follows:

Young reporters rarely come to me for advice, perhaps because I dislike them intensely. I am sure they all smoke pot and are unkind to their parents.

Nevertheless, I am persuaded to offer them some journalistic pointers which will help them become as respected and well paid as I. These observations apply especially to The Plain Dealer, but they can be adapted to any publication.

1) Demand an adequate supply of paper and type on only one side of the sheet. Try not to think of the forests you are destroying.

2) Leave room between lines and in the margin so editors can express their own views.

3) Don’t park on the sidewalk.

4) Makeup men make a practice of throwing stories into page holes which are not quite big enough. Therefore always add a paragraph at the end which means nothing and can be thrown away with no loss. It is sometimes wise to put such a paragraph in the middle of the story too, so the editor will have something to kill. This improves his opinion of himself and makes him forget to kill the stuff you actually want printed.

5) If you are assigned to write plans for a new hotel in downtown Cleveland, make the report as colorful as possible, since many new hotels are announced daily.

6) Learn to play a musical instrument.

7) Don’t volunteer to tend bar at office parties because you will miss a lot of the fun.

8) If assigned to cover a fire, you will be expected to advise the firemen on their work. For example, I was the first reporter on the scene when the famed Hut bar at Superior and W. 3d caught fire. “Look out for broken bottles,” I warned.

9) Upon receiving an assignment, do not say, “Gee whiz, that is groovy.”

10) Read the paper every day so that when you get an assignment you don’t like, you can say, “We had that already.”

11) Read the Press every day so you can say, “They had that already.”

12) Avoid any story which lies within another reporter’s “beat,” or area of continuing responsibility, such as City Hall, the county courts, labor, medicine, education and bowling. With practice, any assignment whatsoever can be regretfully passed on to a beat reporter.

13) Do not refer to yourself as “a media” or “ one of the media.” You are not even a medium.

14) Try to think of the paper as your very own. And see what happens.

More tributes to Dick Zunt

The funeral eulogy by Dan Coughlin:
http://videos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2010/01/dan_coughlin_eulogizes_dick_zu.html

Richard Ellers who went to the funeral Wednesday, at Rocky River St Patrick Church, "was the first time in my long lifetime I can ever remember a eulogy bringing a round of applause."

My favorite memory of Dick came in the early 1970's at a high school district track meet at Kent Roosevelt High School. I was working at the Willoughby News-Herald and was lucky enough to get the seat next to him in the pressbox. It began to rain and some of the area coaches, in an effort to stay dry, crowded under the pressbox's wooden canopy. One coach, with a very large derriere, kept backing up until he was sitting on what he thought was the pressbox window ledge. But what he was actually resting on was Zip's portable typewriter. Dick, too good-hearted to ask the coach to move, waited until the guy decided to get up. Zip was behind in typing agate results, but the coach with the big butt never knew it.

--- Bob Roberts

Yes, no doubt about it, Dick Zunt was a great guy. What amazed me about him was how many people he knew -- it must have been most of Cleveland and half the state. And he remembered all those names! A good example of this is one time Mike Quinn and I went to the spring state tournament to help Zip, typing up the agate results while he wrote the stories. After we were done, we went out to eat. The waitress was a young lady and Zip asked her where she was from. "Bucyrus," she said. He asked what her address was. She told him, and he knew somebody who lived two doors from her! --Don Kerr

As people have mentioned, Dick never said goodbye when he left. Sometimes that was because he was always coming back into the office. I remember one night he was leaving, with his usual huge stacks of notes, papers and whatnot under his arms. He came back into the sports department a few minutes later when he realized that in all of that material he had under his arms, was the yellow pages off his desk.

Dick was truly one of the best ambassadors the PD ever had.

-- Kathy Kudravi

It's often said about people who pass, but it truly fits here - Zippy was one of the nicest human beings you'll ever meet. He loved what he did. What I'll remember about Zip is how he enjoyed the people that were at every event - from the kids, coaches and parents, to his colleagues covering the game. What a great guy. He will be greatly missed.

-- Al Pawlowski, SportsTime Ohio

The thing everyone overlooks because Dick Zunt was so nice is that he was probably the leading authority on the best high school players who passed through Cleveland over the last 50 years. The man was a walking encyclopedia.

In 2000, when the NCAA men's basketball tournament came to Cleveland for the first time, I suggested doing a takeout on the best players ever from the city and metropolitan area in the high school and college ranks, the story to run the morning the tournament opened.

I did it in between assignments in Winter Haven with the Tribe at spring training. Other than reaching by telephone Clark Kellogg (the best pre-LeBron player in the area's history) and Mouse McFadden, the engine who drove Cleveland State to a Sweet 16 berth, I depended heavily on Zip. Night after night I would return to my hotel room in Florida and find pink message slips waiting for me. Each was from Zunt, and each would name a player he had forgotten and give me the player's stats and relevant biographical information.

The underline "Plain Dealer reporter Dick Zunt contributed to this story'' that ran with the piece was not really true. Plain Dealer reporter Dick Zunt made that story possible.

In some ways, he was too nice to be critical. I recall when I was not very impressed with a highly touted area quarterback who was headed to Ohio State. This was after watching him play against Zip's beloved St. Ignatius Wildcats. The next day, I called Zip, told him of my misgivings, and said, "Am I completely off base in your view?'' Zunt agreed with me entirely about the player in question. The fact that he concurred, after all the great players he had seen, gave me the support I needed to take an unpopular stand. We were both proven correct when the player was eventually benched for most of his career at OSU despite the glowing press notices he took with him to Columbus from others.

Zippy was, in short, a very nice man, but he also had a very good eye.

Years later, when Dick had retired and I was doing a book on Cleveland's only track and field Olympic gold medalist since the 1960s, former St. Ignatius pole vaulter Tim Mack, Zip was again a great resource. When I couldn't find a Track and Field News profile of Mack for my research, Zunt offered his. He had stacks of the magazine at his West Park house, dating back decades. Anything I wanted to know about St. Ignatiuus in writing the book, Zunt dug out and happily gave to me. That's even though he knew my son went to St. Ed's.

I guess that said it all. Dick Zunt didn't have a biased bone in his body. Catholic or public school, black or white, Ed's or Ignatius even, he treated everyone the same. He was nice as a spring day, but he would give you an opinion you could take to the bank, too.

So long, Zip. I certainly could never thank you enough.

n Bill Livingston

I had forgotten Zip's insurance career. One wonders if the company survived. Can you imagine Zip denying anyone's claim? "Oh, that scratch on the bumper? Sure, we'll get you a new one, and while we're at it, the trunk, too....

-- Michael J. Quinn

When I was working at Elyria Chronicle Telegram (must be about 25 years ago), Dick was in charge of one of the all-district football teams so my boss told me to call him and get the info. I called Dick at the PD. He said he had the information in his car and he'd go get it. Before I could say, "No wait, Dick, I don't need it this second," I heard the phone hit the desk and he was gone. He came back about five minutes later all out of breath and gave me what I needed. I told him he didn't need to have done that and he could have called me back at his convenience, but he said, "I knew you needed it. It's no problem. Happy to help you, Steve. "

I get a chuckle every time I think of the sound of that phone hitting the desk. He was going out of his way to do me a favor immediately when he didn't have to.

That's Dick. He'd do anything to help. Far too many people in this business have enormous egos and think it's about them. Dick was just the opposite. To him it was about everybody but him. It was all about the people and the event he was writing about. Dick was one of the nicest people I've ever met. Knowing him was a real privilege.

--Steve Herrick

Dan Coughlin's Farewell to Dick Zunt

Goodbye, Zip

As you know by now, former Plain Dealer sportswriter Dick Zunt died of cancer Saturday morning. The final week was not easy, so it was a blessing when he took his final breath. The visitation will be Tuesday, Jan. 5, from 2-4 and 6-9 at Chambers Funeral Home, Rocky River Drive and Puritas Rd., Cleveland. Funeral Mass is Wednesday, 10 a.m., St. Patrick's Church across, the street from the funeral home, the church where Dick ushered for over 40 years.

For my out of town readers, both of you, you probably didn't see the terrific sendoff Dick got in The Plain Dealer. Terry Pluto did a terrific column on him and Mike Peticca wrote a wonderful obit. Their themes reinforced Dick's personna -- the nicest guy in the world. There were two words he could never utter. He could not say "no" and he could not say "goodbye."

I've been asked to deliver the eulogy, which is a great honor, but Pluto and Peticca already used the good stuff.

Oldest of five children, Dick was born in 1931 on Cleveland's near West Side. The Depression was bad enough, but then his father came down with tuberculosis and spent several years in a TB hospital. Dick's mother packed up the five kids and moved in with grandparents in order to save their house. She wisely rented the house in order to pay the monthly mortgage. Many years later Dick's mom and the younger kids were able to move back into their house. She was pretty sharp. That's how it was when times were tough and your only luck was bad.

They scraped up the money to send the kids to private high schools. Dick went to St. Ignatius when the tuition was about 75 bucks a year. He ran track, leading to his life-long love affair with the sport. After graduatiing from St. Ignatius in 1950 with classmates which included Bishop A. J. Quinn and Indians owner Larry Dolan, Dick worked for a year to save money for college at John Carroll. It was there that he whetted his appetitie for a newspaper career by working on the Carroll News, the college paper.
After graduating in 1955, he joined the Navy for four years. It was peacetime, but there was still a draft. In that era it was almost impossible to begin your life's work until you fulfilled your military obligation. One of the first questions an employer asked was, "What's your draft status?" If you said, "1-A," you were usually told, "Come back in two years when you get out of the army."

Dick was 27 when he got out of the Navy in 1959. Imagine, 27 years old and he was just beginning his life's work. That's fine if you're a doctor, but he wanted to become a sportswriter. He came back home and landed a job as an insurance adjuster and also started working part-time at The Plain Dealer sports department helping Ed Chay take high school games over the phone.

He worked both jobs until December, 1964, when Hal Lebovitz hired him full time to work with me on the high school beat. I was fresh out of the army and had just been put on the high school beat, which was an important responsibility. Hal made a smart decision by bringing Dick aboard and making it a two-man job. I was a rookie. I didn't even know how to get to John Adams Field. Dick showed me. He was well-experienced but he was tolerant of me.

Dick stayed on the high school beat for another 37 years, finally retiring in 2001 at the age of 69.

One lady in the city room said Dick was the most polite person she ever met.

Chuck Murr, a former PD copy editor, pointed out that Dick shook more hands and made more friends for The Plain Dealer than anybody in history. All of that is true.

A couple final thoughts now. On New Year's Eve Russ Schneider and his family and Maddy and I were with Dick, sitting around his bed at the hospice. The symmetry didn't occur to me until the next day. We all joined the PD in 1964 -- Dick, Russ and me. Here we were together for the last time. The Class of 1964 also included Dennis Lustig, the world's shortest sportswriter. Dennis died in the early 1980's. Now Dick is gone. Russ and I remain. I noticed that Russ is now using a cane.

Dick "Zip" Zunt dies in hospice

Dick "Zip" Zunt, a longtime high school sports reporter, died Saturday morning, Jan. 2 in the Hospice of The Western Reserve. He was 78.

Calling hours will be Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010, 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m., at Chambers Funeral Home, 4420 Rocky River Drive in Cleveland. The funeral mass will be Wednesday, 10 a.m. at St. Patrick West Park Catholic Church, 4427 Rocky River Drive in Cleveland. Burial will be at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, 10175 Rawiga Road in Rittman. Memorial contributions can be made in Zunt's name to St. Ignatius High School, 1911 W. 30th St., Cleveland, 44113.

Here's the link to the obit in The PD:

http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2010/01/longtime_plain_dealer_sports_r.html

He had gone into Hospice earlier this week, after being transferred from Fairview hospital .

He was diagnosed with cancer in September, former colleague Chuck Murr reported.

Chuck Murr passed along these comments from friends about Zip:

"He was kind, polite, happy, hardworking and a true gentleman. Treated everyone
with respect, even lowly copy aides in the day. Which is what I was when I met
him. Wanted to be more like him when I grew up. I missed the mark by quite a
bit, but I am surely better for having known him." -- Joel Downey

"Zippy always said,'Hi, how are you doing?' to everyone around him even if he was in a conversation with someone else. No one in my life was so aware of others. Truly, he was a special and amazing man. He will be much missed. RIP Zip. -- Kenny Matley

"A truly nice man, always very helpful to everyone. He saw every player in every sport in the area for 50+ years and was a walking encyclopedia. The man had many strengths." -- Bill Livingston

"The Plain Dealer family and thousands of high school athletes across Northeast Ohio lost a true giant in the newspaper industry. No one covered high school sports with more enthusiasm than Dick Zunt. More than that, there was no warmer human being than Dick Zunt. Thousands of high school athletes were the lucky ones to have Dick Zunt cover them." -- Burt Graeff

"The nicest guy in the business. Ever." -- Michael K. McIntyre

"Man, I never saw that guy without a big smile on his face and a cheerful laugh. He was truly one of the finest human beings I've ever met. May he rest in peace." -- L.C. Johnson

"He was the kindest gentleman I have ever known. He was a gift to all of us who knew him. I'm glad his suffering is over. He deserves to be at peace. This is heartbreaking." -- Sue Klein

"Dick Zunt is possibly the kindest and most caring man I ever met. I grew up reading his stories and wanting to follow in his footsteps. He literally made it possible for me to work at the PD sports department. Better than that, he became my friend and colleague. Thanks for everything Dick, but especially for being such a true friend." -- Larry Sheehe

Chuck Murr said on Jan. 1, 2010: "visited with Zip this past evening ..." and I know many of you.. have been to see him in the past couple of days. His family greatly appreciates it. Zippy's alertness comes and goes as he is heavily medicated for the pain. He had a terrible fever Wednesday night, but it subsided Thursday and he spent much of the day chatting with friendsand family. By early evening he was quite tired and slept most of the time.His family members are truly touched by each visit. As we all know, Dick Zunt has touched all of us in such a positive way for so many years. If you get the chance in the next day or so."

Rich Fletcher said this:"I went to see Zippy Wednesday night (12/30) around 7:30 pm. He had a lot of family that had just arrived from out-of-town and, according the Hospice volunteer, a non-stop stream of friends. His family said that they were very moved at the "outpouring of love" (quote from his sister-in-law, Flo) that people have showed Zip. "Rich said he was awake but tired when he visited.

" He noticed me right away, saying "Oh, Rich. So glad you came. I missed you at the last luncheon."