RALPH WILEY, 52 Journalist left strong impression

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NEW YORK -- Ralph Wiley, a veteran African-American sports journalist for more than 20 years who most recently worked as a columnist for ESPN.com and who coined the original phrase "Billy Ball," died of heart failure Sunday evening at his Orlando, Fla., home. He was 52.
"He left an unforgettable impression," said ESPN executive vice president and executive editor John Walsh. "He was one of the first people who was characterized as an 'angry, young black man,' but there was nothing further from the truth. He was a gentle, kind soul who cared deeply about his work and colleagues. His dedication to an assignment was complete."
Wiley, known for his outspoken views, got his start at the Oakland Tribune in 1975 when he was hired as a copyboy following his graduation from Knoxville College. He soon had a regular beat covering boxing, the Oakland A's and later the San Francisco Giants, and eventually became a regular columnist.
"He invented the term 'Billy Ball,' when [Billy] Martin managed the A's because of the way the team stole bases and bunted and created havoc. He used that term in a story and the editor tried to leave it out. Ralph went in and told him to put it back in or else. ..." said Ron Bergman, a former Oakland Tribune colleague of Wiley's. "And that became the whole advertising theme of the [A's] team. It was on all their promotions, but Ralph invented the term."
Glenn Schwarz, the current San Francisco Chronicle sports editor, was the Chronicle's beat writer for the Giants when Wiley covered the team at the competing Tribune.
"He was very generous, very passionate and one of quickest learners I ever met," Schwarz said. "He liked being provocative, but he didn't do it for effect. What impressed me about Ralph is that he was tough, but fair. And when he wrote something negative, he showed up in the clubhouse the next day. He wouldn't duck out for days."
Wiley later was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated and also wrote several books, including collaborations with Spike Lee ("Best Seat in the House") and Martin Luther King Jr.'s son, Dexter Scott ("Growing Up King").
Wiley is survived by a son, Cole; a daughter, Maggie; his mother, Dorothy Brown, of Washington, D.C.; and his fiancee, Susan Peacock.