BUD FURILLO, 80 Valley native had career in media

He also made some appearances on television, appearing in the TV movie "Brian's Song."
VINDICATOR STAFF/WIRE REPORT
LOS ANGELES -- Bud Furillo, a Valley native whose career as a leading sports journalist in Southern California spanned half a century, has died. He was 80.
Nicknamed "The Steamer" because of his colorful and popular newspaper column, "The Steam Room," Furillo died in his sleep early Tuesday morning at the Gables, an assisted living home in Ojai, Calif., son Andy Furillo, a reporter for the Sacramento Bee, said.
Born Francis Angelo Furillo in Hubbard on Aug. 19, 1925, he was raised in Youngstown, attending Woodrow Wilson High School.
He moved with his family to California in 1940. They settled in Maywood, Calif., and he graduated from Bell High School in 1943. He served in the Merchant Marines until 1946, then attended East Los Angeles College for a year while working nights at the Bethlehem Steel plant in Huntington Park, Calif.
Started in newspaper
He began his newspaper career in 1947 as a copy boy at the Los Angeles Herald Express, which in 1962 merged with the Examiner and became the Herald Examiner. Furillo was sports editor of the Herald Examiner from 1964 to 1974.
He was inducted into the Curbstone Coaches hall of fame in 1994.
Furillo began his career as a news reporter at the Los Angeles Herald-Express in 1947 and moved over to the sports department the following year. He served a decade as sports editor of the paper, which became the Herald-Examiner in 1961 then ceased publication in 1989.
He worked for the paper until 1974, moving "The Steam Room" to sports talk radio and hosting a drive-time show on KABC-FM until 1987. He later did similar shows for other radio stations in the area.
Furillo retired from broadcasting in 2000, but continued writing a column for the Ojai Valley News.
Furillo also made some appearances on television, appearing in the TV movie "Brian's Song." He appeared in episodes of "Gunsmoke" and "Banacek" and was regularly interviewed as part of ESPN's "SportsCentury" series.
Indoctrination
Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who was a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, remembered Furillo's kindness.
"I came up in 1980 with the Dodgers, along with a lot of young players who were starting to come up then, and he went out of his way to make us feel comfortable and let us know about the media and how much it was a part of major league baseball -- something we weren't used to," Scioscia said. "He was a good friend."
Furillo was president of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and was also inducted into the University of Southern California hall of fame and the California Boxing hall of fame.
He was good friends with sports and show business personalities, including undefeated heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano and Frank Sinatra.
Furillo is survived by daughters Gail, Jill and Jackie, and sons Frank and Michael.