IN MEMORY

IN MEMORY

Vindicator’s Curry made his mark

Fanfare:

Bookstores sell something called “The Missing Manual” which is usually a collection of tidbits so you can better understand your computer, iPod, DVD recorder or whatever electronic toy you fancy at the moment.

Somehow that came to mind when I read the Bob Curry obituary in a recent edition of The Vindicator. Bob was a veteran sportswriter at the newspaper but there seemed to be so much missing which, if somehow added, would help us better understand Bob. It is no one’s fault. This is the nature of obits — give listings of historical events in his life and maybe a line or two about his honors and accomplishments.

There is no time (or space, for that matter) to describe the many moments Bob lightened the load for those doing day-by-day chores in the sports department. I was privileged to have a front-row seat to those moments.

Every morning at 7 a.m. while the staff was searching through the piles of sports stories from overnight wire news machines, Bob was the one with a short, three to four word comment — said out loud to no one. These semi-serious bon notes were always creative with a bit of wit attached. That desire of Bob to keep things in a jovial mood was even more treasured during those long Saturday night sessions. Then the sports staff struggled with college and professional sports for the early Sunday editions.

Bob’s skill at lightening the work load extended to those phony notes one would find in your typewriter (all this was pre-computer) which told you of some woman waiting downstairs or a job offer from the New York Times. Again, Bob always displayed his craft with creative wit attached.

Bob’s sport speciality was track and field. This seemed a bit odd because beside being short of stature, Bob always walked with a noticeable limp. I asked him about it once and his answer said little about a slight handicap. He didn’t tell me the medical reason. Instead he told me what it did for him. Because he lacked the ability to play sports, writing about the heroics of sports was the substitute in his life. His limp gave him a full appreciation of those athletes who were faster, stronger and more agile. They were his heroes and he was thankful to have opportunity to chronicle their talents.

The obituary said Bob “was a veritable dictionary of information about track and field.” This misses the point. Bob shortened many a sportswriter’s time to complete a story when he could always instantly answer whatever questioned was shouted from across the sports corner. He had total recall, especially if it was about track and field, and gave quick accurate answers. So often the sheer amazement of it went over everyone’s head.

In 1963, during the now-famous Vindicator strike, I found Bob especially saddened about it all. He knew the union newspaper substitute was not the best vehicle for high school sports. And I heard him say often he felt the times were cheating a class of high school athletes. His devotion to high school talent ran that deep.

Again it is no one’s fault but that the nature of obits can have so much missing from Bob’s life.

Joseph Phillips

Fairfield, Ohio

Note: Phillips is a retired teacher and journalist. He was wire room editor of The Vindicator from 1960-1963, while attending Youngstown University where he was graduated in 1964.