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By JOHN BLACKROSENBERG - A friend of mine is not doing; well. And when I got a call about his Illness, the caller and I started a discussion about this mututai friend, his impact in the world of sports, and the general state of affairs in the sports news business these days.Broad topics, to be sure. But, then again, our subject — Houston Post sports columnist Jack Gallagher — covers a lot of ground in sports reporting. He's been writing about sports for more years than I have been alive. And in my opinion, he's the most informed sport-swriter in the state.Jack is in a Houston hospital, scheduled for brain surgery as doctors were to attempt removal of a tumor. They think he’ll recover sufficiently from the surgery to return to work.But there are two problems. He also has a blockage in his kidneys, and doctors have found evidence of cancer elsewhere. No doubt about it, Gallagher could use our prayers.Many of you “know” Jack through his columns in ThePost. He’s been * by. jar#! Houston’s most opinionated spottswriter. And those opi-: ■] nions have not always been favorable.. He is not* to put it lightly , afraid to criticize.Jack, like anyone elSe I know in this or any other business, has had his weaknesses. Like: the Oilers. He had a run-in many years ago with owner Bud Adams, and apparently has never recovered from the experience because Adams and the Oilers draw more Gallagher criticism than any other sports personality or organization.Of course, a convincing case may be built that Adams and the Oilers deserve more criticism than any others.The point we focused on in our conversation dealt instead with the fact that Gallagher is a bonafide sporstwriting personality in Houston. That makes him part of an all-but-vanished breed.I hate to get nostalgic, but I miss the days when the late Morris Frank was behind a microphone at a sporting event' in the Bayou City. Or when the late Dick Peebles wrote a sports column for The HoustonChronicle, F Qr; - when - now-; retiied Clark Nealon covered onej; of a thousand sporting events he witriessed and wrote about each year.I don’t always agree with Gallagher’s opinions, ’ but at least I respect them; He’s been around long enough to. have formed a legitimate opinion.Waco has asports editor named Dave Campbell. He is a complete sports authority, capable of writing a qualified sports opinion; Arid-,he does so, in The Waco TribUrie-Herald.But Campbell and Gallagher and Dan Cook down in San Antonio and Blackie Sherrod up in Dallas are rare breeds, indeed, these days. ^I’m. pulling for- Gallagher because I want to keep reading his column. He’s up, against a battle that goes far beyond the Oilers vs. the Steelers, or the Astros vs: the Dodgers. V But after he wins this fight, and gets back on the job, I’ll be anxious to read more of his sports opinions. I still won’t agree with them all, but i’ll appreciate where they came from. -Settlor’s aote; John Black, a Former Sun staffer. is president and 'editor of The Rosenberg HeraldCoaster. .
Newspaper Details
Baytown Sun
Baytown, Texas, US
Sun, Feb 17, 1985
Page 22
Full Page
Clipped by
Monte N.
NA, NA 08 Sep 2023
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