2020 has seen a lot of notable sportswriters pass away, and the latest is Bill Gildea. Gildea was a long-time sportswriter for The Washington Post, particularly known for his work on boxing (which saw him write books like 2012’s The Longest Fight: In the Ring with Joe Gans, Boxing’s First African American Champion (seen at left above) and also pen notable pieces on everyone from Muhammad Ali to Simon Brown), but also involved in coverage of baseball, the World Cup, the Olympics, and many other sports. Gildea’s Post colleague Gene Wang shared that news Sunday:
Absolutely heartbroken to learn of passing of Bill Gildea, a longtime @postsports colleague and mentor to many. Also 2015 @bwaa award winner for excellence in #boxing journalism. You'll never find a kinder, more patient or humble person in the industry. #10BellSalute
— Gene Wang (@gene_wang) June 14, 2020
Gildea wrote a lot of interesting things for the Post over the years, including a piece on when basketball star Manute Bol killed a lion:
Bol can be as hard to find as he was the time he killed a lion. First of all, the lion was asleep. “Otherwise,” Bol said, “I would be killed.”
He went on: “A lion killed one of the cows. Then I saw this lion — I don’t know if it was the same lion who killed the cow, but he was under a tree. I threw this spear — we carry about 10 of them. I wasn’t close to the lion, but I hit him. He jumped up and hit the limbs of the tree and he looked all around like he was looking for whoever shot him. Then he fell down and died. I was behind a tree.”
But his legacy goes well beyond any individual piece. NBC Sports Washington’s Brian McNally added some thoughts on what he meant to the paper:
Every time I saw his byline I’d go right to the story, Gene. You knew it was going to be a good one. What a wonderful writer. Sorry to hear this.
— Brian McNally (@bmcnally14) June 14, 2020
And Lansing Lugnuts broadcaster Jesse Goldberg-Straussler had a great story on his time in a Orioles’ press box with Gildea:
In 2003, age 21, I was interning for WBAL, covering the Orioles. I was shy and nervous and worried about saying the wrong thing. (I still am that way.)
The man who sat next to me in the press box one night was warm and kind. He introduced himself as Bill. We shook hands.
— Jesse Goldberg-Strassler (@jgoldstrass) June 14, 2020
And I'm especially thinking about him now.https://t.co/D4sTBkRsVT
— Jesse Goldberg-Strassler (@jgoldstrass) June 14, 2020
Gildea will surely be missed by many. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.
