Just heard some sad news on ESPN. Dick Schapp, 67, died earlier today from complications from hip replacement surgery earlier this year. most recently, Schapp hosted ESPN's Sports Reporters (one of my personal favorite shows). But Schapp had a long and illustrious career in journalism. What an interesting life he must have led!

Dick Schapp was also very supportive of gay rights throughout his career and a major proponent of the Gay Games. And in this era of in-your-face, loudmouth broadcasters, Schapp was a breath of fresh air with his soothing tone. Its a sad day for sports.

Dick Schapp Obit

[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

He was so smart at everything he did. He had a terrific voice for sports drama. I like the way his son Jeremy does reports on ESPN. Same style, same voice as his dad.

I will miss him and his thoughtfull and thougt provoking commentary on the world of sports which i love so much. He was certainly one of my all time favorites.

The length of his journalistic career was quite extraordinary....I remember as a young kid in the late 60's that my dad (who was a huge Vince Lombardi and Green Bay Packers fan -- despite growing up in NYC -- must have been the Italian heritage) raved about the book "Instant Replay" that Dick Schaap co-authored with Packers Hall-of-Famer Jerry Kramer....I also didn't realize until fairly recently that Dick was a regular host/anchor of the "all-night" ABC news (NON-sports news) after stumbling upon it late one night (3-4AM).

One area that has received VERY little publicity so far is how he died after undergoing a "routine" hip-replacement surgery....it seems somewhat ironic that the man who co-authored the best selling sports autobiography ever (Bo Knows Bo -- about Bo Jackson, of course) would ultimately pass away after having the same surgery that one of his most famous "clients" underwent about a decade ago....It seems logical that Schaap spoke with Bo about the entire hip-replacement process (hardly seems to be a "mandatory" operation to continue living a "normal" life) prior to deciding to have it done....although Dick's unexpected passing is so recent, among all the well known people that have offered their thoughts and condolences on Schaap's passing (Jim Brown, Billy Crystal, Bob Knight, Jerry Kramer, to name a few) I have yet to hear any response from Bo Jackson, who I'm sure is quite stunned and upset....A very sad story indeed.

[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: gamecock ]

if i'm not mistaken, dick schaap was actually a medalist in tennis in the gay games held in new york.

i am saddened. as weird as it may sound, "the sports reporters" was my favorite show. it just isn't the same with john saunders or someone else hosting.

dick was a class act through and through.

Gamecock -- the first sports book I ever read was "Instant Replay" -- my dad had it on the bookshelf between Sandburg's Lincoln biography and our set of encyclodias! As for Schaap's Italian heritage -- I love the preface he wrote for the "Rao's Cookbook". It's engaging and sets the scene for the recipes.

Schaap was a notorious name-dropper (even in the Rao's preface where he lists name after name of the famous people he dined with) -- but he was so genuine and sincere about it -- he really knew them all and they all seemed to like him -- that everyone forgives him for the offense.

Dick Schaap also wrote the preface to "The David Kopay Story." It is great that such a mainstream figure in sports was also so supportive of gays in sports.

Frank

This was posted on another thread by Big Pitcher:

Quote from ESPN.com
"His transition from print to broadcast journalism was as graceful as his writing style. His profiles of comedian Sid Caesar and Olympian Tom Waddell for ABC's "20/20" earned him Emmys in 1983 and 1988."

Tom Waddell was the Olympian who happened to be gay and who started the Gay Games. He also died of AIDS and there's a great biography book out on him.

Point I'd like to make here: In the few times I saw Shaap report on gay related issues in sports, he was very fair. He was more concerned with the athlete, not his sexual orientation.

Any other views? Memories?

We talked about Dick today

Tony Kornheiser told about his sports and personal memories of Dick Schapp in his column in the post - linked below.

To me, Schapp seemed to be one of the few who could walk that very fine line between being genuine frineds with the people he wrote about, and still maintaining his ability to write critically, if needed. A truly great loss .....

====> LINK: Tony Kornheiser Column

Another article on Dick Schapp from a colleague who also made appearances on ESPN's Sports Reporters:

God's autobiography is in good hands