Longtime Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Gleason, who worked for more than 60 years in Chicago journalism, died Sunday. He was 87.

Former Chicago Tribune reporter Bill Jauss, who called Gleason “my mentor and best friend in the newspaper business,” said Gleason’s last words were, “You guys had a great time.”

Former Tribune and Sun-Times journalist Mike Downey recalled Gleason as true White Sox fan. And if readers who were Cubs fans didn’t like, that was just too bad.

“Gleason was a White Sox homer and had the courage to say so,” Downey wrote Sunday from his home in California. "You rarely if ever knew of a New York or California sports columnist who publicly declared an allegiance to one local team over another, but Gleason believed a true Chicago baseball fan was one who chose sides. He made a commitment to the South Side personally and professionally. If a Cubs fan didn’t care for that, well, in Bill’s book, tough.

In 2006, Gleason convalesced at a suburban rehabilitation center after suffering a fall that led to him losing vision in his right eye. When Tribune columnist Fred Mitchell called to wish him luck in his recovery, Gleason responded: “I wish you the best of luck in making it through the Bears’ crisis this season.”

In 2005, Jauss looked back on his half-century as a reporter and included Gleason among the best he had seen. Wrote Jauss, “Legendary sportswriter Bill Gleason knew the reading preferences and passions of Chicago fans like few others. He knew, when others scoffed at the idea, that fans would listen to and watch writers argue about sports on radio and TV.”

Downey recalled Gleason as journalist most comfortable working close to home.

“Bill Gleason wasn’t much interested in the wide world of sports. He was interested in the Midwest’s world of sports,” Downey said. “Jack Griffin would go all the way to Africa for the Sun-Times to cover a Muhammad Ali fight, whereas Gleason’s idea of a long road trip was one to South Bend.”

In addition to the Sun-Times, Gleason worked for the defunct Chicago American. He also served in the military during World War II.

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/01/former-sun-times-columnist-bill-gleason-dead-at-87.html

I knew Gleason well, having worked with him in the 80’s. Without going into details, I’ll say that he loved the White Sox with a passion, and a perspective unrivalled. Sometime that lead to a cynicism/pessimism that bled into his columns, but not much different from what we do here.
He could often be a pain in the ass, but my times with him were worth the experience and, at least partially, influence me today.
RIP old man.

“Fergiescum, Cantona, the lesser Charlton brother, Eamonn Holmes, Ashley from Corrie, Aungus Deaton, George ’ the liver thief ’ Best, half of the population, Mick Hucknall, Matt Busby, the Cockney Reds, the prawn sandwich brigade, the camera carrying tourists at Old Trafford, the yanks who have never seen a game, Terry Christian and of course Gary fucking Neville -—— your boys took one hell of a beating

did we get adam laroche yet?

…at the Michigan Avenue Pub. He’d order the same thing: a gyros sandwich and a two martinis. No shit.

I do not even remember going to Old Comiskey. I do remember going baseball games that were important because of some reason though and then shortly after going to opening day at the new park.

It is still important for us to learn the history and tradition of the team though. Kinda crazy to think they started playing at the stadium in 1910!

Show No. 71: July 11, 1988
TOPIC: RACCOONS

Bentley: Young Telander wants to talk about—are you ready for this?—raccoons.

Telander: Yeah, Ben, it’s a good time of year to be talking about raccoons, because they’re assaulting my garbage cans even as we speak. But it is kind of serious-well, there is a virus that has been genetically engineered that when given to raccoons can wipe out rabies in the animals. You put it on things called “Racky Snacks.”

(Wild laughter.)

Gleason: Hey, this is serious!

Bentley: I don’t see raccoons in Chicago. Where do you live?

Jauss: Where I’m at, we got squirrels.

Gleason: Hey, you should be in Beverly, where I live. There are more raccoons than people.

Jauss: A squirrel from Chicago can beat up a raccoon from the suburbs.

Bentley: I’m with you.

Gleason: Let the man tell his story!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1123124/5/index.htm

Gleason, then a columnist for the Sun-Times, was called in to fill time with Jimmy Piersall as Disco Demolition raged below.

From the Sportswriters TV show, Gleason, Bill Jauss, Ben Bentley, and Rick Telander discuss the suicide of Kurt Cobain, and whether athletes feel the same pressure as young musicians who become famous overnight.

to when i was a kid at comiskey park. I loved that stadium. The arches, the green, the upper deck in the outfield… pretty cool. I like the Cell now…they have done a nice job after US cell took over…. but nothing will ever compare to old comiskey.

not sure if you guys have seen it yet

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/beat/Hall%20of%20Fame/

were the three constants for my dad on sundays when i was little. i wish the show was on now, when i actually care more about sports than i did as a child.

I suddenly have an incredible taste for Chicken Unlimited Chicken and a Falstaff.

Gleason was easily the most memorable presence on both shows — if there was a star, he was it.

RIP.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/01/angels-announcer-rory-markas-dies.html