Some
of you knew him well, others knew him in passing and some may just
know his name, but every sports-loving soul in Connecticut became
a bit less fortunate Thursday with the death of longtime Shore Line
Times executive sports editor Hal Levy.
Levy's work was epic, a model on which weekly sports sections should
be based, and thousands of young athletes along Connecticut's shoreline
east of New Haven and bordering the I-91 corridor northbound to
his native Middletown will have a vestige of his magnificent prose
and unflagging dedication in their scrapbooks or folded up neatly
in their wallets.
For those who didn't know, Levy was diagnosed with liver cancer
in March. The disease progressed rapidly. Thankfully, he had a chance
to say good-bye to many of his friends at a very special party in
Cromwell June 26. Through the efforts of Larry McHugh and a committee
organized by his Middlesex Chamber of Commerce, Levy was afforded
the chance that not many of us get - a living wake.
As a member of that committee, I spread the word among Connecticut
media about the party that helped Levy savor some of life's final
days and offset the expenses in as courageous a battle against cancer
that I've ever witnessed.
This vignette will give you a glimpse into Hal's personality. I
banged out a brief press release about the party and sent it to
every sports media person I know. I referred to Hal as being the
executive sports editor of the Shoreline Times. What I neglected
to do was to leave Hal's email off the list.
Not more than 2 minutes after I hit the send button, I received
the following terse reply: "It's Shore Line Times."
Levy's dedication was especially essential to the Conn. Sports Writers'
Alliance, a sports journalists' league that dates back to 1939 and
will suffer greatly from his departure.
He understood the value of preserving our state's sports history
and honoring those who have contributed to its grandeur. He relished
nominating people he deemed worthy of receiving the John Wentworth
Good Sport Award. At the Gold Key Dinner, he'd bask in the radiance
of his honorees' bliss as they took their place behind the lectern
for a few words.
He told me how badly he wanted to emcee the annual event and the
CSWA granted him that wish. By the end of April, the cancer was
taking its toll but he battled through the event in typical Levy
fashion and had the assembly in the palm of his hand from start
to finish.
He fought hard for what he felt was right, no matter how unpopular
it may have been with his CSWA colleagues. He never groused when
the cards turned up against him.
I met Hal Levy in 1980 when my journalism advisor at Southern Connecticut
State University strongly suggested that I accept an internship
with his Guilford-based publication. He had a firm plan how to educate
aspiring sports writers from entering bowling scores in these new-fangled
technological wonders he called tubes to interviewing nationally
esteemed former Yale football coach Carmen Cozza.
He tore me down for being too heavy-handed in editing what I viewed
as biased ramblings of an in-house sycophant, and then built me
up by handing me the assignment of covering a dissertation by the
son of turn-of-the-century Baseball Hall-of-Famer "Big Ed" Walsh
at the Wallingford Public Library during the 1980 World Series.
In regard to my hatchet job on his reporter's copy, Hal explained
to me that his paper would feature what the hometown folks wanted
to read. He was stern enough to rankle your innards, yet astute
enough to keep you from flipping up your middle finger, bellowing
a few expletives and slamming the door in his face.
Now, within walking distance of that very Wallingford library, my
mentor and treasured colleague will be sent to his eternal rest
at the B.C. Bailey Funeral Home on 273 South Elm Street, Wednesday
between 4 and 8 p.m.
At that time, I will bid Hal farewell on his everlasting journey
in my own way, but a sizable chunk of his spirit and knowledge will
live on in my heart. The residue of his wisdom will also live on
in such outstanding writers as Mike DiMauro of The New London Day,
Dom Amore of The Hartford Courant, Les Carpenter of The Washington
Post, Paul Nichols of The Middletown Press and Ed Price of The Newark
Star-Ledger.
A smaller trace will live on in the next generation of sports writers
in whose hearts Hal's devoted students stoked a passion for our
craft.
Hal Levy ignited my ire like no other person I've ever met. Yet
I could never stay angry with him because of the great respect and
appreciation that he elicited. Such extreme polarization made him
so exquisitely unique that I often sought out his advice above all
others in any journalistic matters.
Scholastic athletes racing up and down the fields, tracks, pools
and gymnasiums of Southern Connecticut have lost their greatest
advocate. May the spirit that moved him reverse the course of every
sports writer who has ever gone to a community sports event and
mailed it in. |
