From this morning's HD. Written by Tim Stephens. Here's a few quotes...
Landon, 71, suffered a stroke last summer, causing him to crash his pickup truck. His physical injuries were minor, but the stroke altered his ability to communicate via the written word.
“You never think it’s going to end, certainly not the way it did,” Landon said from his living room. “I soon found out it took away my ability to write. I can write a list or whatever, something like that, but to sit down and write, I can’t do it.”
Many readers have shared they wish Landon would return to the sports pages. Others might not miss Landon’s no-punches-pulled style.
He said he’s all right with that.
Among those missing Landon’s writing is former Marshall football coach Bob Pruett, who now considers him a friend.“I tell you one thing about Chuck, he dug and researched,” Pruett said. “He didn’t always write what I wanted to hear. That’s the way journalism should be. Give the fans the facts.”
Landon’s colleagues respected him. Beat writers, many of whom Landon protected by tackling
controversial issues in his column, particularly appreciated him.
Jeff Rider, executive editor of HD Media, said he grew up reading Landon’s columns in the Charleston Daily Mail and particularly enjoyed the high school picks pieces, which he would pore over alongside his friends at Herbert Hoover High.
“That’s the thing about Chuck — whether you loved him or hated him, you always made time to read his work,” Rider said. “Sometimes it would make you laugh. Other times it would make you think. Most of the time it just made you mad. But regardless of the subject matter, Chuck had a way of eliciting an honest, emotional reaction from the reader. That’s a skill very few journalists possess.”
www.herald-dispatch.com
Landon, 71, suffered a stroke last summer, causing him to crash his pickup truck. His physical injuries were minor, but the stroke altered his ability to communicate via the written word.
“You never think it’s going to end, certainly not the way it did,” Landon said from his living room. “I soon found out it took away my ability to write. I can write a list or whatever, something like that, but to sit down and write, I can’t do it.”
Many readers have shared they wish Landon would return to the sports pages. Others might not miss Landon’s no-punches-pulled style.
He said he’s all right with that.
Among those missing Landon’s writing is former Marshall football coach Bob Pruett, who now considers him a friend.“I tell you one thing about Chuck, he dug and researched,” Pruett said. “He didn’t always write what I wanted to hear. That’s the way journalism should be. Give the fans the facts.”
Landon’s colleagues respected him. Beat writers, many of whom Landon protected by tackling
controversial issues in his column, particularly appreciated him.
Jeff Rider, executive editor of HD Media, said he grew up reading Landon’s columns in the Charleston Daily Mail and particularly enjoyed the high school picks pieces, which he would pore over alongside his friends at Herbert Hoover High.
“That’s the thing about Chuck — whether you loved him or hated him, you always made time to read his work,” Rider said. “Sometimes it would make you laugh. Other times it would make you think. Most of the time it just made you mad. But regardless of the subject matter, Chuck had a way of eliciting an honest, emotional reaction from the reader. That’s a skill very few journalists possess.”
Pssst, heard the latest: Longtime WV sports writer Chuck Landon announces retirement
Chuck Landon, a popular sports writer and columnist for the Charleston Daily Mail and Huntington Herald-Dispatch in West Virginia, has retired after more than five decades behind the keyboard.
