{"id":916,"date":"2014-03-25T16:06:47","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T23:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/?p=916"},"modified":"2014-03-26T08:14:03","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T15:14:03","slug":"god-bless-you-tim-sassone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/golf\/personalities\/916\/god-bless-you-tim-sassone","title":{"rendered":"God bless you, Tim Sassone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Me<\/a>

Me and Timmy enjoy a moment with Bruce Crampton at a senior-tour media day in the early 90s. This photo always made us smile. I really need that today.<\/p><\/div>\n

My friend Tim Sassone is gone. I hadn\u2019t seen a lot of him for a long time. But when I went on the Blackhawks beat in 1989, we were practically joined at the hip for five years.<\/p>\n

A legendary hockey writer at the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago, he was just 58. Way too soon.<\/p>\n

More than anything, my heart goes out to his family.<\/p>\n

He was a dear friend. We went everywhere together. He especially loved St. Louis, where he had family ties. We always had a great time in Toronto, sitting with Bob Pulford, who told fine hockey stories during morning skates. And then there was a post-game Chinese restaurant that Al Secord turned us on to.<\/p>\n

Side trips to Atlantic City off of Flyers games, bowls of chowder in Boston, a Montreal deli recommended by Jacques Martin. Having a drink in Quebec with wonderful Louis Sutter, the father of the hockey playing clan. We might have sneaked in an occasional round of golf, too. It was a different era, and we were younger.<\/p>\n

One night we were in Madison Square Garden for a Hawks-Rangers game. The press seats were scattered around the rink, and there was a little squawk box for announcements. \u00a0That little squawk box said, “The World Series has been halted due to an earthquake.”<\/p>\n

Timmy didn’t even look up. “Good,\u2019\u2019 he said. “There’ll be more room for hockey in the paper.”<\/p>\n

He was also fond of making wisecracks about the concessions prices people paid.<\/p>\n

There was a theatrical side to his life. His brother, Michael, is an actor, played the preacher\/bus driver in the movie Hoosiers.<\/p>\n

We played golf once or twice with Michael. They couldn\u2019t have looked more different. Michael was tall and angular, from the Irish side, if I recall it right. Timmy got the Italian genes.<\/p>\n

And the vision gene. He would see things, insights into people and situations, and they amused him no end.<\/p>\n

Once, when the NHL was planning to move the net a foot farther away from the back boards, Mike Keenan, who was the Blackhawks coach then, was telling us how revolutionary this change would be.<\/p>\n

So we go over to Denis Saverd, who says, “It\u2019s a foot. What difference is a foot going to make?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Tim thought that was great. Especially when Savvy, who was one of his all-time favorites, proved to be right.<\/p>\n

Another time, an aging Tommy Ivan was in the locker room greeting the media and thanking them for coming out. Mr. Ivan was a sweet man who had retired as the Hawks GM, and it was a nice gesture.<\/p>\n

Except that the Hawks had just been bounced from the playoffs. The players were in tears and the media were quietly trying to do their job without being rude.<\/p>\n

And this little man is walking around, shaking hands and saying, “Thanks for coming.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Tim found that hilarious.<\/p>\n

Tim also was greatly amused when Ron Caron, the St. Louis GM, would run up and down the old Stadium press box shouting, “It\u2019s a lie! It\u2019s a lie!\u2019\u2019 when there was a penalty call he didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

Tim could be gruff, but it only lasted for a moment or two. Then he was back to being kind and soft-spoken and very amusing.<\/p>\n

And being an amazing hockey writer. He knew everything and everybody, and he wrote in a concise, straightforward style.<\/p>\n

How many times I ran stuff past him to make sure I had it right.<\/p>\n

I left the beat after five years, went back to college writing, and we lost touch after a while. But when the Hawks got hot a few years ago, I helped out during the playoffs. It was wonderful to see him again; we connected as if no time had passed. When we saw Chris Chelios in Detroit in 2009, it was just like old times.<\/p>\n

Once again, I was running stuff by him\u2014only more so. He was as generous as could be.<\/p>\n

Last fall, when I was around the Hawks, he was not well enough to be at the practices I covered. So I\u2019d e-mail him tapes of the player interviews, and he was so appreciative.<\/p>\n

It was no big deal, I\u2019d tell him. I could never repay him for all the knowledge he shared. I wasn\u2019t counting, anyway. He was such a dear friend.<\/p>\n

Rest in peace, Timmy. God bless one of the great ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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