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NEWS BRIEFS
Revered sportswriter Salvatore dies
Long-time sports writer Ernie Salvatore takes in the moment, following a ceremony in which the pressbox overlooking Joan C. Edwards Stadium was named in his honor Tuesday, April 1, 2008.
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HUNTINGTON -- Ernie Salvatore, one of the Tri-State's most revered sports columnists and newspapermen, died Friday, July 3, at his home in Huntington. He was 87.
Salvatore spent more than half a century as Huntington's marquee sports writer, editor and columnist. He worked for nearly 60 years as a writer and editor for The Huntington-Advertiser and then The Herald-Dispatch, two newspapers that consolidated.
Jim Casto, a fellow longtime editor at The Herald-Dispatch, said no one cast as big a shadow with their writing as did Salvatore.
"Ernie wasn't just a sports columnist; he was an institution," said Casto, who retired as associate editor and editorial page editor in 2004 after 41 years with The Herald-Dispatch. "He knew everybody, and everybody knew him.
"His columns often provoked strong feelings from readers," he added. "Some people loved them, some hated them. But everybody read them. And that's not a bad way for any columnist to be remembered."
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Klingel Carpenter Mortuary.
Salvatore, who grew up in Greenwich, Conn., came to Marshall College in the 1940s and found a home he would never leave. He met and married newspaperwoman Joanne Pinckard, with whom he raised five children.
Salvatore earned his first statewide journalism award in 1951 and his most recent was in 2003.
In April 2008, the Joan C. Edwards Stadium press box was named in his honor as well as a permanently endowed scholarship for sports journalists at Marshall University.
Lowell Cade, a newspaperman who spent 40 years working with Salvatore, said he was a real character who commanded respect as an editor, and, of course, as a columnist.
Salvatore had chalked up some 7,000 sports columns by the time his best-of book, "Ernie Salvatore's 'Sportin' Life," was published by The Herald-Dispatch in 1998. His columns in the book chronicled everything from professional boxing, hockey and baseball to the plethora of Marshall sports.
"Ernie had a great command of the English language. He drove people nuts or to the dictionary," Cade said with a laugh of the Italian-American who used such phrases as "Onliest" in his colorfully-crafted columns. "He wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and everybody didn't obviously agree with him, but as a newspaper person, I always respected his right as a columnist and respected his opinion. He was always entertaining and his columns were like a great performance. He would always dig a little deeper and make it extra special."
At the scholarship dinner last year, Gov. Joe Manchin gave Salvatore The Distinguished West Virginian Award, the highest award a resident can receive from the state.
"Ernie raised a generation of sports readers," Manchin said at that dinner. "You would go to the paper and look for Ernie."
The Herald-Dispatch Executive Editor Ed Dawson said Salvatore was a mentor to generations of journalists who worked with him at the newspaper.
"I think all of us who were lucky enough to work with Ernie in his later years knew we were learning from one of the great ones," Dawson said. "He loved Huntington and Marshall University, but he was not a cheerleader. He called them as he saw them, and his passion for journalism was always inspiring."
Veteran newsmen Tom Miller, Don Hatfield and Cade, all hired by Salvatore, were the driving force behind organizing last year's scholarship dinner that raised $25,000 for a scholarship in his honor, as well as an additional $12,000 for the Jeffrey E. George Comfort House at St. Mary's Medical Center.
Miller said the spirited Salvatore whose dad was a mason and hard-working craftsman in Cos Cob, Conn., left an indelible mark on him as a young journalist.
"He taught me -- with all due deference to all the good faculty at Marshall -- more on the job than I could have ever learned from the likes of Page Pitt and the others," Miller said. "We had a lot of fun paying tribute to him. All three of us, Hatfield, Lowell and I, felt like that was the least we could do. We all felt the same way about Ernie."
Among some of his best known protégés are Miller, Hatfield, as well as sports author Lou Sahadi, who worked at Huntington newspapers early in his career. Sahadi thanked Salvatore at last year's banquet for helping to give him his start in a career that today includes more than 20 books.
Although not afraid to get bare-knuckled on coaches, fans or teams in his column, Salvatore had legions of fans in the sports ranks, many of whom spoke or sent messages at his banquet last year.
Cabell County Assessor Ottie Adkins noted how Salvatore had championed the Golden Gloves boxing competition in Huntington that provided great opportunities for him as a young man.
Former Marshall football coach Jack Lengyel sent his well wishes through a video recording that was played for the audience of about 350. Lengyel, who coached the "Young Thundering Herd" in the wake the tragic 1970 plane crash, thanked Salvatore for his support in rebuilding the school's football program.
Huntington golfing great Bill Campbell, who was in Scotland, also congratulated Salvatore in a video message taped before his trip, thanking him for his hard work and friendship.
Miller said Salvatore was unique in that, while he was a Marshall graduate, he wasn't afraid to call them as he saw them in his column, in which he would often throw a hard ball followed by the phrase, "Ah, pardon me for asking but ..."
"He bled Green, too, but was very objective in his sports writing," Miller said. "Some reporters back in my day were a little too over bit on Marshall and emphasized the best and never criticized them. Ernie played it straight down the middle, fair but didn't bend the truth. He even went to the mat with Pruett."
While Salvatore was best known as a columnist, his status as a sports writing legend bled over into other mediums, too.
He was featured as one of the characters in the Warner Brothers' film, "We Are Marshall." Salvatore was played by actor Mark Oliver.
He was a regular fixture at such area restaurants as Thabit's (now closed) and Jim's Steak and Spaghetti House, where there would be constant streams of people coming over to shake hands, visit, hear a good joke or the gospel according to Salvatore. Rocco's Little Italy even named a sandwich, "The Ernie and Luigi," after the famed sportswriter.
His vast sports knowledge and colorful recollections were integral parts of John Witek and Deb Novak's documentaries about Marshall sports.
He was featured prominently in the Emmy Award-winning documentary, "Ashes to Glory," Witek and Novak's film about the Marshall University football team plane crash and the rebuilding of that program into national champions.
In 2007, Witek and Novak interviewed and featured Salvatore again in their documentary, "Cam Henderson: A Coach's Story."
To honor the sportswriting legend and friend, they produced a short video biography of Salvatore that was a DVD extra for the "Cam Henderson" film.
"I was just stunned by the news," Novak said Friday. "I just spoke to him last week and his recall was still really sharp. I guess you felt that Ernie was one of those people that would be here forever."
A Marshall graduate and huge Marshall sports fan, Novak said Salvatore was the authority on Marshall and regional sports history.
Novak said she realized one of her life's dreams, getting to watch a Marshall game court-side on press row with Salvatore.
Novak said the amazing thing with Salvatore was the richness of his recall and colorful spirit through which he experienced life.
"When you would talk to him, he would relive it in such detail you felt like you were there," Novak said. "Personally, I just loved Mary Ex-Model (the famous character from his annual Kentucky Derby column), and I just loved the stories that he wrote."
Paul Swann, program and sports director at Fox Sports 1230 WIRO & 1420 WTCR, said they were planning a tribute to Ernie, airing some of the many interviews they've done with Salvatore over the years.
"Ernie was one of my favorite people to talk to (on the radio), I could speak to him for hours about his life, the things he experienced, the events he covered, the people he met, and the way life use to be, and should be," Swann said. "He was a touchstone for many of us in sports and journalism, a treasure that will be missed."
