Joe Falls, Famed Sports Writer, Is Dead

By: E&P Staff Joe Falls, famed sports writer for The Detroit News and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, has died. He was 76.

"I was always so proud of Joe, because he loved his job so much and did it his whole life," his wife, Mary Jane, told the newspaper for a story posted on its Web site. "There never was a day he didn't want to write." He died of heart failure Wednesday.

Falls covered 50 World Series, 20 Kentucky Derbys, 15 Super Bowls, 20 Masters and U.S. Open golf tournaments, and dozens of events such as the Rose Bowl, Stanley Cup and NBA Finals. He was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame this year.

He began his journalism career in 1945, when he went to work as a copy boy in the New York office of the Associated Press. He transferred to the Detroit bureau in 1953 and joined the Detroit Times in 1956. When the Times folded in 1960, Falls moved on to the Detroit Free Press, eventually becoming the newspaper's sports editor. He remained there until 1978, when he joined the staff of the News.