Longtime Oklahoman sportswriter Bob Colon dies
By BOB HERSOM
Bob Colon, a sportswriter whose long career was marked by accuracy, dedication and a passion for small college athletics, died late Saturday, shortly after filing his final story for The Oklahoman.
Colon, who was 60, died from a heart attack while walking back to his hotel room, after covering the Big 12 wrestling championships in Omaha, Neb.
“Bob was a quality person who represented us very well, whatever he covered, “said Ed Kelley, the editor of The Oklahoman. “Bob covered just about everything that was to be covered for The Oklahoman and Times over the course of nearly 40 years, and he did it very well.”
Colon, born Jan. 9, 1945, in Cushing, Okla., graduated from Oklahoma State in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He worked more than 37 years for The Oklahoman, joining the news copy desk on Aug. 7, 1967, and moving to the sports department on Oct. 1, 1968.
After serving nearly two decades as the sports editor of The Oklahoma City Times, and then The Oklahoman, Colon became the newspaper’s senior sportswriter on July 3, 2001.
“He was just 100 percent dedicated to being a good sportswriter, “said Frank Boggs, former managing editor and sports editor of The Oklahoman. “As far as accuracy, surely he must have made some mistakes, but offhand I don’t remember any, not that got in the paper anyway. He just made sure of everything and got it right.”
Kelley said, “A lot of the people on our award-winning sports staff are people who Bob hired himself, so his death is a real blow to our newspaper. His mark on our sports coverage since the late 1960s will live on for a long time.”
Colon’s favorite assignments through the years usually involved the small college teams in Oklahoma.
“Bob was a champion of the little guy, of small-town sports and events that don’t interest ESPN, “said Mike Sherman, sports editor of The Oklahoman. “He was the anti-pack journalist.”
Boggs said, “He preferred writing about the small Oklahoma colleges more than he would about the New York Yankees.”
And no one knew more than Colon about Oklahoma’s state college sports scene.
“When it came to small college athletics he was incredible, an encyclopedia, “said Justin Tinder, the sports information director at Southwestern. “He had a passion about the history of the sports in the small colleges. He kept the small colleges in the paper. He did a tremendous job.”
For the last nine years, Colon spent many of his summer evenings at Oklahoma City 89ers or Oklahoma RedHawks baseball games, as the official scorer.
“His decisiveness and his knowledge of the rules made him an excellent scorer, “said John Allgood, executive director of the RedHawks. “He knew what to call right away, and yet if he made a mistake he was a big enough man to go back and make a change. And from a personal standpoint I always thought he was a very gentle and kind man.”
Colon was a perfectionist in whatever he did, and that dedication showed not only in his occupation as a sportswriter but in his beloved avocation as a game official in several sports.
“His total dedication to the newspaper was matched only by his passion for officiating, “Kelley said. “He was very well-known on the Oklahoma sports scene, no doubt after it, and we were the beneficiaries at The Oklahoman.”
Boggs said, “He probably knew more about rules and regulations in football, basketball and baseball than any 10 sports departments put together.”
Colon is survived by his wife, Jill; son, Michael Towery and wife Megan; and stepchildren Leigh, Jade and Jason.
Services will be Saturday at The Guardian Funeral Home in Oklahoma City.
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