THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411270194
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
A colorful era in Virginia sportswriting ended Saturday with the death of Abe Goldblatt from complications following bypass surgery. He would have been 80 on Feb. 15.
Goldblatt's career as a sportswriter with The Virginian-Pilot began in 1931, two years before he graduated from Wilson High School. It was the only job he ever had and spanned more than 63 years.
He started covering high school sports for the paper as a correspondent, known in those days as a ``stringer.'' He became a full-time employee, covering all kinds of sports, after graduating from Wilson in 1933.
Officially, he retired March 1, 1980. But his many readers and most of his colleagues never knew. He didn't miss a day, signing on as a correspondent and coming into the office almost every day until his illness in the fall of 1994.
``This is a sad day for Tidewater sports fans. For many people in the sports community, Abe Goldblatt was The Virginian-Pilot. For more than 60 years, it just wasn't a big event in Tidewater unless Abe was there,'' said sports editor Chic Riebel.
George McClelland, retired sports editor for The Virginian-Pilot and The-Ledger-Star, called Goldblatt ``the greatest asset the sports department had'' for all those years.
``Abe was a great resource,'' said McClelland, his boss for 22 years. ``He knew everything and everybody in Portsmouth.
``During his career, he covered all kinds of sports and he covered them well. He loved it all. He was the first reporter from The Virginian-Pilot to cover basketball. And in his later years, when he covered Norfolk State (University), it was probably the best coverage of a black college team by a major newspaper.''
Goldblatt always tried to help young sportswriters on the way up, provided they welcomed his advice.
``Don't forget the score,'' he would say. ``Put it in the first paragraph. Tell the readers who played, who won and what the score was. There are too many writers who don't do that until the last paragraph. They think they can get by on fancy words. But they can't. So give the score right away.''
Clarence ``Ace'' Parker of Portsmouth was his favorite athlete and a lifelong friend.
``Abe was the first one to write about me,'' said Parker, elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972, ``and he did it while he was still in high school.
``He was my alltime favorite friend. When I was inducted into the hall, he and his wife Marie went to Canton (Ohio) with me and my wife. Abe was THE sportswriter in Virginia. In this area, he always got the story and he always got it straight.''
Goldblatt paid no attention to how many years he had covered sports, even when friends mentioned it. He'd just say, ``And I'm gonna keep doing it until I get it right.''
Goldblatt's most obvious quality was his sense of humor, which often showed in his writing. But his wit showed itself most vividly in one of his many sidelines. He was a professional after-dinner speaker who was always in demand.
Back in the 1960's when the NFL's Colts were in Baltimore, he spoke to the Baltimore Touchdown Club and became the only person the club ever invited to speak again the next year. He declined.
A few years ago, Goldblatt wrote a book entitled ``The Great and Near-Great in Virginia Sports.''
Every time he would deliver a talk, he would pull out a copy of the book and announce that it would be on sale in the lobby.
Goldblatt won several awards for his contributions to sports.
Two testimonials - 20 years apart - were given by the Portsmouth Elks lodge in his honor.
``They were just trying to figure out a way to fill up the place,'' Goldblatt said after the second banquet.
In 1993, Goldblatt was named Sportsman of the Year by the Norfolk Sports Club at their annual Jamboree. He was the first and only sports writer so honored.
Although Goldblatt never mentioned it, he may have felt a little put out because he was never named to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, especially since the idea for it came from him.
But he never cared much about awards. He just wanted to keep writing about sports.
Goldblatt accidentally gave Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker his nickname when the boxer was an amateur. Goldblatt heard the crowd chanting ``Sweet Pete'' and thought it was ``Sweetpea.''
Perhaps the funniest piece he ever wrote was ``Confessions of a Minor League Baseball Writer,'' which appeared on the cover of the paper's Sunday feature section. It was an anecdotal collection of some of the funny things which had happened while covering minor league baseball for almost a half-decade.
He could poke fun at almost everyone, including himself and his Jewish faith.
He had that rare talent of self-deprecation, so beautifully displayed in a column he wrote years ago, ``Famous Jewish Athletes I Have Known.''
One of them, he wrote, was Julius Erving.
``With a name like that,'' Goldblatt figured, ``he should have been Jewish.''
In casual conversation, he'd have you laughing constantly.
A couple of years ago, one of his editors told him he'd have to cut down on his frequency of errors and misspellings.
Goldblatt dutifully said he'd try and then added:
``You know, I liked you better before you got your own office.''
He often joked about how he had, many years ago, asked for a $5 raise. ``The managing editor wanted to know if I was a Communuist.''
He also liked to tell folks that his father was a tailor. ``During the Great Depression,'' he would say, ``I was the only kid at Wilson who wore tailor-made clothes to school.''
Goldblatt had an image similar to Jack Benny, who made a career out of pretending to be tightfisted.
But he wasn't always pretending.
Goldblatt was famous for never missing a free meal. When he covered the Atlantic Coast Conference, he was known as the ``King of the Cold Cuts.''
Each week on Mondays, he'd go to the Norfolk Sports Club luncheon meeting, on Tuesday it was the Virginia Beach Sports Club luncheon, on Wednesday he attended the Norfolk State sports luncheon and so on through the week.
Once he told the Norfolk State athletic director that the football team was in pretty good shape but that the food was slipping.
Goldblatt's sense of humor would enable him to become friends with the athletes he covered.
When he was assigned to cover hockey, he had never even seen a hockey game and didn't know the rules.
But before long, he got into the swing of things and had dreamed up a new nickname for himself: ``The Schmuck with the Puck.''
Goldblatt and his wife, Marie, were married 44 years and had four children: Robin, Dan, Adam and Eve. It wasn't unusual for a man with Goldblatt's funnybone to name his last two children Adam and Eve.
Goldblatt became a Notre Dame fan in 1990 when Eve's husband, Chris Petrucelli, was named woman's soccer coach at the university.
Goldblatt has eight grandchildren and one surviving brother, Samuel of Norfolk.
Funeral services are Monday at 2 p.m. at Evergreen Memorial Park in Portsmouth. Visitation is from 7 p.m.to 9 p.m. Sunday at Foster Funeral Home in Portsmouth.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Hope House Foundation in Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Goldblatt's career at The Virginian-Pilot began in 1931 and spanned
more than 63 years
Photo
Pictured here early in his career as a sportswriter, Abe Goldblatt
interviews two minor league baseball players from Portsmouth.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY by CNB