Press Sportswriter Hoffman Dies

Harry Hoffman, sportswriter and columnist for The Press and Sunday Press for 29 years, died at age 56 in Chicago on Sunday.

Hoffman was traveling with the Philadelphia Phillies, assigned to cover the road trip, when he was discovered dead in his room at the Sheraton Plaza Hotel.

Concerned sportswriters notified the hotel when Hoffman failed to appear for the start of the Phillies* game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

A spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner said. "It appeared death came from natural causes.”

Surviving him are his wife Barbara, whom he married in 1948 and resided with at The Woodland Condominium in McKee City, and children Lori, 27, of Bellmawr: Bruce, 25, of Linwood, and Keith "Rocky", 20, a student at Rutgers. Their oldest son Gary died in a hit-and-run accident in August of 1979 when his bicycle was struck by a car.

Hoffman had been covering the Phillies and the other Philadelphia pro teams for six years. His Tales of Hoffman was acknowledged to be one of the widest read columns in South Jersey.

"Harry Hoffman's contributions to The Press were appreciated by his colleagues as much as they were by his readers," Press Editor and Publisher Charles C. Reynolds said. "He was always there whenever there was a sports action that should be reported.

"He was probably the best-read and best-known writer on The Press and his absence will be deeply felt by us all," Reynolds said.

Hoffman started at The Press in 1951 under then Sports Editor Henry 'Whitey' Gruhler covering scholastic and local sports.

As a youth, it was the late Lou Greenberg, former sports editor, and Gruhler who first introduced Hoffman to reporting by assigning him to collect box scores from local baseball games, including the Johnson Stars and Farley Stars managed by Hall of Famer John Henry 'Pop' Lloyd.

Hoffman was proudest of his acceptance by Lloyd, one of the greatest stars in the Negro Leagues. And the guidance he received from both Lloyd and Gruhler was instrumental in starting him on his sportswriting career.

"He was very enthusiastic about learning his profession," Gruhler said. "He learned the terminology and the rules of any new sport he encountered until he was well qualified in each.

"As a result, he kept improving," Gruhler said.

Hoffman grew up in the Chelsea neighborhood of Atlantic City. He claimed that as a child, he never lived more than two blocks away from Atlantic City High School. He was a tough competitor in various local sandlot teams, including being a captain of the Athletics in Kiwanis baseball.

He graduated with straight- A honors from ACHS, where he was a cheerleader, in 1942. He was sports editor of the school paper for four years.

After that, he did a four-year stint in the Pacific with the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. He served in New Guinea, The Philippines and Japan, where he was among the first of the occupation forces, arriving before the armistice. He received his honorable discharge in 1946.

Hoffman came to the then Atlantic City Press in 1951 after graduating from Rutgers University.

He took up an active career not only in sportswriting, but also in community sports-related events. He was one of the key people involved in the Atlantic City Biddy Basketball League, which grew into a worldwide program. He helped publicize the Around-The-Island Swim. He was the director of the Ventnor Summer Recreation Program for many years. He coached Little League teams in Ventnor, where he lived for many years.

He was a member of the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Squash Racquets Club, where he once won the Class B club title and played on several league championship squads.

In recent years, he turned to tennis, which became his passion.

He played tennis almost daily, and his tennis racquets were as much a part of his luggage on his frequent Philadelphia trips to cover the Phillies, Eagles, 76ers, Flyers, Big Five Basketball and college football and on his road trips to various major league cities around the country.

He was a tournament bridge player and instructor for many years. He also did a twice-daily sports radio program for years, and a weekly radio sports talk and celebrity show.

In 1979, he was named Newsman of The Year by the Atlantic City Lions Club. While not a believer in writing contests, Hoffman considered that award one of the thrills of his career.

"My most recent memories of Harry are of his determination to do his very best in the shortest possible time," Press Managing Editor Robert Ebener said. "Always seemingly under the pressure of deadline, even when not on the road with one of the teams, Harry would zip into the newsroom, write his story with obvious intensity, and be off again.

"He appeared full of endless energy and joy for his work. But he always had time for a friendly nod or comment as he went on his way."

He started covering the pro beat on his own time under former Sports Editor Ed Nichterlein. And his efforts slowly expanded into this paper's first big league beat.

"It was a very great shock for me to learn of his death. To collect my thoughts is really difficult,” Nichterlein said. "I might say that the first thing I ever noticed about him was that he had a marvelous ability to size up a situation. And the second thing I noticed about him was his enthusiasm.

"During the final two seasons of the Atlantic City Sea Gulls, the ice hockey team of the Eastern League, he took his own days off and his own time to travel with the team to western Pennsylvania and Ohio simply because he was enthusiastic about covering them," Nichterlein said.

"He was also truly a specialist in knowing the ins and outs of at least three sports. He could go head to head with any baseball expert anywhere. The second sport would be thoroughbred racing and, finally, basketball. At least I regarded him so.”

Hoffman was only half-kidding when he used to say, "I'm the fastest sportswriter west of the Atlantic Ocean."

Press Sports Editor Michael Shepherd has always been a firm believer in that jesting boast.

"Harry made those Philadelphia writers shake their heads in disbelief for the amount of work he did and the short time he did it in," Shepherd said. "He believed that the sports fans of South Jersey deserved big league coverage.

"He would routinely do doubleheaders in Philadelphia. He would cover, for example, an Eagles game on a Sunday afternoon at Veterans Stadium, writing a story and a column, and then pop across Pattison Avenue to the Spectrum and cover the Flyers, beating deadline with a story.

"We will never, I mean never, be able to fill his shoes." Shepherd said. "Harry was a sportswriter of the old school and guys like him only come once in a lifetime. He helped teach me the game of sportswriting, the game of tennis and the game of life."

Phils Breathe Down Expos’ Neck

Philadelphia 7, Chicago 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Greg Luzinski smashed his 18th home run and hit a key double in the eighth inning to pace a 15-hit Philadelphia attack Sunday as the Phillies defeated the Chicago Cubs 7-3 to move within a half-game of the Montreal Expos in the National League East.

Philadelphia’s Dick Ruthven, who lasted 5⅔ innings before being replaced by Ron Reed, picked up his 16th victory in 26 decisions while Cub’s starter Dennis Lamp took his 12th loss against 14 wins.

Ruthven crossed up the Cubs’ strategy with an infield hit in the second after Larry Bowa was intentionally walked with two out to load the bases. The Cubs tied the score in their half of the second on a run-scoring double by Jerry Martin.

Luzinski’s homer came in the third and the Phillies scored three more runs in the fourth. Doubles by Manny Trillo and Pete Rose knocked in the first two and Bake McBride hit a sacrifice fly.

The Cubs cut the margin to 5-2 in the fourth when rookie Jim Tracy hit his first major league homer.

Ruthven was chased in the Cubs sixth after Martin doubled home Cliff Johnson, who had singled.

Luzinski led off the Philadelphia eighth with a double to left center and pinch runner Jay Loviglio scored on Garry Maddox’s single to left.

Philadelphia third base man Mike Schmidt hit his 30th career homer at Wrigley field off reliever Dick Tidrow in the ninth. It was his 41^st homer of the season.