Along the Way: Sportswriter was MVP in life

Bob Moran was a character with a boatload of character.

An exceptional and unique sportswriter, first at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, then for 16 years at the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, he died Tuesday at 55 of stomach cancer.

We were friends, but I was in a vast majority. Looking back over the years, Robert was everybody’s friend. He was just a kid when he first came to Tucson in July 1974, hired by Tom Foust, the Star sports editor. I met Robert when I arrived in Tucson two months later.

He wrote for the morning paper, and I wrote for the afternoon Tucson Citizen. We were competitors on the friendliest of terms, the same arrangement I had with the inimitable Sue Hill and the late Dave Adam, also of the Star sports staff.

Robert was more than an ink-stained wretch from press row. He was a historic figure, Arizona’s first African-American sportswriter. He was a fountain of knowledge and a mountain of good humor.

Many years ago, at a luncheon in downtown Phoenix before a Fiesta Bowl game, he introduced me to his parents, from Baton Rouge, La. I don’t know who was proudest �” Robert, introducing his folks to a fellow sportswriter or his parents, sharing a bit of his working day with their fine son, or me, at meeting the parents of one of my best friends in the business.

Robert attended Ohio University and was first, last and always a Bobcat. Adidas once manufactured a white, leather sneaker with three green stripes along the side. Green is Ohio’s school color and Robert wore that style of shoe as long as it was available.

But he was also a diehard fan of Louisiana State, Clemson, Southern University and Ohio State, especially in football. That was his favorite sport.

I’ll bet Robert knew more school fight songs than any sportswriter in the country �” and he wasn’t above humming a bar or two at the drop of a hat, occasionally sending a few old grouches of the media stomping off to the other end of the press box. Robert could also re-create the radio play-by-play of some incredible, game-winning touchdown run by LSU’s Billy Cannon from back in the 1960s.

His obituary said Robert covered every Arizona-Arizona State football game from 1975 to 2003. And he could probably recite every winner and the reason why.

Going from Wildcat Country to Sun Devil Land was no problem for Robert. He blended in with no trouble. He was so close to the Sun Devils that he became known in Tempe as “Coach.”

He was known to me as “Robert” because, as I told him, that’s my middle name (my real name is George Robert Simpson, but please don’t tell anyone).

In the 1970s and early 80s when we were beat reporters covering Arizona football, Robert and I would hang out at the practice field until the final drill, in case some player stubbed his toe or got kicked off the team. After dark at one practice, I accidentally left behind my notebook �” full of “exclusive” interviews, of course. Robert found it. He called me and said he’d bring it to practice the next day.

It never occurred to me that my “competitor” might sneak a peek at what I had planned to write. I knew he wouldn’t, and he didn’t.

In those days, the Pacific-10 Conference sponsored a “Skywriters Tour” each fall, in which a few dozen sportswriters covering the schools would travel to all the campuses just as preseason football drills began. It spanned 10 or 12 days each year. From 1979 through 1989, the final fling, I covered 11 Skywriter tours. I don’t know how many Robert covered, but we spent a lot of time together on planes and buses, at football practices and in hotel hospitality rooms.

In 1996, I was fortunate enough to serve as national president of the Football Writers Association of America. I don’t recall whether Robert was ever president, but it wouldn’t matter �” he was the king of college football. Nobody loved it more. The man lived, ate and breathed college football.

Earlier this year, in a joint announcement, Arizona and Arizona State said the Most Valuable Player Award in their annual football rivalry will have a new name.

It will be called the Bob Moran Most Valuable Player Award.

The crowd won’t see him, but Robert will be there on the field for the presentation �” humming “Bear Down, Arizona” or the ASU fight song.

R.I.P., Robert. I’ve lost a good friend and the state of Arizona has lost a unique man, an outstanding sportswriter and a treasure.

Corky Simpson writes a Friday column for the Green Valley News.