RIP Craig Stanke
Craig Stanke
Longtime CBSSports.com deputy managing editor Craig Stanke died in his sleep after spending Memorial Day running a 5K event in the morning, then working in the office until late afternoon. (“Last-second holiday decision to run,” he tweeted on Monday.)
“He chatted up friends and co-workers about finishing second in his age group in the race earlier in the day,” writes CBSSports.com managing editor Mark Swanson. “By all accounts he felt great. But, to the shock, sadness and devastation of those who knew him and worked with him, he never woke up.”
He was 56.
T.J. Simers writes in the Los Angeles Times: “I hired him 35 years ago this week out of the University of Wisconsin. How cool is it to be able to hire someone who will become your best friend?”
Craig could have been a terrific writer, but he touched so many more by becoming an outstanding teacher as a newspaper editor.
He cared so much for the written word and what a creative writer could do with them, it was inspirational. …
There was a fine whine to Craig’s voice as he coaxed the best out of editors and writers alike. You would have loved the guy because he wanted only entertaining stories in the newspaper. That would have almost certainly eliminated any kind of Olympics story in the paper until the Games were actually played.
* CBSSports.com deputy managing editor Craig Stanke dies at 56 (CBSSports.com)
* Scott Miller: A giant in journalism, a friend in every way, gone too soon (CBSSports.com)
* Simers: A great friend, Craig Stanke, is gone too soon (LATimes.com)
* Read the many tributes on SportsJournalists.com and on his Facebook wall
