RIP Jesse Outlar

Long-time Atlanta sports editor and columnist ...

http://www.ajc.com/news/jesse-lamar-outlar-87-906989.html

 

Grew up reading his column. One of the primary inspirations for wanting to get into this sportswriting thing, along with Furman Bisher.

Another legendary Atlanta sports media career is drawing to a close, albeit under the radar. AP stringer Ray Tapley is retiring after this week, and he's covered sports in this town since the late 40s -- even predating The Bish! Thanks to Paul Newberry for getting out the word about that.

 

Well, that's the third one, and it's not much of a stretch. Three pretty big names in the golden age of newspapers, all from the mid-Atlantic/Southeast, right?

Fred was the baby of the group.

 

A pretty cool photo here:

 

There was a time when this was the Big 3 of the deep South. Mr. Outlar was a nice man and I remember when Shug Jordan passed in 1980 that he took it pretty hard. RIP

 

As a junior in high school, I wrote Jesse Outlar for advice about how to pursue a career in sports journalism,but forget to include my return address. Believe it or not, he used a couple of lines of his Sunday column to alert me to that oversight. The publisher of the weekly newspaper in my hometown saw Outlar's note and asked me if I'd be interested in covering sports for his paper, an offer I quickly accepted. That was 40 years and many newspapers for me ago. He did write back, by the way, suggesting I study journalism at the University of Georgia, which I did. I later interned at the AJC and was able to thank him for his kindness toward me. A prince of a guy.

 

Hell of a story right there.

 

At Augusta last week, I sat between Furman and Edwin. A year ago, Furman lamented his day's work as just so-so and told his wife, "Someday, I'll write the perfect column." He's 92. This year, Edwin came over and asked, "Does the Masters still inspire you the way it does me?" He's 82.

I worked alongside Jesse for three, four years. He was always kind, gracious, and gentle -- as on the night he was shot in the Braves' parking lot and was heard to say, "For this, I gave up smoking?"

 

Jesse ghostwrote Donald Davidson's (former Braves traveling secretary) autobiograpy "Caught Short" and made him seem like the most fun-loving guy in the world. That was an accomplishment, because Donald was a mean little prick.

RIP, Jesse.

 

Anybody else think the AJC could have done a little more with the obit? I know he retired in 1988, but still, he was one of your own, one of the very best of your own. Seemed kinda paltry.

 

One of the most kind-hearted and soft-spoken men in modern column-writing, if not all of newspaperdom.
Married to a former Miss Iceland. The two of them were a hoot as traveling companions.
The obit should've ended in the form of his beloved letter columns from his later years.
Dear Dixie,
You've lost a close friend.
Sadly,
the AJC