RIP Lance Ogden

He died recently after a long illness.

He was a sports editor in Pendleton, Ore., Joplin, Mo., and Grants Pass, Ore. He also spent time at the Odessa American and ended his career doing design for the Portland Tribune.

 

I got to know him on here and then through Facebook. He could piss me off and make me laugh in the same paragraph when we were talking about stuff. I'm going to miss that guy.

RIP.

 

Damn. I'm sorry to hear this. Lance gave me some sound advice to consider once, and I did so. It had a significant bearing on my life, and my respect for him, ever since.

I'd lost my last full-time journalism job, at a major metro, and I was hurting, both emotionally and economically, at the time. Being open to a significant change if that was needed, a job ad Lance posted on here for the Grants Pass paper appealed to me, and I applied for a sports reporting position there. I was confident I'd get an interview, and indeed, I did. I did well with it, and I could tell Lance was interested in having me. What's more, especially after speaking to Lance, I was still interested in working in Grants Pass.

After a long interview that turned into an enjoyable, rambling conversation that included him trying to get me to try to guess who he was on here -- I told him, no, I didn't know, and didn't want to know, given my standing don't ask-don't-tell policy -- he turned serious and gave me some thoughts and a perspective that I hadn't considered.

After we both expressed our mutual interest, he told me to take a couple of days to think about whether I really wanted to make a move to Grants Pass, because it would be, well, a culture shock to the system for me after my previous job, both in terms of the local area and population (or the relative lack thereof), and the newspaper itself (which wasn't a daily), and that, while he knew Grants Pass to be a beautiful, wonderful place, I just might be unhappy once I'd settled there, alone and away from everyone and everything as I'd long known them. I said I was sure I'd be OK, that I loved my time spent in the rural area where my parents owned a vacation home and was confident I could be comfortable and happy with a slower pace of life, but that, yes, I'd take some time and consider everything, and that I'd get back to him.

That weekend, the more I thought about things, the more I realized that Lance might be right, and that the job he had to offer might not be the one for me, particularly over the long term, and I called him the following week to let him know that I was no longer interested. He said he'd had a feeling that would be the case, but he was gracious and we remained in touch for a while afterward via email and Facebook. Despite the relatively little contact we had over the years, he has still popped up in my thoughts periodically since then, and I think that says something about how much I've always appreciated his perspective and wisdom, and ultimately, his help with an important decision. It was something that, at the time, I hadn't even realized that I needed.

RIP, Lance.

 

Sucks to hear.

Lance had a fierce personality, here and in real life.

I always think of him when I watch a Washington Huskies game.

Somewhere in the Great Beyond, he's telling us to EAD ... and laughing.

 

For you, Lance.

 

RIP, tp. You were part of a better time.

 

He was TP? Shit, we had some great conversations back in the day, and he chipped in to a gift project I put together for another (former) poster.

 

Lance gave me my first permanent job in journalism and gave me a huge boost in getting my life-changing second job.

Several years later, even though we hadn’t talked much in a while, he took my wife and I in for a night on a road trip and treated us like family.

As others have said, Lance could infuriate you and make you think and make you love him all in the same paragraph.

We talked one last time on the phone a couple of years ago, and he told me he had been having some health problems. To my eternal shame, I let it slip off my radar and never called again.

LO, at least you didn’t DIAF. Go have a cigar with Al Davis up there and laugh your ridiculous laugh and keep caring about people way more than you want to let on.

Love you, buddy.

 

TP was a fine friend ... though a friend I never met in person. Surely wish I had, though. Tom Petty was one of the best posters of the Night Crew segment here back in the day, and he was outrageous and brilliant and fun on a nightly basis. Outspoken, too!

Nobody could scorch a dumbass post like TP/Lance did, and that was high theater in itself. He seemed like the most caustic motherfucker you ever came across, but, then, if you got to know him, you found out he was a genuinely good guy.

We had us some great PM conversations, months on end, and then one day TP just left the site abruptly. Always missed those PM conversations, which usually came after midnight, when both of us had a lot to unload because of the usual newsroom madness we somehow had weathered for yet another night.

I have always missed Tom Petty here since.
Rest in peace, Lance, and thanks for all the fun.

 

TP with his groove on ...

 

Lance gave me some great advice once and was always great to talk to. RIP.