RIP Mike Downey

He was an amazing columnist at the Detroit Free Press and beyond. He did a terrific job of capturing the magic summer of 1984 in Detroit, and was light years better than Mitch Albom.

Neil Rubin of the Free Press, a great columnist in his own right, wrote about Mike: https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...nist-during-84-world-series-dies/74084710007/

 

I remember him from the Times and The Sporting News, back when it was a real newspaper and had columnists from around the country. A few of his zingers still stick with me. RIP.

 

I think I remember him writing for the Chicago Tribune briefly?

 

For quite a while, I thought Downey and Leigh Montville were the absolute columnist ideal.

He wrote elegantly, and he wrote fearlessly.

RIP.

 

Regan - He did.

 

Free Press took a giant step backwards when they hired Mitchie.

 

Mike was a favorite of mine when he was in L.A. While I was a UCLA beat writer, he covered the Aloha Bowl (UCLA-Florida, Aikman-Smith) in 1987. I got to know him a lot better on that trip and I was proud to be able to introduce him to my then-fiancee, now-wife at that time. Rarely do columnists get me laughing out loud, but his column on the food at the Korea Olympics had me crying it was so funny. RIP to a newspaper legend.

 

Can you find a link? I did a basic Google search and came up empty.

 

I took a quick look and couldn't find it. I don't subscribe to LAT, so searching their archives ain't happening.
I recall quoting a few of his lines back to him and told him they were hilarious. He thanked me for remembering.

 

Damn. And just a few days after T.J. Simers. I sure hope Scott Ostler is taking good care of himself.

Man, I remember always trying to get an LA Times back when I was a teen in the 1980s, although we never did subscribe (my grandma did, though; I would be knee deep into the sports page whenever we visited her). Pick up the sports section and you could guarantee yourself a column by either Downey, Ostler or Jim Murray. God, we had it so good back then! RIP

 

A tremendous guy, Great from the beginning as a high school kid covering classmates, then at the Chicago Daily News, the Sun-Times, his stints in Detroit and Los Angeles, then back home to the Tribune. Never lost the common touch. R.I.P.