RIP to one of our own, one of our best -- Craig Stanke

Yes, Neil, thank you for the links to those pictures. He would have been so pissed that, once again, he was caught looking at his watch.

On another note: I know you all have questions about how Craig died. Krissy, his sister, was told that it was heart disease - along with some more medical terms that mean something to someone. This had not been diagnosed. He saw doctors regularly and was unaware of any problems. To the one specific question above, she was also told that his running was not a factor.

He died in his sleep Tuesday morning. He died quietly and peacefully.

 

When my time comes, that's how I want to go, quietly and peacefully. Whatever faith (or no faith) Craig belonged to, I hope he is in a better place.

 

my dream scenario when it's my time. typical for sf to show me how it can be done with class...

 

I think a lot of us are looking at our watches this week, maybe realizing it's later than it seemed.
There's no way I look as good doing it. Still, thanks for the bittersweet smile.

 

I suppose this could go on forever but I suspect everyone has a Craig story and everyone else loves to read them if they haven't heard them before. So here goes, from a colleague who was at the Florida Times-Union in the late 1980s when Craig was the SE there:

The TU had a team in a Jacksonville media softball league. The team was composed of about 95 percent sports, and most of those guys were on the desk. Stanke showed up every Saturday at 9 or 11 (the starting times) with a cooler full of beer. He never played one inning. Didn't want to. Just sat in the dugout, cheering (or ribbing) and dispensing cold ones. After the game, everyone would adjourn to a nearby bar, where Craig was good for a few pitchers.

As the story-teller relates, "Then, led by Craig, we'd go to work."

 

I don't do Twitter, so I just came across this, but check out the way Craig Stanke worked the crowd and took care of business on the same day he ran his final race. SF_Express was totally engaged everywhere, it seems.

https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/craigstankecbs

Copy and paste the entire line into your browzer, and that should take you there.

 

haha, jezus, the guy looks like a million bucks.

I've been running 7 or 8 years, and could only dream about a 22:xx 5k. God bless him.

 

I don't know if Craig had a history of heart disease in his family, but this should serve as a reminder to anyone where it runs in the bloodlines, get checked, particularly if you're over 50. My brother-in-law is near 60, runs 40-50 miles a week and is as physically fit as anyone his age. But there's heart history in his family, and sure enough, he recently had to have triple bypass surgery. He's fine now, and it's a good thing he was aware.

 

The coolest guy in my hometown died in a car crash when he was a freshman in college and I was a freshman in high school. Josh was that guy who was great looking, the best athlete in school, funny and charming and never really seemed like he was trying too hard to be any of those things. If it sounds like I had a man-crush on him, well I did. Everyone did.

He was five years older than me, so we were never really in school together, but we knew each other. It was a small town, everybody knew everybody else and we had similar interests so we crossed paths often enough.

One day when he was in high school and I was in junior high he was walking by my house and saw me shooting baskets. He came over and started shooting with me and we wound up playing a marathon game of 1-on-1 the rest of the day. He beat me 150-102. He could have been out at the lake drinking beer with kids his age or getting laid, but he decided to hang out with me that day. He joked with me when he saw me around. He was nicer than he had to be.

I doubt Josh had any idea what kind of effect he had on kids like me. I'm sure he wouldn't have guessed that 16 years later he'd pop into my mind at least once a week. I've lost people I was closer to, but I'm not sure I've mourned for any of them as much.

It's odd whose deaths end up really getting to you. Craig is my adult version of Josh, the coolest guy in our little journalism community who never seemed to realize he was too cool for the rest of us.

Like I wrote before, we never met in person, but he was nicer to me, and apparently many others, than he had to be. Last fall when I had a story to pitch, there was a quickly approaching expiration date on it and I was feeling fortunate to get even a one sentence response from other people in similar positions, Craig took time to give me a detailed explanation of how CBS was organized, why he wanted to buy the story but couldn't and eventually helped me sell it to MaxPreps for pretty decent money.

I don't really know where I'm going with this way-too-long post, but Craig and Josh make me strive to be more like them. Those simple acts of kindness they performed every day can touch people in ways you don't even think about. I also wish I was better at expressing appreciation before it's too late.

 

CORAL SPRINGS, FL - Craig Stanke, 56, died unexpectedly, in his sleep,
on Tuesday, May 29, 2012 as the result of previously undiagnosed heart
disease.
Born Craig Alan Weiss on September 23, 1955 in Emporia, KS to Ann
(Calhoun) Weiss and Donn Weiss, Craig and his mother returned to her
birthplace of Madison, WI following his parents’ divorce. In 1961, his
mother married Ernest Stanke, who adopted Craig.
In 1973, Craig graduated from Madison West High School. His talent in
writing was evident from a very early age, as was his prowess in music
and track and field.
He dabbled in the violin and the piano, then taught himself to play
the banjo before forming the Southwest Madison Bluegrass Revival Band
with friends. While at West, he joined the track team, specialized in
running shorter distances - specifically the mile - and broke an
impressive number of state records.
Two years ago, he returned to the sport and ran many races – usually
5Ks. Typically, he finished impressively overall and at the top of his
age group.
He attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating
in 1977 with a B.S. in Journalism, worked part-time at the Wisconsin
State Journal during college and became the Staffwriter/Sports Editor
at the Beloit Daily News after graduation. It was here, in 1979, that
Craig was awarded first place for columns in the category of
newspapers with a circulation of less than 50,000 from the Associated
Press Sports Editors association. These were the days when putting a newspaper together involved a typewriter, a T-square, an X-Acto knife and a sheet of Rubylith. Then technology arrived and the face of publishing changed. Craig Stanke’s brilliance as a journalist was evident in his ability to change with his industry, combining old school rules and values with new world technology and the latest, greatest example of social media he could find. And always, he made sure integrity was at the forefront.
Recently, Craig established a Twitter account and had 1300 followers
after a short time. His tweets ranged from inane (the “REALTIME SONG
STUCK in MY HEAD”) to brilliant (sharing the inner workings of a
CBSSports.com content meeting, thereby bringing readers directly to
where decisions were made regarding copy, photos and who was covering
what topic).
He wondered constantly how he could do a given job better and then did
just that.
His titles of assistant sports editor, staff writer, news editor, copy
editor and sports editor graced the pages of newspapers including the
Bradenton Herald, Clearwater Sun, Jupiter Daily Journal, Fort
Lauderdale News, Miami Herald, South Florida Sun Sentinel and the
Florida Times Union.
In 1987, he was hired at the Los Angeles Times and worked for eight
years as the assistant sports editor and sports editor of their San
Diego and Orange County editions then became the assistant sports
editor of the Palm Beach Post. In 1997, he found the job he intended
to retire from when he assumed the role of Deputy Managing Editor of CBSSports.com.
Throughout his career, Craig mentored hundreds of journalists and it
is only after his death, while reading the countless tributes posted
by people who knew Craig, that one begins to realize the impact this
man made. The same words and phrases are repeated often: genius,
brilliant, kind, generous, “best friend” and “best boss I ever had.”
Craig was also the stranger at the other end of the bar who would listen to your story with concern and curiosity; the friend’s father who asked how the interview went and cared about the answer and the pal who knew things weren’t going as well for you as they could be so gave you a pep talk
before making you laugh.
Craig’s sense of humor is legendary as are the turns of a phrase he
repeated often. Anyone who knew Craig well knows what word follows,
“sweet” and “holy.”
Craig had thousands of friends from all circles of life but he always
had room for one more.
There was, however, never a role more important than the one he assumed when Alyson Kathryn Stanke and Eric Robert Ernest Stanke were born and he became a father. Craig’s two children were the loves of his life.
Recently, he had been delighted and proud to see them both excel in
their chosen careers and spending time with them — golf with Eric and dinner on Tuesdays with Alyson — was a priority.
Craig was also a devoted son to his mother, the late Ann Stanke, who
taught Craig much about life, love, generosity and the importance of
laughter - during the good times but especially during the tough
times. Ann, who lost her own battle with ALS just a year ago, was
extraordinarily proud of her son. Craig was also the best brother any sister could dream of having.
Craig loved the UW Badgers, Bucky, old black & white movies, a great
meal, a race well run and even the race he was winning until he forgot
where the finish line was so just kept running. He loved the simpler
things in life, which are often the very best life has to offer, and
he held close all the people he shared special moments with throughout the years.
Recently, Craig was especially happy…a contented man. He was seemingly in great shape, he was running, work was challenging and fun, his kids
were doing well and he had someone special to share it with.
The day before he died may have been just about perfect. Craig started
his day with a 5K in Boca Raton and finished second in his age group
before going to the job he loved. When he got off work, he drove to
his girlfriend Amy’s home, as he did every Monday night, and they went
to a favorite restaurant, cracking up during dinner after Amy did a spot
on imitation of him. When they got home, Craig put on the American
Movie Channel, as he did most nights, and settled in to watch “Bridge
Over the River Kwai” one more time. Amy decided to go to bed and when
she glanced back to say goodnight, Craig was watching his movie with
her dog on his lap. Later that evening, he decided it was time to go to bed…


Craig is survived by his children, Alyson Kathryn and Eric Robert
Ernest and their mother, Ellen Rosener Stanke; by his sister, Kristin
“Krissy” Erickson (Michael Baek) and his nephews, Sean Michael and
Brady Ernest; by his girlfriend, Amy Eisenstadt; by his step-brother,
John Stanke, his niece, Jenna, his step-sister, Sarah (MaryEllen)
Stanke, his niece, Erica, his cousins, Jim, Jeff, Joel and Jay Nania
and their families. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ann and
Ernest Stanke; by his birthfather, Donn Weiss; by his aunt and uncle,
Virginia Nania and Gene Calhoun and by his cousin, John Nania.
The family requests that no flowers be sent.
A celebration of Craig’s life will take place on Saturday, June 9 at
Runyon’s Restaurant, 9810 West Sample Rd., Coral Springs, FL from 1-5
p.m.
Journalism scholarships in Craig’s name will be established in two
locations: the University of Wisconsin-Madison Journalism School,
5115 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706 and J.P. Taravella
High School, 10600 Riverside Drive, Coral Springs, FL 33071; please
note contributions to either location are for the Craig Stanke
Scholarship Fund.
Other memorials or notes of condolence may be sent to: Alyson and Eric
Stanke, 160 NW 118th Drive, Coral Springs, FL 33071.

 

I'm Krissy, Craig Stanke's sister, and I live in Madison, WI. Amy, Craig's terrific girlfriend,told me about this site. It is remarkably well done and the tributes all of you have written about my brother have been incredibly moving. If Craig had the opportunity to read them he would have thought all of you were talking about someone else and want to meet the guy.
Writing Craig's obituary is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Thank goodness for Amy's help editing my "stream of consciousness” version at 5 a.m. so we could meet the deadline. The most help, however, came from posts like the ones you wrote; they proved definitively what I've known in my heart since I was little: My brother was a hero. My love and thanks to you all.