Ron Drogo, (spnited), RIP

As curmudgeonly as Ron could be on some of the sports and news threads (and he and I got into the occasional scrap, though I don't think either of us ever took it personally), his passion truly came out on this board. Reading his posts on journalism topics made me greatly respect him, his work ethic, his passion for the business. Certainly would be the sort of guy I'd like to work for. He'll be missed.

 

I see his only survivor is his sister. I'm sure his calling hours will be well attended but I wish I could blow off my family's vacation this week and go.
I'm sure Ron is reading this somewhere and knows he was loved and respected here.
I'm still stunned.

 

We need a best of Spnited thread, his greatest hits. This has become an online wake.

 

Sirs, Madames,

Met him at the Toronto outing. He was a gas. Old-school. Wouldn't have been out of place in The Front Page. I regret not getting to know him better--we exchanged a couple of messages about different things. Great to have met him. I had a picture from the Toronto outing, I'll see if I can find it. It was Ron laughing in a sort of lascivious slighly tipsy way. How I'll remember him.

YHS, etc

 

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/posts/662357/

 

NIPPLEGATE ALERT!!! ;D

That was indeed a marvelous trip. Crashing with Ron and talking with him was a privilege as well as one of the many highlights.

 

I had spent a good portion of last night thinking about a response to an spnited post, because the points he raised -- and the stubbornness with which he would hold his position -- often required the other person to put in that kind of extra time and effort. So I can certainly understand the testimonials about him as an editor.

RIP.

 

That's a great point, and I agree.

 

This thread certainly shows the power of the Internet and this message board. I didn't know Ron but I enjoyed his postings on here and some of the back-and-forth. RIP and condolences to everyone who did know him, in person or just in cyberspace.

 

Many years ago (2005?), I inquired about what his handle meant and he told me. I then met Ron in Toronto and asked if it's ok if I called him SPIT-NID ... he said that was fine, after murmuring some cuss words after it. So all through our trip in Cleveland, I called him SPIT-NID. When we parted, he gave me a big hug and said he liked that I had come up with my own name for him. He really was a grizzly old man with a warm heart.

 

Jones' blog post today, Rules of the Press Box, is in honor of Ron:

http://sonofboldventure.blogspot.com/2011/02/press-box-rules.html