Farewell To A Mentor, Friend

One of my contacts in the Fox Valley, Stevie Wonder, emailed this week with sad news for me. The passing of Dave Grey in Oshkosh at the age of 78.

Dave was the sports editor at the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern who hired a high school sophomore in the summer of 1969 to be a sports stringer, covering Wautoma High School sports and sending the stories in by teletype.

Dave was my mentor, my friend and absolutely the best sports editor I worked with -- and I worked with five while at the ODN. He went from the sports desk to City Editor, Business Editor and other positions in his long career with the Northwestern, joining the paper out of college at was then Wisconsin State University-Oshkosh.

As a mentor, he took the time to go over stories I would write for the experience, providing notes and edits. I would, from time to time, get up at 5 a.m. to make the 45-minute drive to get to the ODN sports desk by 6:30 on a Saturday morning to work and learn from him, Stew Reickman and Bob Knaak. He offered me a chance to stay as a stringer when I went to college in Oshkosh. Many Friday nights during the high school football and basketball seasons, we would work late getting a start on the Saturday paper, then hustle over to the dive bar across the street to have a beer or two before closing time.

Great newspaper man, great friend. I'm sure he'll be missed by many. RIP Dave.

As a stockholder in the Green Bay Packers, I know my voice carries no more power than many others when it comes to the team.

But I'm sure a vast majority in PackerNation will agree with me. Joe Barry has got to go!

His defensive schemes and play calling are just awful. Green Bay is 6-8 after getting torched by Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield, 34-20. This on the heels of a late-game collapse against the New York Giants on Monday. Hell, go over the schedule and it's easy to think the Pack could be (should be) 11-3 or at least 9-5.

Have to let Barry finish out the season, though. Doesn't look like there's anybody on the staff that could step in.

Hope the team has Jimmy Leonard on speed-dial in Green Bay!

Kevin Rhode, who was a three-sport star at Neenah High School, is cheering for Virginia these days. His son, Andrew, is a sophomore  6-foot 6-inch starting guard for Tony Bennett's basketball team, averaging 6 points a game. The younger Rhode played his high school ball at Brookfield and was a starter for St. Thomas-Minnesota last season.