#Sentinel tribune jerry city ohio professional#

I know he cares about me and everybody here. John Paxson is one of the highest-character human beings that I know. We got him for $50,000 more than 30 years ago. It’s just a shame that his elbow seemed to hit people inadvertently.” I saw Horace last year at a fundraiser and said, ‘I’m not mad at you anymore.’ He said, ‘My bad.’ He and I shook hands on a contract and then he denied it. You have to say he was extremely smart at what he did. Then, there was the public side and he was incredibly competitive. But he was so shy that if he sat and talked to you, he couldn’t look you in the eye. You had to make sure he got there on time. There was the Dennis Rodman you knew in private, who was actually shy and just wanted to be one of the guys and practice hard. He’s a very, very interesting person because there were two Dennis Rodmans. When he came here, he was as unsophisticated a person that I ever had met. He came out of this modest background of 12 kids and his father was an invalid (affected by a stroke). He probably grew more than any player I’ve known. Because you had to kill LaMotta to beat him. I once said to Michael, ‘You remind me of (boxer) Jake LaMotta.’ And Michael said, ‘Who’s Jake LaMotta?’ I explained to him and he liked it. But he’s very smart.Īside from being the greatest basketball player that ever lived, probably the most competitive athlete that I’ve ever known. He’s so well-read and really a bit of a philosopher.

One of the greatest coaches of all-time and one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known. Levine is survived by his daughters, Marcia Levine and Beth Freed, both from Boynton Beach, and grandchildren, Pamela Klein and Michael Freed.The momentum started with Doug because Doug created a winning atmosphere.

His close friend, Willis Reed, the former center of the New York Knicks, gifted him his giant-sized jersey and shorts.Ī lifelong news aficionado, he read The Palm Beach Post, the New York Times, Miami Herald, and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel daily until his death. Levine was proud of his sports memorabilia collection, including a Joe DiMaggio signed baseball bat. He particularly loved his stint in 1967 at Las Vegas' Stardust Hotel and then at the PBA and his move to Akron, Ohio with Millie, his beloved wife of 40 years. With many in the industry unemployed, Levine turned to public relations and spent the next 30 years working for sports franchises, including the New York Knicks, and other industries. An ill-fated merger of the three papers failed a year later. Over the course of the next 20 years, Levine wrote under his own byline covering many sports including harness racing (when there were three racetracks in the New York area) boxing, tennis, golf, skiing and basketball.īy 1965, with the increasing popularity of TV, the newspaper business was in serious decline and many papers folded, including the storied Journal American, the Herald Tribune and the World Telegram. This was at a time when NYC had at least 10 major daily newspapers. Army for a congenital hip disorder, and he became a copy boy on the Sports desk at the New York Journal American.

His newspaper career started in 1942, when he was rejected by the U.S. He often was seen on ABC's 'Wide World of Sports' when bowling opened the weekly show. He later became PR director for the PBA, wrote three books about bowling, co-written with legends Billy Welu and Nelson Burton Jr., and is a member of the Bowling Writers Hall of Fame. Levine's two fingered 'hunt & peck' typing style on a Smith Corona was his trademark in a 60-year writing career that included mentoring young writers such as his lifelong friend, Jimmy Breslin.

comfortably in his bed, with the sports pages on his covers,' Marcia said. 'He smiled faintly and my sister and I knew that he was supremely content. 6.įittingly for the die-hard New York Yankees fan, the last words he heard from his daughters, Marcia Levine and Beth Freed, was that Aaron Judge had hit his 62nd home run, eclipsing Roger Maris' record.

#Sentinel tribune jerry city ohio professional#

Jerry Levine, well-known New York City sportswriter and public relations manager for the Professional Bowlers' Association, died from natural causes at his home in Boynton Beach on Oct.