Drew Sharp, longtime Detroit sports columnist, dies at 56

DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Free Press says sports columnist Drew Sharp has died. He was 56.

The newspaper says Sharp died at his home Friday in Bloomfield Hills, a Detroit suburb. The cause was hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

Sharp spent decades at the Free Press, joining the paper as a sports writer in 1983. His wife, Karen Sharp says her husband "loved his job more than anything."

When he was named a columnist in 1999, Sharp told readers that his job wasn't to "blindly lead cheers" or simply "slam" people from his perch. He said he had a responsibility to "raise questions and express doubts."

His last column this week was about Michigan State's basketball team.

Sharp covered the Detroit Pistons for years before becoming a columnist. The team expressed its condolences.