Above all else, Frisk became a truly good friend

I've been covering high school sports in this area for over 30 years.

But never did I treat this more as a passion than a job until I met Bob Frisk some 13 years ago.

When I came to the Daily Herald as an independent contractor in 1995, I was well aware of Bob's reputation as a high school sports expert.

What I didn't know at that time was just how passionate he was about his "job".

I found out in a hurry at the first all-area basketball banquet I attended in the winter of 1996. Back then the Fox Valley didn't have its own banquet, nor did Lake County, so Cook County, Lake County and the Fox Valley were all lumped into one. That was the year Stevenson beat Elgin for the Class AA state girls basketball championship.

I'll never forget how Bob treated the girls on those two teams as equals at that banquet.

And I'll never forget the things I've learned from Bob about this "job". From the time I took over my current position in 1997 right through reading Bob's final column today, things like balance and fairness always stood out. And things like compassion; things like not exploiting the high school athlete who makes a mistake; things like making sure names are spelled right because people really do care about that; things like looking for the good in high school sports and not the bad.

Yes, this man who is retiring from the Daily Herald after 50 years of service to the newspaper and the high school sports community is more than just a stellar advocate of high school sports. He has become my friend and mentor. I've had a lot of people teach me the ropes of this business over the years but I've never had one do it with such friendliness and such compassion as Bob Frisk.

And I'm far from the only one who respects this gentleman, who truly is a journalistic icon.

"There's no doubt that no one exemplifies high school sports more than him," said retired Dundee-Crown girls basketball coach Joe Komaromy, who was always excited to see Bob make his annual trip or two to D-C's Charger Classic Christmas tournament, an event Bob was instrumental in helping the Daily Herald become a title sponsor of.

"When you read Bob's articles you always knew he was writing from the heart," Komaromy said. "And, he gets his point across. We cut a lot of his articles out and pass them out to the kids. No one exemplifies the way high school sports should be like he does. He just does an outstanding job."

We get all kinds of e-mails and other communication from coaches and readers about things that are in the paper and online every day. Since the Daily Herald came to the Fox Valley in 1995, many of those e-mails came from Hampshire girls basketball coach Sue Ellett, who would comment often on the profound effect Bob's writing had on her as a coach and, in turn, the athletes she coaches.

"The best thing is that he was so sincere in everything he wrote," Ellett said. "He puts everything in perspective and keeps things grounded. Anytime I would get done reading something he wrote I was upbeat and I wanted to share the things he wrote. He wrote things to live by that were always very timely. Just when you thought parents were getting out of control he'd have a column on the subject. He'd always find the right time to write about a subject."

Bob was never one to shy away from issues, but instead of expanding on the negative he had a wonderful way of offering solutions to negatives to turn them into positives.

"He was never shy to tackle some subjects that are out there," Komaromy said. "But he's always tactful and he always makes people understand all sides. There's nobody that does a better job than him at that."

Another niche of Bob's over the years was his duties at Daily Herald All-Area banquets. He'd always joke about being on the "rubber chicken" circuit but trust me, Bob just loved our banquets, and it will be an emotional night for me, our staff and everyone who knows Bob on Dec. 14 when he takes the podium for the final time at a Fox Valley all-area banquet.

"You could always tell that he sincerely enjoyed the interaction at the banquets with the kids and the parents," Ellett said.

And, from the day I met him, I knew how passionate Bob was about high school sports - not the Cubs or the Bears or the Bulls or any other pro or college team. His love, his work, his passion was for high school sports, period.

"You never got the feeling that he was using his job as a steppingstone to something else," Ellett remarked. "You could always tell he was happy and content doing what he was doing. You have to respect people who write that way."

On a personal level, above all, Bob became my friend. He never failed to make a trip out to the Elgin Sports Complex in July to watch a game or two at a Lightning softball tournament. Before my dad passed away in 2004, he would attend all-area banquets with me and Bob never failed to acknowledge his presence publicly, nor did he ever fail to take the time to chat and ask "Mr. Radtke" how the Lightning was going to be that coming summer. When my dad passed away, the most comforting words I heard came from Bob.

Sports writers are a rare breed. We're just people, but people who get put on a pedestal of sorts because of what we do. Most of us love what we do and don't think of it as much as a job as a passion and a mission of sorts. Many of us relive our high school days through our jobs. But the one thing that stands out about how the Daily Herald covers high school sports is our concrete philosophy of presenting high school athletes in the most positive light possible.

That philosophy came from Bob Frisk and will remain at this newspaper long after Bob's desk is cleaned out.

There are so many things that can be said about Bob and his career at the Daily Herald, these pages are not sufficient to mention them all. So we'll end with this:

"There's a lot of good sports writers out there," Komaromy said, "but there's none better than Bob Frisk."

No better sports writer, no better mentor, and no better friend.

Enjoy retirement Bob. But always know you will never be far from the hearts of myself and many many more.