Were you a Cronkite-man or a Chancellor-man?

Dennis Kauff was a Cronkite man.

His goal was to work with Walter Cronkite.

And then replace him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do either.

In 1985, 10 years after we worked together on a college radio station, Dennis was killed by a drunken driver.

At the time of the accident, he was only 32 years old and stepping fast up the broadcast news ladder. He was working as an on-air TV reporter at WBZ-TV in Boston, where the accident happened.

Denny was the news director at Michigan State University radio when I met him in 1973. You learned quickly that he was a disciple of Walter Cronkite by his no-nonsense style, superb writing, reporting skills and quick wit.

Working as a CBS News correspondent was Dennis' dream job and I have no doubt that he would have become one of the network's most decorated reporters.

His New York accent was as thick as his mop of curly hair, so I'm not sure he would have been anchor material in the generic, blow-dried era.

But he was a Cronkite man, through and through.

He and I grew up during a time when there were only two kinds of TV news viewers. You were either a Cronkite man or you weren't.

That was an era when you could refer to everyone, man or woman, as "man" and not be sued, scorned or strung up. Camel man, martini man, fraternity man, leg man, etc.

Those who weren't Cronkite men were Huntley-Brinkley men.

Only three TV networks existed back then in the '60s and into the '70s. Walter Cronkite dominated on CBS, earning him the title "Most Trusted Man in America."

After Chet Huntley died, NBC went with John Chancellor. He developed a following, but Chancellor men were mostly brainy, East Coast-bred types who spent summers in the Hamptons.

ABC, the third network, went with various anchors including Peter Jennings (at age 26), Harry Reasoner, Howard K. Smith, Barbara Walters and Frank Reynolds.

But nobody could compete with Cronkite.

When he ended each newscast by telling Americans "That's the way it is," they believed him -even though there was no way in a half-hour newscast that a complete report of the way it was could ever be told.

It is true that Cronkite was surrounded by an impressive, global team of news gatherers. They made him look very, very good.

In many ways, the network TV reporting of the '60s and '70s was far more informed than it is today. CBS had bureaus in dozens of cities around the world, staffed by correspondents, producers and camera crews that actually lived there and developed personal sources of information that produced credible, first-generation reporting.

"Walter Cronkite and Michael Jackson will be remembered for two very different moonwalks," said former WLS radio news director Steve Scott, who is now anchoring at CBS' flagship station in New York, WCBS.

The comparisons between the two icons ended when it was announced Cronkite's funeral on Thursday would be private.

Scott was among those who responded to my Facebook call for some memories of Cronkite.

"I was only 2 when JFK was assassinated, but I was 7 when the Eagle landed. I remember watching it on TV from my aunt's house. I probably even said, 'Oh Boy!' like Mr. Cronkite did," Steve wrote.

"Did Mr. Cronkite inspire me to become a broadcast journalist? Probably not, but the body of his work inspired me to do better once I chose that profession. That I now work in the same building and walk the same halls where Mr. Cronkite toiled for so many years is kind of mind-boggling."

Miriam Solon of Chicago told me that Cronkite "joined CBS the year I was born, so I didn't really relate to him much at all 'til he stood up to LBJ on the matter of Vietnam. That was breathtaking."

David Dolkart of Chicago put it well: "From 1963 on, he explained what was happening and why: assimilations, Vietnam and Watergate to space orbits and landings, my eyes were glued to his words."

From viewers to reporters and anchors, there are still a lot of Cronkite men and women out there. I wish my friend Dennis Kauff was still alive today to reflect on the passing of his mentor.

Boston University presented an annual "Dennis Kauff Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcast Journalism." The late Tim Russert received it. So did Tom Brokaw, Leslie Stahl and the late John Chancellor.

Walter Cronkite never did, but I'm not sure why - although Dennis certainly would have found Cronkite overqualified for an award in his name.

After my generation, there won't be any more Cronkite men. And I don't see any replacements on the horizon.

"He's a Twitter man" just doesn't cut it.

• Chuck Goudie, whose column appears each Monday, is the chief investigative reporter at ABC 7 News in Chicago. The views in this column are his own and not those of WLS-TV. He can be reached by e-mail at chuckgoudie@gmail.com and followed at twitter.com/ChuckGoudie