Imrem: Spellman truly a man of the people
This one really makes no sense.
Of course, there always are reasons: Family history, cigarettes, something else.
But shock supersedes sense here: Daily Herald do-it-all sports writer Mike Spellman died at age 50 on Tuesday.
Wednesday morning I browsed the front page of our sports section at about 9:30.
Up top was the headline, “Step in right direction” about the Blackhawks' victory. Surprisingly, the story came from the Associated Press.
Spellman had been doing the Hawks for us. He took over the beat late last season after longtime hockey writer Tim Sassone died.
So, why wasn't Mike Spellman at the Hawks' game? He did so much for this sports department, maybe he needed a day off.
Then there it was on Facebook, posted at 9:40 a.m. … Mike Spellman had died.
Seriously, this made no sense.
Tim Sassone's death was a shocker but he had suffered a variety of illnesses during the previous few years.
Mike Spellman? As far as anyone knew, he was in good shape. If he missed the Hawks-Coyotes game he must have been a healthy scratch.
Over the years, Mike did a lot of horse racing for us. He did a lot of golf for us. He did a lot of everything for us, inside and outside of the office.
I can't tell you how many readers would mention to me how often they laughed out loud at the one-liners Spellman wrote in his Bears' and weekly bits columns.
So if Mike Spellman missed the Hawks' game, the paper must have had something more important for him to do because he did so many important things for us.
Now Mike is dead. He was found at home Tuesday night. He was supposed to be at the Hawks' game and nobody had seen him or heard from him.
That didn't make sense either because he always was where he was supposed to be.
Mike Spellman dying defines what we always say about every single one of us being day to day, that we better cherish every minute we have here, that nothing is guaranteed to anyone.
I hadn't seen much of Mike lately because the Bears occupied much of my time and the Blackhawks could wait until whenever.
As fate would have it, on Sunday night I attended my first hockey game of the season.
Oh how sadly glad I am about that. It gave me a chance to sit next to Spellman in the press box one last time. Just as Tim used to, Mike helped me with the hockey details I missed.
More than that, we joked around. That's what we did a lot. We exchanged pithy comments, his always being funnier than mine.
Then, what, three days later, Mike Spellman is dead?
This makes no sense.
When you took time to stand back and watch Mike at a hockey game, at the track, at the golf course, especially in the office …
Well, you couldn't help but notice how many people he connected with on a personal basis.
I took note of that again at that last Hawks' game we spent together. Mike would be laughing with someone over here and then someone else over there, and I had to wonder how he came to know all of them all that well.
But that was the essence of Mike Spellman. He was a people person's people person.
Now all of us people who were blessed to know this person have a big hole in our hearts and a bigger void in our lives.
Mike Spellman died at 50?
Honestly, there's no way to make any sense of this.
mimrem@dailyherald.com