CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When I was a young writer, I admired Frank DeFord.
His profiles in Sports Illustrated were superb. DeFord also was in his prime when sportswriters ruled the media, which was before the middle 1980s.
DeFord died Tuesday at the age of 78.
That made me think of Hal Lebovitz.
And Chuck Heaton.
And Bob August.
And Dan Coughlin.
And so many of the Northeast Ohio sportswriters from years ago.
While Deford and Dick Schaap and Roger Kahn were important on the national stage, it's the local guys who sang to me each day in the paper.