Sorry to hear about Bob Willis

[jottings]

Bob Willis, the "Voice of the Golden Rockets" and other SEOAL teams for more than a half-century passed away last Friday. Sorry to hear about that. Bob was a great person. Was one of the original SEOAL sportswriters when the association was formed in 1949.

He, Tom Metters, Steve Ebert, myself and a bunch of others always attended state tournament games in Columbus. Bob was 83 years old. His funeral was today in Wellston.

[jottings]

Glad to be back on SEOPS. Man, what a long five or six days.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Actually, Jottings, it was four days since SEOPS site was last up.

Here was the report on Bob Willis for yesterday's (Tuesday's) Times-Journal.

Bob Willis was a great man, loved sports and will be missed.

Enjoy.


Longtime area sports media icon Willis passes

By PAUL BOGGS

Sports Editor

WELLSTON — Bob Willis was indeed a jack-of-all-trades.

But, perhaps he will be remembered best as one of Southeastern Ohio’s biggest sports media icons.

Willis — a member of the Wellston High School Athletic Hall of Fame — passed away on Friday at the age of 83.

Willis was a former two-term Jackson County Commissioner and active in the Republican Party, and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the First National Bank of Wellston until recently.

He was also involved in numerous civic organizations.

But Willis — a 1946 graduate of Wellston High School and 1950 graduate of Dennison University — will always be best known for his love of sports, which was highlighted with his morning radio show of 27 years.

Up until Dec. 17 of last year, The Bob Willis Sports Show was the 7:30 a.m. Monday thru Friday fixture on 96.7 FM WKOV.

Willis and co-host John Pelletier spent the mornings discussing local, statewide and national sports, focusing primarily on all three Jackson County school districts and Vinton County.

Among his favorite topics outside of the area were golf, harness racing, the Ohio State Buckeyes and Cincinnati Reds baseball.

Pelletier talked about his “mentor and dear friend.”

“It was over 27 years ago that Bob and I started The Bob Willis Sports Show. Bob would be the first to tell you that he enjoyed talking about sports, but he loved to talk about local sports,” said Pelletier. “He loved to watch and be an active part of local sports. On the show, he used every opportunity he could to talk about our young athletes, no matter what school uniform they wore.”

Willis would also utilize his show to connect the present to the past.

“My fondest memories of The Bob Willis Sports Show are the times Bob would share his stories of times gone by,” said Pelletier. “He had this wonderful way of dusting off the often-forgotten events of “long ago” and making them come to life…one more time.”

Willis was an announcer for his beloved Wellston Golden Rockets, and authored “Sportscope” in The Telegram for many years.

Wellston High School Athletic Director Jeff Hendershott spoke similar of Willis, as the two served on Wellston’s Athletic Hall of Fame committee.

“It was very sad to hear about Bob’s passing. Bob was a great man and a good friend and will certainly be missed. I loved talking sports with him. What I always admired about Bob was his memory and recollection of past games and athletes,” said Hendershott. “He was on our Hall of Fame committee, and he could always provide great detail about older athletes that the rest of us in the room had never seen play.”

Willis was inducted into the WHS HOF in 1998, for all of his contributions to Wellston athletics over the years.

He also covered the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League when Wellston was a member of that conference.

SEOAL sportswriter, historian and Jackson Mayor Randy Heath held Willis in high regard, as Heath remains the play-by-play voice of the Jackson High School girls and boys basketball teams.

“My first-ever radio broadcast was as a statistician for Bob Willis as a play-by-play announcer. So I will always very fondly remember that moment. But as much as Bob loved sports and loved Wellston, I think most of all he loved young people and seeing them succeed,” said Heath. “Whether it was a biddy league basketball player, or a high school all-star, he just enjoyed young people succeeding. I think that is what I will treasure most from our relationship.”

An avid golfer, Willis was a member of Fairgreens Country Club, where he organized the Fairgreens Rotary Senior Golf Tournament.

He also coached Little League baseball in Wellston, and attended the “Little Brown Jug” harness horse racing event in Delaware (Ohio) for 50 years.

Hendershott hopes “to recognize all the good Bob did for WHS at a football game this fall.”

“On behalf of the Wellston Athletic Department, our condolences go out to Bob’s family and friends,” he said.

Willis was the latest prominent Wellston sports figure to pass away within the past four years.

Former football coach Bob Brennan and announcer Bob Walton both died in 2007, and longtime boys basketball coach Jim Derrow died unexpectedly on May 16.

Willis is survived by his wife Pat and five children.

Calling hours will be held today (Tuesday) from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the McWilliams Funeral Home in Wellston.

Funeral services will be Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the McWilliams Funeral Home with Pelletier, Pastor Dave Roach and Diaconal Minister Janie Karl officiating.

Burial will follow in Wellston’s Ridgewood Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family would greatly appreciate memorial contributions be given to the Robert Willis Scholarship Fund, c/o The First National Bank of Wellston, 101 East “A” Street, Wellston, Ohio 45692 or 590 East Main Street, Jackson, Ohio, 45640.

sports@timesjournal.com

[JohnKnight]

Very nice job, Mr. Boggs.

[camnott]

I've known Bob for over 40 years and he was a genuine person who always had time to say hello and had a passion for sports like no other that I have known. He was a great PeeWee baseball coach in Wellston back in the 60'S and I for one was a better person and player having played for him.
My condolences.
He will be missed!

[noreply66]

Great guy

[JohnKnight]

He will be missed!

[loganlocos]

Had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Willis about a dozen times in my life and always came away thinking what an outstanding man he was. One of the great writers in the history of the SEOAL.

Wellston was lucky to have such an outstanding individual!

[sportfolio]

I add my condolence on the passing of Bob Willis. As a sportswriter for the Athens Messemgeer, I had the opportunity to see and work with Bob over a long span. He will be missed.

[WitnessProtection]

I met Bob when I was working as the sports information director at the Univ. of Rio Grande (1995-99). He and John had me on the sports show a couple of times during that time. We crossed paths a few more times when I was working in newspaper a few years later. I always enjoyed chatting with him whenever we met. Condolences to his family during this time of grief.

[boy of summer]

Bob Willis was a great human being. My family and I went many places and to many sporting events with him. He was the most positive human being that I ever met. A little known fact about Bob is that he was Woody Hayes's manager when Woody coached at Denison. I am sure that he and my dad are watching a game somewhere in heaven right now or to paraphrase Ernie Banks Bob probably said "Let's watch two!". God bless him and his family.