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So long, Joe Lyou
Bowling has lost a treasure. Long-time bowling writer Joe Lyou of Santa Paula, Calif., suffered a massive stroke and never woke up. He died on March 24 at the age of 88.
As he approached the end of his long, colorful and highly productive life, Joe had the good sense to write his own obituary. His close friend Dick Evans did the same, promising each other they’d make the other’s obit available upon the other’s death. Dick passed Joe’s obit along. It is printed below, followed by a partial list of tributes paid by his countless friends:
BIG JOE'S OBIT
Headline and Story Written By Joe Lyou
The country's No. 1 Korean bowling writer is no more. Joe Lyou, who wrote about bowlers and bowling for more than 50 years, died peacefully in his sleep (hopefully!). He was 101 (hopefully!).
Lyou was a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he majored in journalism (class of 1949). He always said that he was able to attend USC - along with 19,000 other World War II veterans - because of the G.I. Bill.
The native Angeleno began his newspaper career at the Los Angeles Mirror as a copyboy in 1950. When an opening occurred in the sports department, the job was offered to Lyou, who jumped at the opportunity since he was a huge sports fan.
A prolific writer, Lyou covered a variety of sports at The Mirror, including boxing and hunting and fishing. His favorite beat, however, was writing about the sport of bowling. He continued to write two bowling columns every week until The Mirror (then The Mirror-News) closed on Jan. 5, 1962.
A generous financial severance pay arrangement enabled Lyou to pack up his family and move to Hawaii. After almost two years, when the severance money began to run out, the Lyou family caught a boat back to the mainland.
In 1964, Lyou was offered a sales position at AMF. He was with the company until 1967, when he left to join the California Bowling News as its managing editor. Five years later, Lyou went to work for Publisher Alan (Ol’ Knobby Knees) Post at the Pacific Bowler, lured by the promise of eventual ownership.
Lyou purchased the Pacific Bowler in 1977. He was the editor and publisher until 1988, when he sold the popular tenpin tabloid to his managing editor, R.F. Corderman (and his wife, Berdalee), and retired.
For the next 15 years, Lyou continued to write his “Tenpin Slants” column, which ran regularly in Red Pfeiffer’s Bowling World (now owned by Donna Hazel) and occasionally in the Pacific Bowler. (EDITOR'S NOTE: after Joe purchased a computer he started writing monthly bowling columns that appeared in many bowling publication plus the international web site www.BowlingDigital).
Lyou, a longtime member of the Bowling Writers Association of America, was always delighted when his three Hall of Fame colleagues - Dick Evans, John Jowdy and Chuck Pezzano - would introduce him to their friends as “the country's No. 1 Korean bowling writer.” The inside joke was that there were no other Korean bowling writers.
The recipient of several tenpin honors, Lyou was proudest of the Mort Luby Sr. (Hall of Fame) Award - the BWAA’s highest honor - and the National Flowers for the Living Award. Lyou, a past two-time president of the Southern California Bowling Writers Association, was a member of the SoCal Men’s Bowling Hall of Fame and the Southeast District Bowling Association Hall of Fame, both for meritorious service.
Lyou is survived by his daughter Tracy, a son Dr. Joseph Keith (Lorraine) Lyou, and five grandchildren. A member of the Neptune Society, Lyou will be cremated and his ashes scattered at sea, as were those of his wife, Heidi, who died in 1993. At his request, no funeral services were to be conducted.
In memory of Joe Lyou
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Many of the tributes have been edited for brevity in order to include as many as possible. Chuck Pezzano, who does BWAA’s annual memorial tribute, will have a great deal more to say about Joe at the BWAA Annual Meeting in June).
From Dick Evans:
“(The obit above) was brevity from a superb journalist who lived a full 88 years.
“He was one of bowling's best writers and possibly the best editor in the bowling business, in my opinion.
“Joe and I shared a love for betting on thoroughbreds and trying to pick football winners in Las Vegas or Reno and even once in Laughlin. He was good at it, like he was at everything else he did in life.
“I marveled at his ability to dissect the Daily Racing Form and his astute knowledge of how and when to bet. He always was shooting for the big payoffs while I was happy just to have a 2-1 favorite win for me.
“During our last visit together at the Golden Ladies Classic in Las Vegas, we again shared a room and ate all our meals together. This time we got to talking about his war experiences and he told me he was shipped over to England in early 1943, fought his way across Europe and arrived in New York City on Dec. 7, 1945.
“He loved bowling but hated high scores. He defended his friends with fierce loyalty and seldom if ever said an unkind word about anyone.
“He would travel all across California and Nevada to attend bowling tournaments and was especially was fond of watching the women pro bowlers.
“But he often joked that he never traveled east of the Mississippi to attend a bowling function although I saw him several years when the Firestone Tournament of Champions was held in Akron, Ohio.
“Joe was a generous man. He told me once the U.S. government sent his late wife Heidi, who died 17 years ago, a check for $20,000 as compensation for being sent to the Japanese camps as a child during World War II. When Heidi died – despite the fact that that money would have made his own life easier – Joe sent checks for $10,000 to each of her children.
“I urge anyone who enjoyed a better life because they knew Joe Lyou to read the moving tribute to him by Bob Johnson, now editor of Bowlers Journal International but as a young, young man a protege of Joe Lyou. (See Bob Johnson’s tribute at the end of the industry tribute)
“Joe Lyou will be missed.”
From Chuck Pezzano:
“I knew Joe Lyou almost forever…I’ll remember Joe Lyou forever and a day.
“He was 88. That’s the calendar age, but he was 18 in enthusiasm and 108 in knowledge, wisdom and experience…
“…Joe had friends around the world who mourn his passing. He lived a long and valuable life. How do you say goodbye? You don’t, because in so many ways he’ll always be there.”
From Bill Supper, IBPSIA Executive Director
“Joe is one of the most wonderful gentlemen in the bowling industry. I have been around our industry for many, many years and I can honestly say I have never heard anyone say a derogatory or unkind word about him."
From Joan Feinblum:
“He was such a special person who loved bowling. He was so kind. He also was so interested in furthering Women's Bowling."
From WIBC Hall of Famer Vesma Grinfelds:
“I just don't believe it......I am so very sad. Can we just put life in reverse back to last week in the sport's book where we all were together laughing?"
From Mike Monyak, South Point Bowling Center, Las Vegas:
" Not much to add other then Joe was just a wonderful kind of guy that I wish there were a lot more of!!!"
From Fran Deken:
"I thank God that I got to see him last week. Joe was truly a very special person."
From Hazel McLeary:
“Joe was one of those who you almost think will live forever.
“I will always remember how pleased he was when I told him that Dick Evans thought he was 'one of the best' and the nice note he sent when he accepted the assignment as chair of the Critique committee because how much he thought of me or words to that affect.
“I'm more sad than ever than I didn't make the Golden Ladies tournament and didn't get a chance to spend some time with him."
From Brenda Jowdy:
“Joe got to leave this earth in the most easy way....it's normal to be weepy and sad, but it is not good to linger on it too long; Joe would want us to celebrate his life and his loves and friendships. Bob Johnson's tribute told me so much that I never knew about Joe.
“I am still weepy today, John, too. It does help to know about what a full life he had here, and now on to even a fuller life.”
From Herbert Bickel:
“I am very sad about Joe's death. He was one of the nicest guys I have ever met in our sport and in the business. I will always remember the Mini-Eliminator week two years ago when we had breakfast together every morning. It was an honor for me to sit at the table of three (Lyou, Jowdy, Evans) of the greatest bowling writers .... and it was fun to hear all the stories that you could tell.”
From Lydia Rypcinski:
“I'm sure the angels welcomed Joe's gentle soul this morning with wide-open arms. Mr. Lyou, 88 years just weren't enough for those who knew and cared for you. We will miss you terribly.”
From Elaine Hagin:
“Joe was one in a million and this truly is a sad day to know he no longer will be with us. Joe and I served on many committees together over the years and he always expressed his great affection for our bowlers, especially the women pros. He never had a mean word to say about anyone. What a gentleman.
“My deepest sympathy and prayers to the Lyou family and to his good friends Dick Evans, Chuck Pezzano and John and Brenda Jowdy. We will all miss him greatly and know that he will have the blessing of God's eternal peace.”
From Don Wright:
“What sad news. Joe was a wonderful guy that I met through the BWAA several years ago. We had several conversations and I found him to be a great conversationalist and very humble man.
My thoughts and prayers are with his family,”
From Hall of Famer Robin Romeo:
“To the family of Joe Lyou,
“I am so sad to hear of the passing your father and grandfather. He always said I was his adopted daughter, and he my adapted father. Joe was considered family to the Romeo's
and he always was invited to any family functions and he attended.
“When I turned "50" last June, I invited him to my party, and he said that he would not miss that for the world. I was deeply honored that he was there. Joe was the nicest man I had ever met and a very proud father.
“I will always have a special place in my heart for him, and will picture him standing behind me when I am bowling. Joe was my biggest fan.
“To Joe - my next tournament win will be dedicated to you!!! I love You, and will miss you!!!”
From Len Nicholson:
“Starting (March 26), Phantom Radio is dedicated to Joe. ANYONE who ever knew Joe, will miss him.”
From Peggy Elias (widow of the late Eddie Elias):
“My thanks to Dick Evans for writing the comforting article about everyone's friend, Joe. What wonderful insight about an outstanding man who touched so many in his own inevitable way. He has left a great legacy for his family, for the ones who loved and respected him for everything he achieved in his life.”
From Bill Vint:
“I am one of thousands who greatly admired Joe Lyou as a great person, and as one of the most talented members of our bowling writers’ family. I feel very fortunate to have known the man. He never knew this, but on a personal level, I always hoped I could measure up to the standards he set.”
From John Jowdy:
“Ironically, Joe is getting more praise in death than he ever got when he was alive. He always had a bit of a chip on his shoulder because he thought some people didn’t respect or appreciate him because he was Asian, even though he was born in Los Angeles and was American to the bone. For me, it’s sad that Joe will never see all of these kinds words to realize how wrong he was.”
From Jim Goodwin:
Joe Lyou...proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that the good don’t always die young. The former editor and owner of the Pacific Bowler newspaper and friend to hundreds in the industry was 88. He lived a long, interesting, and productive life. If measured in terms of friendships, he was the king of bowling.
Joe’s "Ten Pin Slants" column, a cute title he dreamed up to reflect his Korean heritage, has appeared in many (bowling) papers. We will truly miss his optimistic view of the sport and industry.
Joe’s buddies were John Jowdy, Dick Evans, and Chuck Pezzano. We called them the "Four Amigos" because they were always together at bowling events. Joe was the quiet one, always polite, always the first to offer a handshake and a pleasant greeting. He never sought attention or recognition for his excellent work or kind words.
Joe not only had a wonderful, kind spirit, he was perhaps the most compassionate person I ever met. When Dick Stoeffler was suffering with cancer in his last days, Joe went out of his way to visit him at his Las Vegas home. When he won the "Flowers for the Living Award" in 1987, he humbly accepted.
Now there are only "Three Amigos" – and they will carry on, but they will never forget t heir kind and gentle friend. Nor will we.
From Bob Johnson:
No BWAA member had the personal relationship with Joe Lyou that his protégé Bowlers Journal International Editor Bob Johnson had. Here is Bob’s touching tribute to Joe:
I’m not much for coveting awards or even recognition. But I must admit that when it came to the BWAA’s Hall of Fame Award — the award formerly known as the Mort Luby Sr. Award — I secretly hoped I’d get it sooner rather than later. The reason: I wanted Joe Lyou to see me receive it.
Now, with Joe’s passing on Thursday, March 20, 2008, that won’t happen.
Joe Lyou was more than a mentor to me. Much more. He hired me when I was 15 years old — not yet old enough to drive — to assist him in putting out the Pacific Bowler newspaper. Three days per week — Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays — my Dad would pick me up after
school and drive me 13 miles to the Pacific Bowler office. Then around 7 p.m., Dad would drive back and pick me up. Dad was happy to do it, but I’m convinced it was those three-times-per-week roundtrips that resulted in my folks buying me a car for my 16th birthday. It may have been a Ford Pinto... but it was mine.
I was honored to work with Joe for the better part of four years. It was a fantastic experience for a kid who wanted to write — and write about bowling — for a living. I was able to take the lessons taught by my high school journalism teacher — Ralph “Chuck” Stegmeir — and immediately apply them in a real-world newspaper setting.
And what a setting it was. There was a front room occupied by Pearl Stevenson, whose job it was to answer the phone, transfer calls, set type on a Compugraphic machine and handle the books. Pearl smoked, a lot, and this was the era before indoor smoking bans. Between her smoke and the smoke I inhaled while keeping score for leagues, I’m lucky to have any lung capacity at all. Pearl had a gruff exterior, but once she got to know you, you were family.
The next office space was occupied by Joe and me. We sat back-to-back at our desks, and on one of the side walls was part of the Pacific Bowler “morgue,” a wooden shelving unit that housed multiple copies of the 52 most recent issues of the PB. We’d refer to the morgue often when researching stories, etc. Older issues were kept in a file cabinet in the dark room. Joe and I would pound away on electric typewriters, edit our copy with blue pencils, and then place the pages in a box for Pearl. Yes, those were the days when most newspaper stories got typed twice.
Joe preferred the Associated Press Stylebook, while my journalism teacher preferred the United Press International Stylebook. The books were nearly identical, but I’d occasionally apply a UPI-unique style to a PB story. Joe would never say anything about it until proofreading time, which meant Pearl would have to typeset a correction line. Joe knew I’d hear about THAT from Pearl, so there was no need for him to rub it in. But that was a good way for a cub reporter to learn, and following a given publication’s prescribed style became almost an obsession for me — thanks to Joe.
The first two days of each three-day production period were devoted to gathering news on the phone, writing stories, editing copy and proofreading. The third day was paste-up day, when we’d use page “boards” made out of cardboard and printed with light blue guidelines to lay out the pages. We had Exacto knives, but being left-handed, I preferred to cut copy with a pair of left-handed scissors. The copy would then be put through the “waxer,” which applied a hot, waxy
substance to the back of the copy that made it stick to the boards. Even though I loved writing, pasting up the newspaper pages became my favorite part of the work week.
Three of us — Joe, me and a guy named John Novelich (who worked for the local Daily Pilot newspaper and also was a good bowler) — would assemble the pages, and I learned a lot about how to “play” different types of stories in certain ways. The tabloid paper had a 5-column
format, so we always needed so many stories with 1-column, 24-point headlines, and so many with 2-column, 30-point headlines, and so on. A typical request from Joe on a Wednesday afternoon at the PB office would be, “Bob, give me a 1-24-3 on the Grant Classic story.” Translation: a 1-column headline, 24-point in size, and 3 lines long.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Each lower case and capital letter had a “count” — most lower case letters were 1 count, most caps were 1.5, some caps (like Ms) were 2 and a capital I was 1. With the fonts we used, we knew what the maximum count was for a line of a particular headline size, and Joe always insisted that we get within 2 counts of the maximum. The maximum count for a 1-column-wide, 24-point headline was 13. The maximum count for a 2-columns-wide, 30-point headline was 22. I don’t know why I remember those counts more than 30 years later, but I suspect it was because Joe cared about quality, and he didn’t want any headlines in the paper that looked sloppy because they were too short.
Joe came from a daily newspaper background, and he was the best copy editor I’ve ever seen. Deadlines didn’t phase him — heck, publishing a weekly newspaper after years of dealing with daily deadlines must have seemed like a snap — and he was extremely detail-oriented in his
interviewing and writing. He taught me that the more questions you ask someone, the more likely you are to learn something interesting to share with readers. He also taught me that the best way to tell a story was in the subject’s voice — in other words, to use a lot of quotes.
Other memorable quotes/lessons from Joe Lyou:
● “The only time we’ll put an exclamation mark in a headline is if World War III breaks out.” (This may have had something to do with the fact that Joe served the U.S. in World War II.)
● “He’s behind on his (advertising) bill, but that doesn’t mean we should bury his story.”
● “We really should go 24 pages this week (based on ad revenue), but we have so many good stories I think we’d better go 28.”
● “Don’t let the storytelling get in the way of the story.”
● “Let’s make the Junior Section as big as we can — I want kids to get in the habit of reading the paper.”
● “It’s okay to start a sentence with ‘but’ — as long as it reads well.”
● “The best writing sounds conversational — but without the ‘you-knows.’”
● “Deadlines wait for no man.”
Joe and I stayed in touch, but not as often as we should have, through the years. Then, when e-mail came along, we suddenly found ourselves communicating several times a week. That would lead to meeting up at certain bowling events, and sharing the occasional meal. I saw him for the last time in January at the Tournament of Champions in Vegas. He looked good... and real good for 88... and seemed to be thriving in the new home that he shared with his daughter’s family in Santa Paula, California. He always was a proud father, and he was a very happy Grandpa as well.
I’ve always felt that Joe was an underappreciated bowling writer. He wasn’t a self-promoter, so he went under the radar of a lot of influential people. But if Hall of Fame selections were based purely on writing ability, and not politics or personal friendships, Joe would be in the Orange County, Southern California, California State and USBC Halls of Fame. He and the late Don Snyder of the L.A. Times set the standard among California’s bowling writers, and the newspaper Joe published was the best in the nation during his time at its helm.
Joe Lyou was much more than a mentor to me, and there’s an empty spot in my heart as I write this. He was a newspaper man’s newspaper man... an exceptional writer... a world-class editor... and a great friend.
(3-31-2008)
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