The woman was staring at me, or so I thought. We were sitting in the press conference room at Wimbledon, when finally she approached with a smile.
"You're from the Toronto Sun, aren't you?" she said, peering at the press credential around my neck. "Please say hi to George for me."
It was always that way with George Gross.
It was something a lot of us in the industry got used to.
It didn't matter if it was Switzerland or Sweden, the French Alps or Australia, the Orient or the former Soviet Union. It didn't matter which event of consequence it happened to be -- the world track and field championships or Wimbledon or the world hockey championships or the world figure skating championships -- you usually got that tap on the shoulder or that friendly handshake.
Someone wanting to pass on greetings and well wishes to George Gross.
It seemed like everybody who was anybody knew him. The commissioners. The presidents. The heads of the federations. The PR people. The working journalists. All of them a little poorer today, a little sadder knowing The Baron has passed on at the age of 85.
It doesn't seem quite real, yet. It can't seem real that he is not with us anymore. The man was such a presence in our daily work, the father figure we would turn to on occasion, asking for advice. The sage old uncle who had been there and done that. The crazy, cranky oldtimer who refused to quit. At 85, he was as turned-on by a news beat as he ever was. That part never left him.
LAST SCOOP
The final front-page story -- the last great George Gross scoop -- came not that long ago. It was a rare one-on-one interview with Mats Sundin prior to the NHL trade deadline. It was the most expressive Sundin has been on the subject.
It was Gross, typically in jacket, shirt and tie, eating at the expensive steak house, getting someone to say something he wouldn't tell anyone else: A journalist who loved nothing better than to pull out his Rolodex, summon up a contact no one else could find, and show us kids how it was done. Just like the old days.
And, like most journalistic lifers, he worked right to his final day. In the office on Thursday, gone by Friday. Leaving a book he was working on incomplete, leaving a column for tomorrow's paper an idea unfinished, leaving behind an assignment of interviews he was preparing for a piece to run next month.
BUILDER
Leaving behind a legacy as a builder of sport, newspaper, industry leader, and not to be forgotten or short-changed, was his love of a good meal, a great hotel and an even better bottle of wine.
George Gross lived the life and then some. At differing times, and of a different generation, he wrote the story and sometimes was part of the story. He grew up, as Paul Beeston pointed out yesterday, "when writers were as much a part of the team as the players were ... I don't think Punch Imlach ever changed lines or made a trade without consulting with George first."
This has been a rough time for the sports media in Canada. In a rather brief period, too many have gone. We have lost Milt Dunnell and Don Wittman and Don Chevrier and Pat Marsden and Jim Hunt, and now George.
Each of them different but each of them valuable and relevant and unique.
As others will point out, and Godfrey certainly did yesterday, George Gross was a Canadian success story. He was an immigrant who escaped from Czechoslovakia, came to Canada, learned English, made a life for himself and his family as a journalist and refused to retire. At an age when most of us would rather be on a beach or worrying about short games, George wanted none of that. He'd roll up his sleeves, get involved in his next story or his next organization or his next cause or charitable act -- and there were many of each -- because the only world he knew was work.
And everybody in it, around the world, seemed to know him.
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"George combined elegance and eloquence. His unique ability to tell a story earned him renown, and friends, around the world."
Gary Bettman, NHL commissioner
"He epitomized what a true gentleman really is. He was someone I admired profusely."
Cliff Fletcher, Leafs GM
"He was the go-to guy for contacts. He always saw the lighter and brighter side of life. Nobody lived life better than George."
Paul Godfrey, Blue Jays president
"There wasn't a more proud Canadian."
Paul Beeston, former Blue Jays president
"His love of soccer and hockey ... was topped only by his passion for writing about them."
Dave Hodge, broadcaster
"You'll never have a better friend. He seemed to remember everybody and they remembered him."
Bill Stephenson, broadcaster
"When I became commissioner, his advice, to 'just be yourself' has been extremely helpful."
Mark Cohon, CFL commish
