Goodbye to an old friend

“Hollywood” and I first met in Delaware when we were working at the News Journal almost 20 years ago. I had been there awhile and helped train him to be a sports news assistant, a part-time position. We were both really into sports, or so I thought. I came to learn that I just liked sports. Hollywood was a “fanatic” in the truest sense of the word.

You see, Aaron “Hollywood” Rivers was the first walking sports encyclopedia I ever met. In the past 20 years I’ve met quite a few. There are a bunch more folks I know who qualify to some extent, but there were times when Hollywood’s sports knowledge really scared me.

For example, for two years in a row, while he was still only working part-time for the paper, he wrote stories and collected photos for two 20-page college basketball sections. When I say he “wrote stories,” I mean 95 percent of the stories in those sections were written by him! I remember taking a call one afternoon from former St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca. In his gravelly, almost inaudible New York accent, he asked, “Can I speak with Aaron please? This is Lou Carnesecca.”

I got a chance to chat with Dickie V taking another phone call for Aaron.

Even though he could cite chapter and verse on almost any sports, Aaron LOVED basketball. He played when he could. He coached. He wrote about it often.

He stayed in Delaware after I left, continuing to work part time at the paper and at The University of Delaware. I encouraged him many, many times to move on, but he stayed because he loved writing (in Delaware) and coaching youth teams.

There probably was another reason, I suspect, too. We talked about it on occasion. At 6 feet tall, Aaron weighed in at more than 300 pounds. He was often worried about what people thought of him and how he would ever get past people’s opinions of his size to show them his true talent.

At one point in his life, he dropped about 150 pounds. He ran. And ran. He played basketball and we played racquetball. He truly impressed me with his dedication. Unfortunately, having that much weight on for that long took its toll. His joints just couldn’t stand the stress that running put on his body. He kept getting injured. Finally, he just had to stop. And his weight came back.

He finally left Delaware for New York and The Times Herald-Record as a copy editor. Despite leaving his safety net in Delaware, he firmly planted roots in Middletown, N.Y. He picked up where he left off and started a basketball team at the Salvation Army. “Kids know if someone is for real,” said Capt. Hector Medina of the Middletown Salvation Army, in a Times Herald-Record article about ‘Wood. “They knew he cared, so they really listened.”

In a tribute to ‘Wood the day after he died at age 43, the paper’s executive editor, Mike Levine wrote:

You may have known him through his wry headlines. One effort was so inspired, he won a statewide award.

You may have known him as we did here – a gentle, sweet man, ever loyal to his colleagues. Aaron once left his hospital room to try to work the night shift.

But if you didn’t get to know Aaron, you can meet him whenever you see a kid with hope on his face.

I hadn’t seen ‘Wood in many years. We recently got back in touch via e-mail. Just a few weeks ago, he was recruiting minority job candidates for his paper, so he e-mailed me looking for prospects. We were, too. So I was trying to recruit him to come to work here. But he wouldn’t leave his kids.

A mutual friend and former colleague of ‘Wood and me told me today that Aaron had been in poor health for some time, in part because he was suffering the ill-effects of diet pills that had damaged his heart.

In my opinion, and from what I’ve read about the boys he’s helped over the years, there was nothing that could damage his heart. It was big and strong enough to carry the hopes of many kids.

He’ll be missed.