Longtime East Texas
sports fixture Leach dies
Longview News
Journal
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Ted Leach, who began a nearly six decade newspaper career at the age of 13 by writing a sports column for the Longview Morning Journal and Longview Daily News, died Wednesday at his home in Carthage.
He was 70.
Leach, a 1955 graduate of Longview High School, worked at several newspapers before moving to Carthage in 1971. He co-founded the Panola Post, and was sports editor of the Panola Watchman at the time of his death.
''Ted was a hard-driving, (Carthage) Bulldog enthusiast,'' Panola Watchman publisher Bill Holder said Wednesday. ''He covered the Bulldogs and the (Beckville) Bearcats in just about everything they did.''
Holder said Leach's main goal was to put the athletes he covered first.
''He was a fanatic about statistics, and he always said the reason he was doing that was so he could get every kid's name on the page,'' Holder said. ''He once told me he would rather have a stat box on the page than a story if he had to make that choice.''
Leach began his newspaper career by delivering newspapers at the age of nine, and by the age of 13 he was writing sports columns for the Longview newspaper where his father, Ed, was editor.
His career took him to newspapers in Borger, Wichita Falls, Henderson and Mount Pleasant before landing in Carthage.
''Ted had a straight-forward approach to reporting sports, but he loved it,'' Beckville head football coach and athletic director Donald Hubbard said. ''He was very supportive of our athletic programs since I have been here. He was passionate about Panola County sports, and he will be greatly missed. He told it like it was, but there was never a doubt that he had the best interest of the kids at heart.''
Leach is survived by his wife of 52 years, Maudie Leach, who spent countless hours photographing sporting events her husband covered for various newspapers. He is also survived by two sons, three daughters, one brother, two sisters, 14 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at Jimerson-Lipsey Funeral Home Chapel in Carthage with the Rev. Jennene Laurinec and the Rev. Michael C. Macey officiating. Interment will follow in the Elderville Cemetery.