Obituary: George Pasero (1917-1997)
George Paseo was as
longtime sports editor of the Oregon
Journal daily evening newspaper of Portland, Ore., and writer of the Journal’s popular “Pasero Says” sports
column.
Although a newspaper journalist, George Pasero was in
broadcasting, too, fitting it in his busy schedule. For example, Journal
editions 1957-1959 carried this promotional blurb: “Listen to Pasero talk
sports each evening, Monday through Friday, on Radio KPOJ –The Journal at 6:15
o’clock. “POJ” in the call letters represent Portland Oregon Journal.
From St. Helen, Ore., George
Pasero graduated from high school there. He was a 1940 University of Oregon (Eugene,
Ore.) graduate having transferred to the UO from Oregon State College (now
Oregon State University, in Corvallis, Ore.)
His wife, Jeanne Yount
Pasero was from Portland and a graduate of its Washington High School and a
1941 grad of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.
They married in 1948. He
died in Portland at age 79 in 1997. She died at age 83 in 2002.
Read more about George
Pasero here.
https://journalism.uoregon.edu/george-pasero
https://pamplinmedia.com/component/content/article?id=104981
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1062991/george-pasero
:::
George
Pasero was highly praised and well liked sports editor of the Oregon Journal,
Portland’s evening newspaper and writer of its popular ‘Pasero Says’ sports
column
Born: April 10,
1917, St. Helens, Ore.
Died March, 6 1997,
Portland, Ore.
By John Nolen (with
contribution by Linfielder Ken Wheeler) of Oregonian, Portland, March 7, 1992. Newspaper
headline, “Longtime sports journalist dies of stroke at 79”
George Pasero, an award-winning journalist in the
Northwest for four decades as a sports editor and columnist, died early
Thursday from a massive stroke at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 79.
Pasero suffered the stroke Wednesday and lapsed into a
coma.
The former sports editor of the Oregon Journal wrote a
weekly sports column for The Oregonian since retiring as a full-time columnist
in 1985. He began writing columns, up to six times a week, in the late 1950s,
when he was sports editor of The Journal.
His newspaper career, mostly in sports, spanned 57 years.
Fred Stickel, publisher of The Oregonian, said he
considered Pasero “one of the most highly regarded and respected sports editors
and columnists in the region.''
“He was at all times an honest and fair reporter, a
genuinely good person who knew his trade and performed in a most professional
manner,'' Stickel said. “He has a host of admirers and followers and will be
missed by all. Certainly, he'll be missed by all of his associates at the
Oregon Journal and in recent years at The Oregonian.'
Pasero was from the old, less-critical school of
sportswriting, and he didn't stray from that style throughout his career.
In a column that ran Feb. 23 of this year, he wrote about
The Oregonian Banquet of Champions:
“Dismiss for one evening the egomania, greed, and
disrespect for authority that have so marred the high levels of professionals.
“Think here of your neighbor kid happily going out to
soccer practice, all the basketball shooting you see on driveways, all the
evenings of Little League and hamburger dinners, the prep football players with
mud-caked uniforms on a rainy, cold Friday night.''
Pasero was named Oregon Sportswriter of the Year seven
times by the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters. He won
four consecutive awards between 1959 and 1962. He also won the award in 1966,
1975 and 1978.
Don Sterling, recalling his days as editor of The Journal,
said under Pasero's leadership, “the sports section and George's own column
were among the strongest parts of the paper.''
“It always amazed me, how he could manage the sports
department, cover games and write six columns a week,'' Sterling said. ``He had
tremendous drive.''
Peter Thompson, former managing editor of The Oregonian
who also worked with Pasero at The Journal, said: ``George was so closely
connected to sports that he was not only writing about sports, but he was an
acknowledged part of that history.
“Ask any knowledgeable sports person who the single most
integral part of the Oregon sports scene has been and I would think they would
answer George Pasero. The first name that would come to mind would not be that
of an athlete, but would be that of George Pasero.
“When you think of the house that Oregon sports has been
built on, you think of George Pasero.''
Pasero's compassion and search to find the good in
everything did not go unnoticed. When he retired as a full-time columnist in
1985, friends and sports figures from all over the country -- 750 total --
gathered on short notice and honored him at a special banquet.
Among those in attendance was Tommy Prothro, former Oregon
State, UCLA and Los Angeles Rams coach.
“What a mob for a sportswriter,'' Prothro said. The crowd
roared its approval.
“A few hours after his death, a moment of silence was
observed before the Barlow-Beaverton quarterfinal game at the Class 4A high
school basketball tournament at Memorial Coliseum.
Pasero was born April 10, 1917, in St. Helens, the son of
Italian immigrants. He grew up in St. Helens, and after graduating from high
school he entered Oregon State College in 1935 to study chemical engineering.
He dropped out of Oregon State after one year and worked for 15 months at the
paper mill in St. Helens before enrolling at the University of Oregon in the
fall of 1937.
When he graduated in 1940 with a degree in journalism, he
took a job with the Oregon Journal as a member of the Journal Juniors, a
promotional department that worked with youngsters in the city.
“I got $15 a week,'' Pasero said in a 1985 interview. “And
I was high paid.''
Pasero joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 and served until
February 1946. He then returned to The Journal in the spring of 1946, and in
1956 was named sports editor, a title he held until The Journal and The
Oregonian merged in September 1982.
Until then, Pasero's column was a fixture for readers of
The Journal. After the merger, Pasero became the regular sports columnist for
The Oregonian.
During his sportswriting career, he covered such major
events as the Rose Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals.
Upon his retirement as a full-time columnist in 1985,
Pasero said he had two philosophies:
“One is, I don't like to lash out unfairly,'' he said.
``You lash out sometimes if it's deserved. But don't do it unfairly.
“Second, I want to talk about the events, not about
myself. People want to read about the events. The people who read me, I give
them credit that they know who I am and where I stand.''
Former coaches Dee Andros of Oregon State and Len Casanova
of Oregon recalled their friendship with Pasero.
“He was one of my very best friends,'' said Andros, former
football coach and athletic director at Oregon State. ``He was truly an
outstanding journalist, and without doubt, you could trust him with anything.''
Casanova, former football coach and athletic director at
Oregon, said: ``George was always a real good friend, was a person who was
always kind to me. If he ever thought you were wrong, he did not mind saying
so. I appreciated that.''
Harry Glickman, president emeritus of the Portland Trail
Blazers, said: “George was a journalism giant. He had the smallest shoes in the
sports department, and they will be the largest to fill.''
Pasero is survived by his wife, Jeanne, daughter Anne,
sons John, Mark and James, and five grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the
ballroom of the Multnomah Athletic Club.
--
Photo cutline: George Pasero, who lived and wrote sports for seven decades and died in 1997, made an indelible mark on Oregon’s athletes, journalists and readers alike.
Photo cutline: George Pasero was best known as sports editor of the Oregon Journal, Portland daily evening newspaper, and writer of the popular "Pasero Says" sports column.
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Obituary: Jeanne Pasero
Oregonian,
Portland, Dec. 16, 2002, with editing in December 2020 by Wildcatville blog.
Born: April 8, 1919,
Portland, Ore.
Died Dec. 11, 2002,
Portland, Ore.
A memorial service was held 10 a.m. Dec. 30, 2002, in
Young's Funeral Home, Portland, Ore., for Jeanne Pasero, who died Dec. 11,
2002, at 83.
Mrs. Pasero was born Jeanne Maryon Yount in Portland on
April 8, 1919. She grew up in the Mount Tabor area and graduated from
Washington High School in 1941. She also graduated from Whitman College in
Walla Walla, Wash. She returned to Portland during World War II to become the
personal secretary of the editor of the Oregon Journal. She wrote a popular
radio column, interviewing pre-television entertainment luminaries such as Bob
Hope and Eddie Cantor.
She earned a master's degree in English from Portland
State University and taught at Portland Community College until her retirement
in 1984.
She married George Pasero, longtime sports columnist for
the Oregon Journal and The Oregonian, in 1948; he died in 1997.
Survivors include their daughter, Ann; and sons Mark, John
and Jim; and five grandchildren.
Remembrances to Portland Community College.
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