Chuck Heaton

Chuck Heaton
Born	Charles Heaton August 22, 1917(1917-08-22) Yonkers, New York, U.S.
Died	February 7, 2008(2008-02-07) (aged 90) Westlake, Ohio, U.S.
Education	John Carroll University, BA, Journalism
Occupation	Sportswriter, columnist, author, TV sports commentator
Other names	Chuck Heaton
Spouse(s)	Patricia Hurd, 1949-1971 (her death), Cecilia Evers, 1975-2008 (his death)
Children	5 children
Notable relatives	actress Patricia Heaton, sportswriter Michael Heaton
Religious belief(s)	Roman Catholic (Christian)

Charles "Chuck" Heaton, Jr. (born August 22, 1917 in Yonkers, New York) is an American sports news columnist, journalist, commentator, and reporter. He worked for 50 years as a sporswriter for The Cleveland Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also the father of actress Patricia Heaton of the hit CBS-TV sitcom series Everybody Loves Raymond.

Biography

Heaton, who was raised and remained a devout Roman Catholic,^[1] moved to Cleveland with his family as an infant and grew up there, as well as Lakewood, Ohio, a westside Cleveland suburb. He graduated from Lakewood High School in 1934 and then attended John Carroll University where he graduated magna cum laude in 1938, having served as sports editor of the Carroll News and the Carillon Yearbook. He was also vice president of his class at JCU for three years and was on the tennis team. After graduation, he became the JCU sports publicist and tennis coach. He was hired by The Plain Dealer in 1942, where his father, Charles Sr., who died in 1937, had been a transportation manager, starting out as a writer and reporter on the news side. He went into military service for three years during World War II, serving in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps as an officer in North Africa, Italy, Corsica, France and Germany.

After his retirement from the Plain Dealer, on October 1, 1993,^[2] Heaton still worked as a free-lance writer and columnist, also as a beat reporter for ABC-TV afffilate WEWS-TV, in the station's coverage of the NFL's Cleveland Browns, appearing on the station's programs Browns Town and Countdown to 99 weekly programs. As a beat writer he also covered stories for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, and MLB's Cleveland Indians over the years.

In addition to his work with the Browns, Heaton also reported on 24 of the NFL's first 25 Super Bowls. Somehow, he found time to crank out a weekly column on TV sports. Heaton also wrote stories on the Indians' home games, the Kentucky Derby, the Indianapolis 500, golf and tennis. He also covered local colleges when Baldwin-Wallace Olympic track champion Harrison Dillard and John Carroll football players Don Shula and Carl Taseff flourished. At the peak of his career, in the 1960s and 1970s, Heaton wrote a sports column, Plain Talk, that ran four days a week, and simultaneously served as the Browns beat writer, turning out a daily story plus a notes column, "Extra Points."

Former Browns and Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Leroy Kelly told clevelandbrowns.com that he loved reading Heaton's articles about the team since he started with the Browns in 1964. Kelly is quoted as saying: "He (Chuck) wasn't that type of writer to get down on players when we were doing bad. Back then, we had some pretty good teams and great ballplayers. He enjoyed writing about the team, being a part of the team. He always had that great smile on his face."

He also said Heaton worked hard to get him into the Hall of Fame: "I always wanted him to be my presenter," Kelly wrote. "I would see him at the Super Bowl games and he would say, It's just a matter of time. Be patient and we'll get those votes.' [That day is] is one of the greatest moments of my life." Kelly was eventually introduced by Heaton when Kelly was elected into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame in 1994.

Honors and awards

Heaton was inducted into the Halls of Fame for the Cleveland Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, John Carroll University, the Greater Cleveland Sports Foundation, the Touchdown Club, the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame, and the now-defunct Sports Media Association of Cleveland and Ohio.

In 1980, Heaton won the Pro Football Writers Association award for distinguished reporting. He received the honor before a breakfast crowd of 2,300 in Canton. His plaque resides in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Family and personal life

Heaton gained national attention as the father of actress Patricia. The writers of Everybody Loves Raymond would occasionally mention Heaton in their storylines. He was a frequent visitor to the set, socializing with the actors. Cable TV stations did three biographies of Patricia in which Heaton was interviewed. Heaton married the former Patricia Hurd, a former Junior Wrightman teen tennis player, in June 1949. Patricia's father, Seth Hurd, was a prominent judge in Cuyahoga County at the time. The couple had five children together, which included actress Patricia, Jr. and son Michael, who is now. today, also a longtime Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter. Heaton and wife Patricia remained together until Patricia's untimely passing away of a brain anuerism at age 46 on January 20, 1971. Heaton then met and then married Cecilia Evers, an advertising executive, in 1975. Cecilia, called CeCe, and Heaton stayed together until his death.

Heaton's death and legacy

Heaton died from complications from pneumonia on February 7, 2008 at Harborside Healthcare in Westlake, where he had lived in convalescence for the previous nine months due to ailing health. ^[3] The Chuck Heaton award is now annually bestowed upon upon the print, radio, online or television journalist by the Press Club in Cleveland for "sensitivity and humility" and excellence in reporting that the club feels best exemplifies Heaton's career.^[4]

Bibliography

• Browns Scrapbook: A Fond Look Back At Five Decades Of Football From A Legendary Cleveland Sportswriter, by Chuck

Heaton, ISBN 978-1-59851-043-0, Gray & Co., Publishing, 2007.

• The Cleveland Browns: Power and Glory, ISBN 0131367544, Prentice-Hall Publishing, 1974.

References

1. ^ Chuck Heaton a voice we will never forget, Cleveland Plain Dealer, for Cleveland.com, by Terry Pluto, February 15, 2008.
2. ^ http://www.grayco.com/cleveland/authors/heaton-chuck/author.shtml Chuck Heaton bio at Grayco.com
3. ^ Longtime Plain Dealer sports reporter Chuck Heaton passes away, Cleveland.com article, by Robert Chibik, February 14, 2008.
4. ^ Chuck Heaton Award HTML at Cleveland Press Club webslte

External links

Persondata
Name	Heaton, Chuck
Alternative names
Short description	American sportswriter, reporter, journalist
Date of birth	August 29, 1917
Place of birth	Yonkers, New York, U.S.
Date of death	February 7, 2008
Place of death	Westlake, Ohio, U.S.