Former Review sports editor Rigby dies at 69
His passion for golf and bowling got Dave Rigby a job at the Niagara Falls Review in 1979. And for 15 years, his columns praised everyone who rolled a 300 game or hit a hole-in-one.
Along the way, the editor nicknamed ‘Chick’ had plenty to say about the Maple Leafs, Blue Jays, Bills, and anything else local sports fans cared about. Sometimes he went out on a limb… WAY out. In 1991, he urged the Jays to fire manager Cito Gaston.
In a Super Bowl column in January, 1993, he insisted the Bills were about to beat the Cowboys.
Gaston managed the Jays to two World Series wins, and the Bills got stomped by the Cowboys.
Right or wrong, the columns kept coming.
But Rigby, who died Monday of a heart attack, also used his platform for charity.
Every Christmas he ran the Chick’s Christmas Wish food drive, setting up donation boxes throughout the city.
While he could appear gruff and dismissive to some coworkers, he had a big heart to those he let in. Which were usually his fellow editors, banging their typewriters next to him at odd hours.
“He was a good guy to work beside, always ready with a joke while working the early, early shift,” recalls former Review reporter and editor Gord Howard.
“After he left the Review he kept a hand in local sports by refereeing high school basketball. He was a sports guy through and through.”
Award-winning sports scribe Bernie Puchalski spent years as a reporter under Rigby before being promoted to Review sports editor in 1994.
“Dave had valuable insights that helped launch my career as a sports reporter, and his contacts in the Niagara Falls sporting community were a valuable asset when pursuing stories,” he says.
“After Dave left the Review, I often ran into him in his capacity as a slo-pitch umpire and basketball referee. He always had a smile on his face and never lost his interest in what was happening on the local sporting scene.”
Local theatre veteran David Fanstone recalls childhood friend Rigby as “a really great guy once you got to know him.
“He had an off centre sense of humour and always seemed amused by the passing scene. I haven’t seen him for years, but I guarantee he will be missed.”
Friend of the family Andrew McVitte, whose father-in-law was best friends with Rigby, says he talked about his newspaper days “very often.”
“He loved his job, loved travelling around. He hated losing that job.”
Whether he was playing, watching or reffing, sports remained a fixture in Rigby’s life, says McVitte. And so did old friends.
“He was a very social butterfly. We used to go golfing, go see some Jays games and stuff, and it seemed no matter where I went with him, he always knew somebody.”
In recent years Rigby battled pulmonary fibrosis, which also afflicted his father and brother. He was “in and out” of the hospital the past few years, frustrated he couldn’t “get around as much as he used,” says McVitte.
Rigby was 69. Cremation has taken place.
A visitation will take place at Patterson Funeral Home (6062 Main Street) on Sunday, 2 to 4 p.m.