Former Phoenix sportswriter Tim Tyers dies at age 75
The phone calls almost always started with “Hello, Kenton Eugene Somers.”
How Tim Tyers knew my complete first name, I don’t know, but he was a reporter for 43 years at The Phoenix Gazette and The Arizona Republic, so it wasn’t a surprise.
Why Tim, not my parents, gave me the middle name of “Eugene,” I do not know. I never asked because the calls quickly turned to whatever was going on with the Cardinals, Arizona State, the Diamondbacks, the newspaper and my family.
The call from Tim Tyers’ number Thursday morning was different. It was Tim’s wife Susan leaving a message to call her back.
Tim died earlier that morning, she said. He was 75 and had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The family had been hoping they would have more time with him.
Tim and Susan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last fall. He is survived by their daughters, Traci and Kerri, grandchildren Jacob and Nora and Miss Rosie the Poodle.
If you knew Tim Tyers, you have Tim Tyers stories, some of which could be printed in a newspaper.
In his 43 years as a sportswriter and newspaperman, Tyers covered nearly every sport played in the Valley.
This was his home since he was 2, when his family moved from Los Angeles to Phoenix. Tyers graduated from Washington High, attended Northern Arizona and ASU and started working at The Gazette in 1965.
At one time or the other, he was a beat writer for ASU, the Suns, the Coyotes and pretty much every other team. He covered NASCAR, Indy Car, high schools, the Fiesta Bowl, the USFL, junior colleges and anyone and anything else in Arizona that played competitively on fields, courts, rinks, courses and tracks.
It seemed as if Tyers knew everyone, and as someone who competed with him for a time before The Republic and Gazette merged, it seemed they told Tyers everything.
“There wasn’t a guy who had a better handle on this town in sports,” said retired Valley broadcaster Jude LaCava.
“Two things always come to mind when thinking about Tim,” said Dale Hajek, who worked with Tyers at the Gazette and Republic. “He was absolutely one of the funniest people I’ve ever known, and he was relentless in his pursuit of news. He reveled in breaking a big story.”
Tyers was an ardent Sun Devils fan, but that he didn’t spare ASU criticism when warranted.
“He’s resting pretty easy on 70-7,” said Doug Tammaro, ASU assistant athletic director of media relations, said, referring to the Sun Devils’ victory over Arizona in football last month. “No question about that.”
At the Gazette, Tyers was a mentor to younger reporters and an effective recruiter. When colleague Jeff Metcalfe interviewed for a job in 1985, Tyers and another writer took him to Herman’s, a bar in Tempe that poured very large beers. Tyers made a convincing case for Metcalfe leaving Colorado Springs to cover ASU.
Metcalfe covered the last seven years of baseball coach Jim Brock’s career, which also meant spending a lot of time around Tyers, who was close to Brock.
Tyers had opinions. So did Brock. And those opinions often conflicted.
“Whenever Tim would question some coaching decision, Brock would tell him to ‘ get your own team,’” Metcalfe said.
Tyers loved that kind of give-andtake, no matter if it was with a guy two stools over or with a friend on the phone.
Tyers never met a stranger. Over the years, he’d call occasionally and ask if I had time a beer. But there was no such thing as having just “a” beer with Tyers. The conversation and stories could go on for hours.
Norm Frauenheim, a former sportswriter and columnist for The Republic, knows this as well as anyone because he spent years competing with Tyers on the Suns beat.
“Tim was a friend and a rival, a true character and a true pro,” Frauenheim said. “He’d drive me crazy and make me laugh, all at the same time. Over most of the 1980s, we shared flights, cabs, insults, compliments, scoops and way too many last calls.
“He always had some wry, off-beat remark about something we saw on the basketball floor or on the streets. His sense of humor made the NBA grind a little easier. Players loved him for it. Tim was the media version of a players’ coach. He was a players’ writer.”
One example, Frauenheim said, was an exchange Tyers and Suns guard Dennis Johnson had near the end of a game at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the early 1980s.
The game was tied with a couple of seconds left, and Suns Coach John MacLeod called timeout. Tyers sat next to the Suns bench, with Frauenheim next to him.
“MacLeod knelt down, drawing up a play,” Frauenheim said. “All the while, DJ leaned against the press table, talking to Tim and paying no attention to MacLeod. Tim was in the middle of telling a joke. Just before he got to the punchline, MacLeod looked up and yelled: ‘Hey-hey, we’re in the middle of trying to win a damn ballgame here!’
“DJ looked at Tim, told him to hold that punchline, took the inbounds pass, turned and hit the game winner from about 20 feet. MacLeod looked on in disbelief. I almost fell out of my chair.
“DJ came back to the table, looked at Tim and asked: So, what’s that punchline? ‘ You are, Dennis,’ Tim said.
“He never missed a beat. God bless him,” Frauenheim said.
Tim decided to be an organ donor “to continue the gift of life for others,” Susan said. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family asks you to consider becoming an organ donor by registering at www.dnaz.org or www.organdonor.gov.
Details of a memorial service are pending. Valley of the Sun Mortuary in Chandler, AZ will be handling the arrangements and a message can be left for the family on Tim’s obituary page.