CHSAA hits Homer with perfect pick

If you haven’t met him, you probably have heard of him or at least read some of his stories spanning seven decades and touching four generations.

And you wish you had a dollar for every player, coach, official, fan, stadium worker, executive or family member he has interviewed, written about or exchanged pleasantries with since the 1950s. He is a native Denverite who turned into a newspaper institution with an encyclopedic knowledge of sports from kids to pros. Now 81 years old, he still has ink running through his veins and remains a combination of bulldog and gentleman.

His name is Homer (you knowhim as Irv) Moss, fittingly the first Denver Post sportswriter to be inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame, which will occur Wednesday.

“I really feel good about the fact that I started out in this business covering the high school sports,” Moss said. “I think there’s an element there that if you don’t do it, you miss out.”

In the middle of college, the 1952 graduate of Denver’s West High was drafted into the Army while working at The Post. He eventually reported on servicemen playing sports overseas for a military publication while stationed in Germany.

When he returned in March 1959, the former copy boy said “they put me in sports and I’ve been there ever since.” Moss said he had a large crew that he supervised, including Joe Sanchez, Michael Knisley, Terry Anderson and Mike Monroe.