Just wanted to tell everybody about a good friend of mine who passed away over the past week.

Dewaine Gahan was publisher of the Oakland Independent weekly newspaper, and he was one of the best sportswriters and advocates of high school athletics this state has ever had. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer a little over a year ago and passed away recently at the age of 58.

I have a lot of friends in the media business and there are a lot out there whose work I enjoy and respect. But there are very few that I ADMIRE for what they do for their craft, their community and their family. Dewaine was one of those people, and if you live in the Oakland area you know exactly the kind of guy that he was.

Few newspaper publishers are advocates of their community the way Dewaine was for Oakland. The man loved to promote his town as much as possible and never missed an opportunity to do so, whether it was bringing foreign exchange students to the area or promoting the Swedish Classic all-star basketball games he ran for a number of years.

Dewaine loved to cover wrestling as much as any other sport (outside of baseball, which was his passion more than anything sports-related). He loved covering the local kids and cheered them all on. It was not unusual to see him bring his kids water after they completed a race at state track, something few others in the business would even stop to think of doing.

The man was an award-winning writer as well, and his work won numerous state and national honors over the years. Yet for all his talent and passion, he was as humble a guy as you could be around and was always quick to pass praise along when he saw fit. I got a number of nice notes and phone calls from him over the years through my newspaper work and building NWI, and it never failed to give me a lift and make me feel good about what I was doing.

Dewaine Gahan was one of the great ones in the media field, and those whose lives he touched will be forever grateful for the part he played in their lives. God bless him and his family.

NWI,

You may have already read this. http://pelanfuneralservices.com/

Click on the obituaries and he is the second from the top. Dewaine was a great sports writer and an even better person.

Tiger,

Actually didn't see that. My mom's business partner is a former publisher and let me know about his death over the weekend. Read a nice story about him in the OWH Sunday as well.

I met Dewaine a couple summers ago when our boys played baseball together. His knowledge of baseball was impressive, and his enthusiasm infectious. I remember he was eagerly looking forward to a trip to New York to visit Cooperstown and a game at Yankee Stadium.

He was a real gentleman, and I know his impact on the Oakland community was tremendous.