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Joe Downey

L

lchase

Guest
For those of you who may not have heard - and to be honest, I'm surprised this isn't already here - former KB newsman/sports director Joe Downey passed away last week.

Article/obituary from the Olean Times Herald, where Joe was a religion editor/columnist until shortly before his passing

OTH Sports Editor Chuck Pollock's column on Downey
Pollock said:
Celebrity was not Joe's thing, despite being a media-type. If he had an ego, I never witnessed it.

What Joe had, as he evolved theologically, was a sense of personal peace I've never known in any other individual.

I'm sad that he's gone, but given Joe's overwhelming faith, he'd be the first to say he's now in a better place.

Godspeed, old friend.
Click to expand...
 
This is sad news to hear--and a complete stunner.

Everyone who had the privilege of working with Joe (as I did for a short time) knows he was the true definition of the word "gentleman."

He was a devoted husband--he had a favorite song he and his wife Ruth Ann shared, Rod Stewart's "You're In My Heart," that he would have George Hamberger dedicate on the air to her every Friday afternoon.

Joe was a dedicated newsman as well...and would occasionally say he missed Olean (where he'd done his college work at St. Bonnie's) and wanted to get involved in the newspaper game. So he and Ruth Ann moved back to the southern tier and to the Times-Herald.

Hadn't known about the health struggles and the losses Joe had to deal with in his last years, but he clearly faced them with the dignity and class he brought to whatever he did. May he rest in peace.
 
This, indeed, is sad news. I never had the honor of working with Joe. But we do share one thing in common. We're both graduates of St. Bonaventure's journalism program. I talked with him on a couple of occasions at Bonnies basketball games. He was a true gentleman. If the Buffalo News isn't going to recognize his career, I will. As Bob Smith mentioned, Joe Downey was one the legendary news staffers at KB. I'd put Joe up there with Henry Brach, John Zach, Jim Fagan and Jim McLaughlin. Remember the news intro? "WKBW, Total News Breakout," followed by Joe's crisply written 60-second newscast telling us all we needed to know about what happened that day. In the air check I've heard on the WKBW tribute site, there's Sandy Beach filling in for the first hour of the all-night show on KB, bragging about bringing along his own newsman, Joe Downey, because Sandy didn't do news. He had his own professional newsman, and it was Joe Downey! Perhaps someone who knows Sandy could let him know so that he could pay tribute to Joe on his WBEN show, if he hasn't already. In any event, Joe's voice will always live on in my iPod when I listen to his newscast informing us of explosions on Grand Island -- explosions that may be related to some unusual happenings on Mars. Hmmm! In all seriousness, I wish I had known him better. But from reading Bob's tribute here, and the OTH column, Joe's was a life well lived.
 
When I first moved to Buffalo in 1976, joining Sam Anson as WEBR's sports department, Joe was established at KB, doing what I thought was an incredible job with the Buffalo Bills replays on the post-game show. Later, upon meeting him, when he told me he did it very simply, by sticking bits of paper in the reels he used to record the calls of Al Meltzer and Rick Azar [and I always had difficulty diffrentiating between those two voices], I was amazed. He did the show without a flub, as smooth as one could imagine. Getting to know him over the years, he was a real class act. He was already missed on the airwaves, but it was great to see him at the St. Bonaventure basketball games.
 
Pete:

Nice to hear you're alive and well in Nashville! Seriously, I saw Jim Fagan recently and he hadn't heard much about Joe other than he had some health problems.

I worked with Joe in the late 70's at 1430 Main St. He was one of the nicest, most decent person I have met in 35 plus years in the radio business. He showed me the kind of professional presentation that could be done despite having really crappy equipment to work with!

Joe used to take the bus to and from work each day to his modest Williamsville home, which I had the good fortune to visit on one occasion.

He was a man of deep conviction and I was proud to consider him a friend.
 
Philip, I can say with a great deal of experience that time plays tricks with our minds as we age (gracefully, of course). But after suspecting that your memory of Sandy and Joe was not quite accurate I contacted Sandy and have confirmed that he never did the all night show at KB...not even filling in.

Unless of course he is having a senior moment as well. :)
 
Sandy didn't do the entire all night show. It was just part of the first hour until Steve Mitchell was able to get in. You can hear the audio snippet on the WKBW Radio tribute site.
 
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