David J. Nightingale: 1935 - 2007
Chicago sports journalist
Former Daily News columnist and later
Tribune writer was known for his hard work
and appreciation for fine wine and good French food
--------------------
By Trevor Jensen
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
April 13, 2007
David J. Nightingale, a Chicago Daily News sports columnist who later
covered baseball for the Chicago Tribune and Sporting News, had an
unmatched appetite for hard work, fine wine and good French food, his
colleagues said.
Mr. Nightingale, 72, died Wednesday, April 11, in Crawford Memorial
Hospital in Robinson, Ill., of pneumonia, said his wife, Rebecca.
Mr. Nightingale was the White Sox beat writer for the Daily News in the
late 1960s and wrote a column from 1973 until the paper closed in March
1978. He returned to the baseball beat with the Chicago Tribune until
1981 and then wrote for the Sporting News.
Mr. Nightingale could be tough on players and coaches in his writing
but never ducked them the next day in the clubhouse.
"He wasn't from the cookie-cutter school of journalism," said Tribune
baseball writer David Van Dyck. "He was a great newspaper guy, he
worked hard at it, he had inside guys that he knew."
Though baseball was his specialty, Mr. Nightingale covered every sport
during his career. "He was very versatile and a good writer, a very
fast writer," said Ray Sons, sports editor with the Daily News. "He was
very sure of himself. No assignment fazed him."
On road trips, Mr. Nightingale would always find a French restaurant
for dinner, dragging along colleagues who would have been just as happy
with a hot dog.
"He loved fine food and he was a wine connoisseur, and of course it
would drive us nuts," said former Sun-Times baseball writer Joe Goddard.
After taking the first sip of the wine, he'd lean over to his
companions and say, "I think you will find this an amusing little
vintage," Goddard said.
"We had a wonderful meal," said Van Dyck. "Of course our budgets were
shot for the week."
Despite the many late nights, Mr. Nightingale was an early-riser and a
fierce competitor, even during baseball's spring training in Florida.
"He would get up so early, I'd open the drapes and he'd be heading off
to the ballpark already," Goddard said.
Having scored a scoop, "he'd laugh this demonic laugh and he'd say,
'What can I say?'" Goddard said.
When the Daily News closed, the Sun-Times hired many of its
sportswriters, but not Mr. Nightingale. "He was just crushed," Sons
said of the day Mr. Nightingale got the news. Colleagues remember that
night being an especially lively one at the Billy Goat Tavern.
In 1981, Mr. Nightingale was named a national correspondent for the
Sporting News, where he remained until his retirement in 1995.
"Those were some of his happiest years," Van Dyck said. "He had a lot
of influence, he knew everybody in baseball."
Mr. Nightingale was born in Blue Island and graduated from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was sports editor
of the Daily Illini. He worked at papers in Dixon and Rockford before
joining the Daily News in 1961. Five years later he took over the White
Sox beat.
After his retirement he moved to Robinson, birthplace of the author
James Jones. Always well-read, Mr. Nightingale became active in the
James Jones Literary Society.
Mr. Nightingale's first wife, Margot, died in 2001 of ALS, or Lou
Gehrig's disease. He married the former Rebecca Tennyson Roth the
following year.
Besides his wife, survivors include a son, C. Van; a daughter, Allison
Rush; a sister, Marcia Carlson; and two grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday in St. Elizabeth Catholic
Church, 207 E. Walnut St., Robinson. Mass will be said at 10 a.m.
Tuesday in the church.
----------
ttjensen@tribune.com
Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune