Farewell To A Friend

Death is something we all have to experience; yet sometimes itcomes far too early for some of us.

Larry O'Rourke was not only young - he was 46 years old when hedied last Wednesday at his home in the Poconos - but he was a verygood person who succumbed to the dreaded disease of amyotrophiclateral sclerosis or ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig'sDisease.

He was truly a man of courage, from the day he found out that hewas afflicted with such a horrible fate. For three years he tried touse every bit of his strength to fight off an endless battle.

It was in late December of 2007 that he called and talked abouthis foot problem. At first he thought it to be neuropathy, but withthe internet readily at his fingertips, Larry set out to dig deeper.

Later he would confide that he thought that he had ALS, but hehoped not. By April 2008 he was diagnosed with the disease. Tearspoured out as we spoke on a Friday evening as I sat in the CressonaMall parking lot with the intent to make a trip to Staples.

From that day forward and until his final hours on earth, I wouldask for an intercession from Father Ciszek, create a miracle forthis young man that a cure would be found for not only Larry butmany.

It never happened, obviously for we cannot challenge a higherauthority, we can only wish, hope and pray for the best.

Larry comes from a wonderful family. His father Larry Sr. is aretired Blue Mountain teacher and currently a sportscaster at WAVTRadio in Pottsville. His mother is Joyce and his sister's name isJennifer.

It was 31 years ago that Larry showed up at a District 24 LittleLeague game, a hot summer evening in July, chauffeured by hisfather, for he was too young to drive.

Larry Jr. was only 15 years old. He knew exactly what he wantedto do at that point in time - become a sports writer.

Actually, Larry could have done anything he wanted because he wasvery bright with an SAT score close to 1500 out of a possible 1600.That should tell you a little bit about his intellect; for some ofus couldn't muster that type of score if we combined it five times.

His Irish smile would make you laugh, and his wit matched thecharacter. As he progressed through his career, he never forgotwhere he came from, never thought he was bigger or better than oneworking at a small newspaper.

He showed up at Beaver Stadium one fall afternoon in the early1990s and immediately came over and smiled and wanted to know howeveryone was doing. He had worked at the Trentonian in New Jersey.

While at the University of Dayton, where he majored injournalism, he took a copy of Babe Conroy's column into a class toshow his professor. The one-time editor of the old Evening Herald inShenandoah, and later here at the Standard-Speaker, had penned oneof his humor-filled articles.

"Looks like tonight is going to be a two six-pack night," Conroywrote about a Monday night football game. The professor laughed andthe entire class roared. He immediately told Larry that he wasgetting an A and wanted to meet Conroy.

His talents earned him the job of beat writer for the New YorkKnicks, but he always aspired to cover football and loved baseball.

In 2000 he was hired at the Allentown Morning Call to be thePhiladelphia Eagles beat writer. His dream came true. Larry had suchgreat respect for Andy Reid, and he often wrote about Reid maybe thebest in his business.

"Andy is a very smart man and a great coach who prepares a teambetter than anyone in the NFL," Larry said one evening as we sat atone of his favorite watering holes.

Larry had tremendous admiration for Reid, and compassion as wellwhile watching how the Eagles coach dealt with his two sons drugproblems.

Reid certainly had admiration for Larry, as both a sports writerand a person, and when there was fund raiser for Larry in June of2009 at Chickie and Pete's in Philadelphia, Reid showed up at theevent to help make it a success.

Few people knew Larry the way some of us did. Four years agobefore Larry became ill, he had organized a Sports ReportersChallenge Golf Tournament, which is now the Sports Reporters ALSChallenge, and just one month ago, there were more than 130 golferswho turned out on behalf of Larry, raising $6,749.

And it was all his doing. Even to his dying day, Larry continuedto work at the event sending emails asking for donations, and askingus all to help.

Now he is gone, but we will never forget this dear friend andcolleague.

Sam Matta is a writer anc columnist for the Standard-Speaker.