Needless to say, everybody at the Ledger-Enquirer is pretty broken up about the news. My job requires me to live in Auburn, and in the nine months I've been at the paper I'd only seen Jerry in person a handful of times, but he was genuinely one of the nicest people to talk to whenever I'd make a trip to Columbus.

Here's an article from our newspaper about him. Here's a link to some of his best stories. And here's on online guestbook for anyone interested.

Jerry was a Munford, Ala., native who started writing about sports while he attended Jacksonville State. He was hired by the Anniston Star in the early '80s, becoming one of the first black sportswriters in Alabama. He covered everything the state had to offer — Auburn University, the University of Alabama and his alma mater, as well as the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL.

He joined the Ledger-Enquirer in the mid-1990's and dabbled in a bit of everything. A year ago, he came back to sports. My editor, Kevin Price, summed up his passion for sports nicely.

“Jerry had returned to sportswriting, and I think covering high school sports had rekindled his love of journalism,” Price said. “He worked hard, but he really loved what he was doing.

“He and I talked about how many college signing stories he had done in the past couple of months. He said that he loved doing those stories for the students involved — that it was an important moment for them, and he wanted to capture that moment.”

He'll be sorely missed.