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Sports articles breathe new life
Bob Pille ‘50 was the ultimate sports fan.
Needed player statistics? Bob knew them. Sports rules or regulations? Bob could recite them. Writing was his profession and sports were his passion; Bob was an unstoppable force in the sports writing industry.
Bob Pille’s passing in July 2006 did not mark the last time his sports articles would be read. His work will undergo a fresh set of eyes for years to come.
Martha Pille, Bob’s wife, has donated his notes, articles and other journalistic memorabilia to the new sports communication program. Students will learn from Bob’s valuable work and see sports communication at its best. In addition to this donation, students also benefit from a scholarship established in his name.
Bob’s rich journalism career included a 22-year sports writing tenure at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he produced award-winning pieces on Big Ten sports including football and basketball. Bob also shared his talent with newspapers in Detroit, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. He wrote on professional baseball, boxing and football, among other sports. “Almost anyone who had a name in the 50s and 60s, Bob did a story on him,” Martha said.
A Peoria native, Bob grew up with a Bradley spirit that he kept his entire life. His journalistic roots ran deep in Peoria; he started at the Peoria Journal Star in 1943 as a high school student reporting on local sports.
He came to Bradley after serving in World War II. While here, he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and continued honing his journalism skills at the Peoria Journal Star.
As most of his work was pre-computer, Bob created a newspaper morgue to archive all of his bylines. The clippings are filed by year, and Martha estimated there are 100 for each of the almost 60 years Bob wrote. “He was a collector,” Martha said. “He had clippings from almost everything he ever wrote starting back in the 1940s.” Bob saved press material including game programs, scorecards and rosters, all of which students will be able to peruse. He collected record books for approximately 50-60 years and owned 300-400 books about different sports. Using the resources in his personal collection, Bob could find the best sports background materials without leaving home.
Bob never forgot about Bradley and occasionally covered his alma mater when he was in Chicago. And the University certainly remembered him. In 2000, he was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame.
With Martha’s donation to the developing program, Bob’s profound legacy will continue in a unique and meaningful way. Students will not only learn the ins and outs of sports writing from his clippings, they will learn the deeper meaning of journalism. Bob didn’t just tell the facts; he told the human stories behind the wins and losses.
Though his clippings have yellowed, the writing is as exceptional now as it was before the ink dried. His quality coverage and reporting breathe talent through the centuries, and students will benefit for years to come.