Community mourns WCCO-TV’s Bob Rainey

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 7/30/2008

 

 Bob Rainey, weekend sports anchor of WCCO-TV, lost his two-year battle with colon cancer last Saturday; he was 46 years old. Rainey worked at WCCO-TV for the last six years.

 Rainey and I became good friends covering the area’s sports teams, and we played a lot of golf together. When you play the game of golf with someone, you find out a lot about that person’s character. Bob was a man of great character and was very private about his personal fight with cancer. I remember we were playing golf a couple of years ago at Hazeltine, and he complained about a pain in his stomach.

 Bob believed in keeping his battle private, and he did. Just last week, after many attempts to reach him over the last few months by phone or email, I got a call from Mike Max of WCCO Radio that Bob was in the hospital. I went to see him right away, as many of his WCCO friends did. I met his wonderful mom and sister; both, like Bob, are from Rochester, New York.

 I was on the golf course last Saturday morning at Rush Creek when my cell phone rang. I looked at the name of the caller; the call was from Bob Rainey’s cell phone. It was his mom on his cell phone, however — telling me she had lost her son.

 Twin Cities publicist Hattie Webb said, “I had been wondering how he was doing, and to hear the news was really sad. Bob was truly a classy and intelligent sports reporter. I loved to see the ‘bad’ suits and ties he always wore on air. He was always sharp; you could tell he loved what he did, and he did it so good.”

 It’s been suggested by the medical profession that you should get a colonoscopy once you turn 50. However, as we have seen locally and nationally with the deaths of Jay Moynihan (the husband of CBS News anchor Katie Couric), Fox News’ Tony Snow, and Rainey at age 46, colon cancer can start up early in the small and large intestine.

 Fitz Notes & Quotes

 Sunday’s 92-84 overtime loss by the Minnesota Lynx to the Los Angeles Sparks before a sell-out crowd of 9,433 at Target Center was the team’s last game for a month. The 13-13 Lynx will not play another game for 33 days. The league will have an Olympic break, and at the game the Lynx held a ceremony honoring four Olympic basketball team members.

 Lynx star Seimone Augustus, who scored 29 points Sunday and reached the 2,000 career-point mark (one of the fastest in WNBA history) will team up with L.A. Sparks players Delisha Milton-Jones, Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie as the American team goes for the gold medal in Beijing.

 Former Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons Head Basketball Coach Flip Saunders is headed to the Sudan to teach basketball.

 Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, took much criticism after it rescinded its offer to award an honorary degree to Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. The school said they did not want the graduation occasion to be overwhelmed by controversy. However, according to the school’s Black Student Alliance and the Black Alumni Association, it was a grave injustice to Rev. Wright.

 Dr. Sheldon Burns is also headed to his ninth Olympic games in Beijing to work with the U.S athletes.

Ashley Hightower has been working this summer as an intern with the Minnesota Twins in corporate marketing. Hightower is the daughter of Clarence Hightower, outgoing president of the Minneapolis Urban League.

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-record er.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.