Courtesy Chicago Breaking News

(January 4, 2010) Bill Gleason, a longtime Chicago Sun-Times columnist and proud South Sider, worked for more than 60 years in Chicago journalism and helped launch the genre of talk sports broadcasting.

Mr. Gleason, of Oak Brook, died today of complications related to Parkinson's disease at Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare hospital. He was 87.

Former Tribune reporter Bill Jauss, who called Gleason "my mentor and best friend in the newspaper business," said Gleason's last words were: "You guys had a great time."

In 1975, Mr. Gleason helped to create a Sunday afternoon radio sports talk show called "The Sports Writers" that included Jauss, former fight promoter Ben Bentley, and Tribune sportswriter and editor George Langford, Jauss said. In 1985, the show expanded to become a nationally syndicated television program and ran until 1997.

Mr. Gleason was born and raised in Chicago's South Side by parents Joseph Gleason and Helen O'Brien Gleason. He attended Parker High School, now known as Paul Robeson High School, and did not attend college, his daughter Amy Gleason said. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army in France during World War II in which he received a Silver Star on his 22nd birthday in 1944.

Bill's sister, Bette Conroy, recalled Mr. Gleason's sportswriting career started when he was in grammar school.

"He would listen to a radio broadcast of a college game from beginning to end, then go into his room, pick up a composition book and write his personal report of the entire game," Conroy wrote in an e-mail Sunday.

At 19, Mr. Gleason was considered qualified to become sports editor of the then-called Southtown Economist, Conroy said.

Mr. Gleason's long journalism career also included stints at the now-defunct Chicago American, South Bend Tribune in Indiana, and the Daily Southtown, his daughter said.

Mr. Gleason was also an unabashed White Sox fan. Former Tribune and Sun-Times journalist Mike Downey said that if readers who were Cubs fans didn't like it, that was just too bad.

"Gleason was a White Sox homer and had the courage to say so," Downey wrote Sunday from his home in California. "He made a commitment to the South Side personally and professionally."

He had a dry wit. In 2006, Gleason convalesced at a suburban rehabilitation center after suffering a fall that led to him losing vision in his right eye. When Tribune columnist Fred Mitchell called to wish him luck in his recovery, Gleason responded: "I wish you the best of luck in making it through the Bears' crisis this season."

Daughter Amy Gleason recalled one of his quotes used to promote the TV show: "Our world is blessed with hundreds of motivational and inspirational speakers. Fortunately, I'm not one of them."

Mr. Gleason wrote three books: "Footsteps of a Giant," "The Liquid Cross of Skid Row'' and "Daley of Chicago," Amy Gleason said.

Mr. Gleason officially retired in 2001 but continued to speak at various engagements. Mr. Gleason's most significant charitable involvement included working with Misericordia Heart of Mercy, Maryville Academy, Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities. He was one of the founders of the Red Cloud Athletic Fund.

Mr. Gleason also is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen Gleason; two sisters, Bette Conroy and Helen Dunne; two brothers, Joe and Bernie Gleason; five children, Terence, Kevin, Martin, Amy and Jeanine Ranzen; and nine grandchildren.

A private family visitation will be held at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, followed by memorial mass at 11 a.m. in the chapel at Immaculate Conception Parish in Elmhurst. In March, the family expects to hold a celebration of Mr. Gleason's life to include a Dixieland band, one of his favorite kinds of music.

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