Larry Gross-Defender Mourns 'Consummate' Sports Man

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"[Larry]'s passion was writing sports. Even when he was very, very ill, he came into the office to put together the sports pages. He said working on sports was what kept him going," said Lou Ransom, the Defender's executive editor. "He was a walking encyclopedia of sports information, particularly baseball, which was his love."

"He knew his stuff. You could call out any year and ask what happened with the Cubs mat year and Larry would immediately tell you," [Darrell Robinson] said, adding that Gross never left home without his Cubs or Chicago Bulls press pass.

Theresa Fambro Hooks, Defender society columnist, said, "Larry was a trivia buff and knew every answer that was on the game show "Jeopardy!" when we watched it in the newsroom of the old building (24th Street and Michigan Avenue). And no one dared go up against him when it dealt with sports trivia, especially baseball. He was great with statistics, especially when it came to the Chicago Cubs."

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Larry Gross-Defender Mourns 'Consummate' Sports Man

A longtime sports buff, Lawrence "Larry" Gross spent his childhood in Salem, New Jersey playing sports and writing about it.

Nothing excited him more than baseball, and h...

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