Former Charlotte Observer sportswriter Leonard Laye, a hoops connoisseur, dies at 78
Leonard Laye, a longtime Charlotte sportswriter known for his likability and versatility, died in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Wednesday. He was 78.
Laye worked for The Charlotte News and then The Charlotte Observer for close to 40 years before his retirement in the late 2000s, crafting stories on everything from NASCAR to football to high school sports. His real love was basketball, both at the collegiate and pro level. He was happiest sitting courtside, watching the final minutes of a tight game play out and then writing about it on deadline.
“Nobody loved covering a basketball game more than Leonard did,” said Ron Green Jr., a fellow former Observer sportswriter.
Said Mike Persinger, The Observer’s former sports editor and Laye’s boss for many years: “He wrote stories with a narrative, making the reader feel like they were there at the game with Leonard, sitting on press row, hearing the sneakers squeak. He tied together everything that was important, and he did it fast.”
Shirley Laye, Leonard’s wife, said Wednesday that the cause of death was pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease Laye had struggled with for the past several years. The two were high school sweethearts in Belmont, N.C., and were married for 57 years, having two sons along the way. After retirement, they moved to the beach, where Leonard spent the final decade of his life.
Toward the end, Leonard had difficulty breathing and couldn’t get out of the house much, Shirley said. But he would sit in his recliner for hours watching basketball games and tell stories about the people he knew around the sport.
“Leonard loved people,” Shirley said. “And he loved the camaraderie among all the sportswriters.”
The Observer’s answer to Norm
In his glory days, I thought that Laye was the closest thing The Observer had to the character Norm from “Cheers.” When he walked into a room — usually 30 minutes later than he was supposed to show up — people would yell: “Leonard!!” Laye would break out into a big grin, and all would be forgiven.
Laye was born in 1944 on New Year’s Day, and that was fitting. Like the first day of every new year, Leonard usually made people happy.
“He loved to talk, to hang around after events and to get to know people, which he used to good advantage in his newspaper reporting,” said 93-year-old Ron Green Sr., the legendary sports columnist who originally hired Laye to work at The Charlotte News as an assistant sports editor in the late 1960s. “He was the sort of guy you wanted to be your friend. He was always late to dinner, always on the phone, always thinking about travel arrangements. The guy would drive you nuts. I loved him.”
Laye lived for events like March Madness, and enjoyed planning how he could cover the maximum number of games in the shortest amount of time. He had a soft spot for UNC — a college he had attended but hadn’t graduated from — and managed to wangle himself Tar Heel-related assignments more often than not.
All of Laye’s business flights generally included a layover in Atlanta, because Laye was a master at accumulating Delta frequent-flyer points and Atlanta was the location of the airline’s massive Southern hub. He stayed religiously at Marriott hotels while on assignment, but didn’t use the beds much at night. Laye was a night owl who would sometimes be walking into his room about the same time the morning newspaper was being delivered to his hotel door.
Las Vegas was his favorite haunt for vacations. The whole city seemed to sleep late and then stay up until the wee hours, like Laye. He liked the slot machines but, more than that, he liked being where the action was.
Said Tom Sorensen, the former Observer columnist: “What struck me about Leonard was the ease with which he’d walk into a place and everybody knew him. Didn’t matter where. He took me to Runyon’s, the famous newspaper and writers bar in Manhattan, and the reaction was: ‘Leonard, where you been?’”
Said ESPN.com’s David Newton of Laye: “He was a joy to be around.”
Policing as a hobby
Laye had some unusual hobbies for a sportswriter. He was a volunteer reserve police officer in Charlotte for 20 years and served proudly. He owned and managed a number of rental properties. He once quit the newspaper business briefly to try and help NASCAR drivers form a union in 1969 (that effort failed, and he returned to The Charlotte News). After Laye left the newspaper business for good in the late 2000s, he briefly worked for the Charlotte Hornets’ team website before he and Shirley moved permanently to North Myrtle Beach in 2012.
“When Leonard started, they were still typing out game stories on typewriters and dictating them to the office,” Persinger said. “He saw so much change in the newspaper industry before he retired, and then was on the other side with the Charlotte NBA franchise for a while. His reputation for fairness probably played a big role in that. He was fair to everyone.”
Laye’s appetite for life was legendary, as was his appetite for prime cuts of meat. Once at a steakhouse in Indianapolis while covering a basketball event, Laye ordered an enormous meal that included a 36-ounce steak.
After polishing off the whole thing, Laye grumbled to Green Jr., who was alongside him for the meal: “Well that was pretty good. But it sure wasn’t 36 ounces.”
Funeral arrangements are pending, but Laye himself has already departed and is in the air, on his way to heaven.
But first, he’ll connect through Atlanta.
