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Ben Callaway, columnist and editor at Inquirer, Daily News

As outdoors columnist for The Inquirer, Ben Callaway, a stickler for accuracy, cast a hard eye on depictions he felt were inauthentic - even in a movie.

Ben Callaway
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As outdoors columnist for The Inquirer, Ben Callaway, a stickler for accuracy, cast a hard eye on depictions he felt were inauthentic - even in a movie.

Writing about the opening of bear-hunting season in Pennsylvania in a 1989 column, he took aim at a recently released movie, The Bear. He wrote: "The photography is superb, the scenery is lovely, and the cub in this entertaining story is cuddly cute. But a documentary it ain't."

He hoped "viewers don't substitute this make-believe stuff for factual wildlife biology. Let's not support a sudden adopt-a-pet hysteria for dangerous wild animals. You don't housebreak bears, most certainly not grizzlies."

On Sunday, Nov. 15, Ben Anderson Callaway, 88, of Southampton, the Philadelphia Daily News' sports editor in the 1960s and The Inquirer's outdoor-sports columnist in the 1980s, died of congestive heart failure at Virtua Voorhees hospital.

When she was in elementary school, his daughter Karen Franks recalled, he would take her on fishing trips off the Jersey Shore.

"I was the only one in the family who didn't get seasick. I loved it," Franks said.

"We did blue fishing, sometimes all night," she said, to get enough material for the next column.

"He would circulate around" with the other fishers, and "go up to talk to the captain. A real people person."

As a columnist, he seldom came into the newsroom, so one of the few who regularly spoke with him was former sports desk manager Maureen Meehan.

"He was a sweetheart of a guy," Meehan said. "Very kind and gentle."

Sam Carchidi, who now covers the Flyers for The Inquirer, was covering high school sports for the paper when he first met Mr. Callaway in the office in the 1980s.

"He was a great guy," Carchidi said. "He took younger people under his wing, always had time for you."

Carchidi recalled that "he was a very gracious man, had an air about him, the kind of guy everybody respected."

Born in Oakland, Calif., Mr. Callaway graduated from New Trier (Ill.) High School, where he was a member of the varsity basketball team. He enlisted in the Navy in 1944, when he was 17, and served stateside for 18 months as a personnel clerk.

After studying at Stanford University, Mr. Callaway earned a bachelor's degree at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where he was on the varsity tennis team.

In autobiographical notes, Mr. Callaway wrote that he worked at the Denver Post from 1949, and became president of the Denver Sports Writers and Broadcasters Association.

He was on the sports staff at the Daily News from 1957 to 1980 - as sports editor from 1961 to 1970 - and was on the sports staff of The Inquirer from 1980 to 1989.

Though "he did go out to games" as an Inquirer sports reporter, his daughter said, he soon became a columnist.

"His goal was to become the outdoors columnist," she said, "so he could mix business with pleasure."

He also did fishing commentaries for KYW NewsRadio from 1971 to 1995.

Mike DeNardo, a reporter and editor there, recalled that "he would call in his reports, I believe from home."

"Ben was one of the kindest, gentlest professionals I ever had the pleasure of working with," DeNardo said, both at KYW Radio and at the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.

"He was a stickler for the truth," he said, "and had a passion for what he did."

Mr. Callaway's autobiographical notes state that for a time, he was president of the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association and the New Jersey Outdoor Writers Association. And for a time, he was a director of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association.

In retirement, Mr. Callaway contributed sports reports to The Inquirer and the Camden Courier-Post.

At Trinity Presbyterian Church in Cherry Hill, Mr. Callaway cofounded the Daytime Men's Group in 1985 and was its coordinator until 10 years ago.

Edward Mitchell, who has led the monthly meetings since then, said, "He set up all the programs and got the guest speakers to come in" to offer religious comments on the concerns of the day.

"He was a neat guy," Mitchell said. "A great sense of humor, very dry sense of humor."

Besides his daughter, Mr. Callaway is survived by son Randall, a sister, and two grandsons. His wife of 56 years, Patricia, died in 2006.

A memorial service was set for 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 499 Route 70 E., Cherry Hill, with inurnment in The Dalles, Ore.

Donations may be sent to a charity of one's choice. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.schetterfh.com.

wnaedele@phillynews.com

610-313-8134@WNaedele