Ted Silary remembered: Memories of the former Daily News high school historian go viral on Twitter
Those who knew Silary left an indelible mark on social media today in remembering his journalism that many say stands as a civic duty to Philadelphia.
Many who knew Ted Silary, know this truth.
If it wasn’t a Friday or Saturday during high school football or the height of the high school hoops season, he would saunter up quietly, always with a half-cracked smile, and acknowledge you in his own way with that signature baritone voice.
A voice that became another unmistakable aspect of how you knew “Teddy.”
But Silary’s journalism was so much more than accurate game stories (many complete with transcribed box scores that arrived handwritten to the sports clerk to decipher), gripping human interest features, and a website that was an encyclopedia when it came to chronicling high school sports in the region.
It’s why so many people took to Twitter on Thursday, offering condolences to Silary’s passing, causing Ted Silary and later the #RIPTed hashtag to trend.
He was 72.
Scores of people left messages, tributes and anecdotes about Silary and his journalism as it acted as an undeniable public service to Philadelphia prep athletics. However, as those who knew him closely said, it’s the last thing Silary would ever look for.
“No one would have hated that he was ‘trending’ more than himself,” said longtime Daily News statistician Bob “Boop” Vetrone.
Here’s the thing. People on Twitter across the country who didn’t know Ted couldn’t understand why #RIPTed was trending. But those who knew Ted couldn’t pass the day without dropping a line.
That was his impact on so many.
“Teddy” knew the names and more importantly to him the neighborhoods of the athletes he covered throughout the city. He also gave many of them nicknames as well, which served to ensure he remembered each one for as long as he needed to.
“I know this, it’s a sad day for ‘Munchy’ and ‘Meatball and Eggs’ and ‘Bambi’ and the several hundreds of nicknames that Ted either bestowed and publicized,” said former Daily News managing editor and Inquirer sports managing editor Pat McLoone.
Additionally, McLoone pointed out that Silary had chronicled every point in the history of the Catholic and Inter-Ac Leagues.
“Without him, that would never exist,” McLoone added.
In addition to his dedication to ensuring that Philly’s youth athletes had a voice, Silary was also committed to being an indelible piece of the machine that was the Daily News sports department since his arrival. Working inside the Inquirer’s Ivory Tower building on 400 N. Broad Street, Silary always sat at the same spot, writing gems behind his half-cubicle wall while funneling handwritten football and basketball box scores to the clerk on duty just as quickly.
He wouldn’t know this, but he taught this eager then 20-something journalist to how correctly craft a box score.
“My first day clerking in sports. We get a [Daily News] Home Run Payoff winner. I call the lady but she doesn’t speak English,” said Bob Cooney, 97.5-FM The Fanatic radio host and former Inquirer 76ers writer. “I’m flustered as hell. Ted grabs the phone, does the interview in Spanish, sends me the notes, and says, quietly, ‘Write it up.’ Will never forget that.”
What left his hands mattered. It mattered because his words were read, treasured, collected, and disseminated by many of the athletes he covered, in addition to their parents, coaches, friends, and family. It would be hard to prove, but it most certainly can be argued — somewhere out there a Philly kid got to go to college after a recruiter learned about them through Ted’s talents.
Silary didn’t it do alone. In fact, he had a pair of unmistakable accomplices in Tom “Puck” McKenna and Ed “Huck” Palmer. They along with countless correspondents from all over helped a grassroots chronicle of an era of high school athletics in Philadelphia, and subsequently immortalize it in tedsilary.com
“I’m happy and thankful Ted came into my life,” said Palmer via text. “He’ll be missed.”
“Watching Ted compile dozens of football games from numerous correspondents on Thanksgiving was both poetry and comedy,” said former Daily News and Inquirer writer Ed Barkowitz. “That he did so with so much humor on the pressure of deadline was remarkable.”
To which former Daily News writer and columnist Mike Kern added:
“Reading the Friday after Turkey Day’s paper was his gift to us.”
Former Daily News writer Ed Barkowitz contributed to this article.