A.J. Carr, who retired from the Raleigh News & Observer three years ago, wrote a piece today in the N&O about the death of his friend and former N&O sports editor Joe Tiede (pronounced TeeDee). Both Carr and Tiede were cut from the same old-school, genteel mold. Tiede once described Carr as the most polite person he ever knew and Carr has described Tiede as a true gentleman.

Tiede, who retired in 1990, died Friday night in Wilmington at the age of 84. It was nice to see such an admired sports editor be “eulogized” by a much admired sports writer. Check out the article by clicking here.

As a young sports writer and editor, I ran in the same circles as Tiede for a little less than a decade. He was an imposing figure because of his physical stature and because of his good reputation. But he came off as very humble and almost shy. I don’t think he was shy but he certainly was not gregarious. I, on the other hand, was shy to engage with such giants of the profession and I gladly yielded to them and their experience during news conferences and such. He had paid his dues for about 25 years and I hadn’t. Amazingly he has been retired for 22 years, spending time with his three children and three grandchildren but he has been in failing health in recent years.