The Dean is gone.
Legendary West Virginia sportswriter Mickey Furfari has passed away. He was 92.
Domenick “Mickey” Furfari’s career in journalism started like many men of his generation—a stint in the Army during World War II, followed by college and career. At WVU, he shared sports editor responsibilities at The Daily Athenaeum with Jack Fleming, who would later become an iconic sports broadcaster.
After graduation, Furfari worked briefly for the Charleston Gazette before returning to his hometown to work for the Morgantown Dominion Post where he would stay in a variety of capacities until 1989.
Even after leaving the Post, Furfari continued working, syndicating several sports stories and columns a week until just recently and making regular appearances on MetroNews Statewide Sportsline with Tony Caridi.
During a radio interview marking his 90th birthday, Furfari said, “I feel I am happiest when I’m writing.” And Mickey wrote and wrote and wrote. It’s a safe bet that he generated more copy during his seven decades writing about sports than any other reporter in the history of West Virginia.
He was a throwback in this now rapidly-evolving business of reporting. His journalism was one of fundamentals– shoe leather, on-the-record sources, scribbling in a notebook and accurate quotes. (Rumors of Furfari’s death spread quickly on Twitter Monday. Mickey would have wanted confirmation first.)
Furfari was feisty. His temper was nearly as famous as his work ethic. Once, years ago, I stepped in to stop Mickey from going after a rival reporter (half his age) who Mickey believed was rewriting his stories without permission. Anyone who worked with Furfari in the newsroom had their own tales of tempest.
But Furfari could also be gracious, friendly and funny. He mellowed some with age and seemed to enjoy the senior status his years of covering the Mountaineers afforded him.
Mickey’s son, Mike, told me, “He loved people. If you were on his good side—and some people weren’t—you were a friend forever.”
Furfari’s two books—Mickey’s Mountaineer Memories (Volumes 1 and 2) contain dozens of his reflections of great players and moments in WVU sports history. The writing is classic Furfari—a strong lead with emphasis on the basics and a noticeable absence of hyperbole.
In a forward to Mickey’s first book, basketball great Jerry West wrote, “In all the years that I have known Mickey, he remains one of the great figures I have met in the world of journalism. I am truly honored to call him my friend, and I hope he never loses his desire to work his magic as a writer.”
Furfari worked that magic for as long as humanly possible. Even after he became legally blind, Furfari would call in his stories to a reporter at the Times West Virginian who would transcribe them.
Newspapering is a tough business, long hours and low pay, weekend and night shift work, ferreting out information from often reluctant sources. Mickey Furfari was a tireless scribe; gather, write, publish, repeat. He, along with Jack Fleming’s radio broadcasts, defined Mountaineer sports coverage.
Mickey Furfari was The Dean.