The last time I talked to Greg Clark, he was looking forward to the spring.

The spring never came for “Clarkie,” as he was called in the newsroom.

Greg died Friday morning after a short illness. (See incomplete obituary on Page 2).

His last column ran a week ago today.

Many of you have been loyal readers of Greg’s columns for years. He frequently wrote a college football column in the fall and would serve you his bowl picks in December. The last few years, he wrote a column for Saturday’s paper.

An avid Syracuse basketball fan, Greg battled through throat cancer a decade ago and survived a stroke a little over a year ago.

However, his latest setback would prove to be too much to overcome.

In December, while en route to Clarion for a Kane High School football playoff game, Greg was in a car accident. He subsequently wound up at Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital with heart problems.

He had lost 28 pounds and had no stamina, making it impossible for him to cover any events for The Era.

Doctors found bone marrow around Greg’s heart and were waiting to give him chemotherapy in hopes of ridding the bone marrow from his heart area. He told me if that didn’t work he’d be put on a heart transplant list.  

He e-mailed me a little over a week ago, alerting me he had a feeding tube in his stomach to help him put on weight so he could undergo chemotherapy.

I kind of felt then it would be just a matter of time that I would be writing this column.

Greg joined The Era’s sports staff as a part-timer some 20-25 years ago – when Ronald Kloss was sports editor. Soon he was scrambling around the Big 30 area covering any event he was asked.

In addition, Greg was broadcasting games for radio station WESB, employed at Pitt-Bradford as sports information director and working in The Era’s mailroom.

One of Greg’s favorite things to do was stop at restaurants on his trips. He would throw in an item or two in his columns about a dining experience.

A favorite trip for Greg every summer was to Williamsport to attend the Little League World Series. A column would follow about his experiences en route to and from the event.

When Bradford hosted a pair of Little League state tournaments over the last few years, Greg was always one of the first ones to want to know what games to cover during the tourney.

And he would always remind me he blocked out the first Saturday in August to cover the Big 30 Charities Football Classic.

Greg leaves behind a wife and two daughters, the oldest of whom is seven months pregnant. I can’t help but thinking it was another reason Greg was looking forward to the spring – to see the birth of his grandchild.

I talked to Greg a couple weeks back and he was hoping to be on the baseball diamond this spring to cover some high school and Pitt-Bradford games.

His mind was sharp, but his body was failing.

Bradford is expecting to host another Little League state tournament this summer, just a week before the Big 30 Classic – what would be two of Greg’s favorite events.

Only this summer something will be missing from the baseball diamond and the gridiron – Greg and his notebook.

Rest in peace, my friend.