By Andrew West
Delaware State News
DOVER — Gene Bryson loved a clever headline.
He wrote some gems during his time with the Delaware State News. Remember these?
Noise laws lower the boom
Sunday liquor plan gets round of boos
Gene loved the play on words.
For a story about the Dover Downs Hotel, he came up with “Vroom with a view.”
He must have repeated that 50 times that night for effect.
We’re going to miss that.
Gene died suddenly Tuesday in his Dover home. He was 51.
We lost a good friend and a newsman with almost three decades of experience.
As senior editor, Gene had a hand in just about everything we do. He coordinated assignments; coached reporters, photographers, designers; collaborated with editors; and readily spoke his mind.
Sure, he was demanding. But it was his way of pushing for the best.
He joined the Delaware State News in 1999 and took on a behind-the-scenes news career that was quite a bit different than his nearly 20 years of work as a sports writer for the upstate paper.
He edited with a keen, critical eye.
He challenged and mentored writers and never offered phony praise.
Gene fought for what he thought readers deserved.
If a reporter didn’t ask the “why?” question, Gene would get agitated.
Talk of tax hikes and referendums raised his conservative ire. He would tell you he might as well just send his whole paycheck straight to the state of Delaware.
He hated cold weather, too. Sometimes he would twist his rant and turn it into a joke about how he needed to move somewhere warm — and where they didn’t have taxes and government.
The truth is, Gene probably would have never left Delaware and certainly never would have moved north of the canal.
He knew Kent County.
While he wasn’t one for rubbing elbows with politicians, he kept close watch, perhaps feeling obliged to do so given his father’s involvement.
His father, George Eugene Bryson, was Smyrna’s mayor from 1967-75 and 1979-81 and heavily involved in Republican politics. His mother Alice’s father, William Matthews Jr., was a state senator in the 1930s.
“We grew up on politics,” said Rick Bryson, Gene’s brother.
We couldn’t tell you how often Gene inserted context and background into our stories.
Many people were surprised by Gene’s talent once he became a news editor.
Gene would readily tell you that sportswriters were among the most talented and versatile people in any newsroom. He appreciated the pace and pressure.
All of that showed in his commitment to the newspaper.
With Dover buried in a foot of snow on Feb. 12, 2003, Gene was one of few people able to come to work. He picked up copy editor Craig Horleman that day and with the help of page designer Sheri Sussman they built a newspaper.
Unfortunately, we never printed it. The snow was too high for it to be delivered. He made it home and back to work the next day when the snowfall had reached two feet.
He also reveled in helping with other Independent Newspapers Inc. (INI) publications. There were a number of times when he edited the Okeechobee News, our company’s daily in Central Florida, from the Dover office when the news team there was hunkered down during hurricanes.
In 2007, INI awarded Gene with a prestigious Excellence Award for leadership.
He had a cut-to-the-chase work ethic, advice and experiences to share. For every event, there was a memory.
A longtime beat writer covering Delaware State football, Gene followed the Hornets all over the south to such places as Tallahassee, Fla., where tailgating is so legendary that the pregame press notes once described the weather as “hot and smoky.” He loved to tell that tale.
The man loved sports, especially Miami Hurricanes football and just about any major college football he could watch on his high-definition television.
He and Dave Hughes, a member of our copy desk, started their sportswriting careers at the same time and enjoyed running arguments ever since about the National and American leagues and whether Mike Schmidt or Brooks Robinson was the better third baseman. Gene sided with Schmidt and the Phils.
On NASCAR weeks, we had the best resource in the state in our newsroom. Gene wrote about racing for nearly two decades.
In recent years, Gene shunned the press box, preferring to sit in the grandstands to take in the fumes and let the bits of Goodyear rubber and grit pepper his face. He wouldn’t go on Sundays because he hated the crowds and the traffic.
Gene got a lot of mileage out of his personal Dale Earnhardt story.
You have to picture Gene sitting by his pool, baking in the hot sun and enjoying every minute of it when the phone rings.
“Gene ... Earnhardt.”
“Talk fast,” Earnhardt told him.
Only in NASCAR, the old school NASCAR, could you get a superstar to return a phone call for an interview. He got calls from Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon that same day. In the mid-1990s, you couldn’t have done better.
We would often walk away as Gene was still telling the story, having heard it many times before.
“Talk fast.”
Gene would keep right on saying it, mimicking Earnhardt.
“Talk fast.”
Andrew West is managing editor of the Delaware State News.
