To the editor:

As was reported in Tuesday’s Journal-World, baseball is mourning the death of Harry Kalas, long-time Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Philadelphia Phillies. The extensive media coverage of his untimely death has emphasized how fondly the Philadelphia Phillies players and fans viewed him, primarily because of the encouragement that he always gave the players and his well-known habit of trying his best to speak positively, rather than negatively, about the Phillies players’ performances on the field.

Reading these news accounts reminded me immediately of our own Tom Hedrick. Tom Hedrick has broadcast virtually every sports event imaginable in northeast Kansas for many years. Among his many admirable traits is the fact that he always accentuates the accomplishments of the players whose exploits he is describing on radio or television. Tom Hedrick’s positive, upbeat style of reportage has had a meaningful impact on many young people in northeast Kansas and elsewhere, and their families too. His contributions to us have been many and he deserves to be recognized.