Remembering Bob Moran – reporter, mentor, friend to all

With Stanford and Arizona State competing in the Pac-12 football championship game over the weekend, my mind wandered back to my days as an ASU student and college reporter.

With fond memories, I recalled the late Bob Moran, who was a giant – a legend, really – for his one-of-a-kind personality, commitment to his craft and warm personality. He passed away on March 4, 2008, and I was thinking back to the sad news and what I wrote later that day (from Tokyo) in an online guestbook for him.

Here’s it is:

Few people touched as many lives as Bob Moran did. It was his God-given gift to make a good first impression and to make others smile.

Thousands knew him from his witty, thought-provoking, on-the-money stories and columns, first in the Arizona Daily Star and later at The Tribune. Others had the pleasure of meeting him at games, press…