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Monday, July 03, 2017

RIP John Bryant

Plainfield Township resident G. John Bryant, age 76, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday afternoon. You can read his obituary here. What it fails to tell you is that John was a huge part of the local talk radio scene during its brief existence.

John was a regular caller to WAEB shock jock Bobby Gunther Walsh back when the Walsh show hosted more calls. He was a daily caller to Ron Angle, and even called me when I guest-hosted for Ron. Though extremely conservative, he was always very entertaining and tolerant of other views.

John was also involved in the NorCo Republican party, and could be counted on to hand out literature at the polls. He also ran unsuccessfully for Plainfield Supervisor in 2015.

When I featured Opinions Online here, he was a regular contributor.

As you can see from the obit, John worked for PennDOT as a highway foreman. He told me he got his job back when you had to pay for it, and every year. That was macing, and may have even been legal at that different time. But he would have been paying Democrats,and I'm sure he resented it. He did eventually stop

John also ran a website called Nazareth Racecam, in which he billed himself as "writer/photographer." He called it a "a family owned business, specializing in sports information, photo journalism, private investigations and security."

I'm unaware of any investigation or security he offered. I've never seen his sports stories or photography. But he knew sports, inside out, and all levels. John accompanied me to most of my grandson's high school basketball games last year. I like to watch the freshman and JVs play, so I always left early. He never minded going early. I drove because his night vision was impaired. I refused to take him to every game because frankly, I was concerned about his health at times.

When we'd go to a game, he'd start flashing the cards around his neck and would get in for free. In the District playoffs, he actually sat at the tables set up for the press. In fact, he took The Morning Call's spot at one of these games and tried to get me to join him. They had to set up a separate table for Keith Groller. By the end of the night, he was on friendly terms with all the sportswriters, and was giving them all kinds of tips. He also gave pointers to the players, coaches, and even the referees.

I'd I didn't know him and stayed where I belonged, with the fans.

I'll miss him.
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownJuly 6, 2017 at 3:28 PM

    I'm a little late to this post.

    When I was covering IndyCar at OpenPaddock.com, I went to all the east coast races for them. John was always at those events as well. It was refreshing when I spoke to him for the first time at the 2011 season opener in St. Pete, FL. Here we were two guys that lived maybe 45 minutes apart in east PA--meeting 1,000 miles away in sunny St. Petersburg.

    John was a funny guy to talk to. He always made me laugh. And he knew some of the true legends of racing for many years. (Not just the most famous resident of Nazareth--you name them--John knew them).

    The last race I ever covered was IndyCar's return to Pocono Raceway in 2013. John was there. And very happy to have a major race in his back yard again. I lost touch with him after that. I went on to work in Pocono Raceway's control tower race weekends.

    Sad to see a really nice guy leave us.

    But, John is up at the race track in the sky. Shooting the greatest racers and cars in motorsports history. He has a sweet spot ready. Because someday he will be again shooting pictures of and covering--A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. & Jr., Rick Mears, Helio Castroneves, Harry Gant, Richard Petty, and of course--Mario Andretti.

    Farewell, John! Until we meet again!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bernie O'HareJuly 6, 2017 at 5:38 PM

    Thanks for your nice words, Spike.

    ReplyDelete

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