‘He really set the standard:’ Hall of Fame Alabama sports writer Charles Hollis dies

CHARLES HOLLIS

Hall of Fame sports writer Charles Hollis died Monday at his Cullman farm. (AL.com File photo)bn

Charles Hollis, a Hall of Fame sports writer who covered both Auburn and Alabama at different points in his career, has died.

The longtime Birmingham News writer passed away at his farm in Cullman on Monday, multiple friends confirmed to AL.com. He was 69.

Hollis was inducted into the Alabama Sports Writers Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Cullman County Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

“Charles was as good a reporter, as good a beat writer, as good a journalist as I’ve ever known inside or outside of sports,” said longtime News colleague Kevin Scarbinsky. “His ability to develop relationships with the people he covered – and not in a pandering way at all – was unique. Coaches respected him and trusted him. I looked up to him as a role model.”

Hollis worked at the Birmingham News for more than 40 years. He covered Auburn in the 1980s before transitioning to Alabama later in the decade. He won 12 National Associated Press Awards, 42 ASWA awards and six Alabama Associated Press Awards.

“In my mind, I think he was the first true beat writer in the state,” said longtime friend and co-worker Charles Goldberg. “He really set the standard for all who followed. There was a time when one guy would cover the biggest Auburn or Alabama game on a Saturday and someone else would cover the lesser game. But Charles really was the first to cover one school regularly, and it started with Auburn. He really set the standard for beat writing in the state.”

Goldberg not only worked with Hollis for nearly 20 years at the News but also competed against him for many years when Goldberg was at the Anniston Star.

“We worked together at the News certainly, but we competed against each other and were friends since the 1970s,” he said. “Even when we didn’t work for the same newspaper, I felt like I worked with him. He really made everyone else have to work harder. He was good at his job.”

Though he was officially retired, Hollis continued to write a weekly picks column for AL.com. In his last column on Oct. 29, he picked Auburn to beat Ole Miss 38-35. The Tigers won 31-20. He had also compiled the popular SEC spring preview for many years, including the 75th edition that was produced last spring.

“He was as good a journalist as I’ve ever known,” Scarbinsky said. “Charles cared about journalism. He cared about newspapers. He was the best newspaper guy I ever met. I’m still shaken by the news.”

Many former coaches felt the same way about Hollis, including former Auburn offensive coordinator and Jacksonville State head coach Jack Crowe.

“I think Charles had more keen insight into players and coaches than maybe any sportswriter I ever talked to,” Crowe said. “It was rare. Over time, if you got to know him, you wanted to know him better. He was very interesting. It hurt me. I promise you that.”

Crowe said he and Hollis had become close friends over the years and had lunch several times a month.

“I think he first called me in 1981 when I was at Wyoming, and we started talking about the Auburn job,” Crowe said. “We probably had at least one conversation every year since then and lately we had been going to lunch 1, 2, 3 times a month.

“He was the beginning of the beat writer, and it’s kind of gone away at that level. At Auburn, Charles Hollis knew more about what was going on in that program than I did. He knew his stuff. He knew that place. I was amazed when I would talk to him today about how much insight he would have on whatever the conversation was.”

Crowe said he got the news late Monday night about his friend.

“Another thing I would say about Charles is he didn’t mind writing about tough things, but he always had compassion,” he said.

Former Auburn athletic director David Housel called Hollis “a good man.”

“I don’t know anyone who appreciated the essence of the newspaper more than Charles did,” Housel said. “He was a good man and a fair reporter. Auburn people didn’t like him because he wrote about Alabama. Alabama people didn’t like him because he wrote about Auburn. He wrote good things about both. He wrote bad things about both on occasion. All of which is to say that he was right where he needed to be as a journalist. He let the facts speak for themselves.”

Housel said he never remembered Hollis without a smile on his face.

“Oh, he would get mad,” he joked. “But he wouldn’t stay mad long.”

Hollis graduated from Hanceville High in 1971 and also studied at St. Bernard College and Jacksonville State. He started his career at the Cullman Times in 1973 and also worked for the Anniston Star before joining the Birmingham News as the outdoors editor in 1978.

In addition to serving as The News’ beat writer for both Auburn and Alabama, Hollis also was the paper’s college football editor for a time and eventually rose to assistant sports editor. He developed an interest in the profession almost by accident while in high school.

“I wrote the class poem for the class of 1971, and somehow my mom decided that I needed to be in journalism,” Hollis told the Cullman Times in 2009. “So when I graduated high school on a Friday, I went to work for the Cullman Times the next Monday.”

While in Birmingham, Hollis covered Alabama’s 1992 national championship season, and later edited and co-authored a top-selling commemorative book produced by The News. He had been collaborating on a memoir with former Alabama football player and coach Ray Perkins up until Perkins’ death last December.

Hollis was also an integral part of the Alabama Sports Writers Association, often coordinating the arrangement of the organization’s awards banquet each summer. Kirk McNair, former Alabama sports information director and long-time publisher of Bama Magazine who still covers the Crimson Tide for 247 Sports, said Hollis’ loss is a significant one to sports journalism in the state.

“I am shocked and saddened to lose such a good friend and journalist,” McNair said. “He was tireless in his pursuit of excellence, and like a good quarterback, made everyone around him better. I particularly enjoyed our time working together on Alabama Sports Writers Association plans. I will miss him very much.”

Current ASWA president Chris Walsh described Hollis as “amazing.”

“I first met him years ago, but it wasn’t until I became president of the Alabama Sports Writers Association that I really started to get to know him well,” he said. “He was absolutely crucial in making this year’s convention happen, and spearheaded our efforts in creating the Presidents’ Award, which is like our NFL Man of the Year honor. We needed someone who had the respect and admiration of everyone both inside and outside the organization. That was Charles.

“He’s one of those names that should always be synonymous with ASWA, not just because of the stories he wrote, but because he always tried to raise the bar of everyone else around him. He’s one of the greatest journalists the state of Alabama has ever had.”

Hollis is survived by two sisters, Pat Young and Molly Chesser-Black, as well as a niece and two nephews. Funeral services will take place Thursday at 11 a.m. at Cullman Funeral Home Chapel with internment in Bethlehem East Cemetery in Hanceville. Visitation will take place Wednesday from 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m. at the Cullman Funeral Home Chapel.

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