by David Zizmor

SAN FRANCISCO–George Devine Sr our co-host of many, many local programs for Sportstalk radio, podcasts, and interviews for many years sadly passed away at the age of 74, at a time when we just don’t know how to begin expressing a terrible heartbreaking loss like this. George Sr will be remembered by his colleagues here at http://www.sportsradioservice.com as one of the most studious and yet humorous of all talk show hosts. George Sr covered the Oakland A’s for the site up until his brother Peter Devine had a near life threatening car accident in San Francisco in 2014. George Sr. also covered Cal Bears football for Sportstalk radio.

Peter later thankfully recovered and it is George Sr who sadly succomed to a short illness according to his son George Jr and passed away on Thursday night. George Sr was a native San Franciscan and lived in the Sunset District. George Sr also worked at Fox Radio Sports, worked in real estate and taught real estate at the University of San Francisco. His death comes as a shock to many of his colleagues as he was taking care of his brother Peter’s recovery when he fell sick and left us.

George Sr was one of the nicest guys in the pressbox, he never had a bad word to say about anybody and he always had a smile on his face and he was always quick with a joke. They weren’t always the best jokes amd they were very corny but they were funny becaue George Sr told them. I don’t know if anyone else could have gotten away with them but because it was George Sr they were funny. He had a way about him he was just a big sweetheart and everybody in the pressbox just loved him.

He was one of those guys who was a joy to be around and he always made you feel a little bit better it was about 2002-03 we were sitting in the Giants pressbox at AT&T Park and if don’t know exactly where the Giants pressbox is it was directly behind home plate on the lower level under the second deck. It takes a lot for a foul ball to get in there, the ball had to go up and over the screen behind the plate and get into the pressbox and it has to go straight back and it has to have a lot of zip on it.

As it turns out any ball that makes it into the Giants pressbox is kind of a rocket and it’s hard to get away from and there are more than a couple of holes in the back of the pressbox where baseballs have come through and have embedded themselves into the plaster. In 2002-03 George Sr got in the way of one of those baseballs and someone hit a foul ball and it was a rocket and if your a split second late your just not going to be able to react. George Sr took one off the upper chest in he meaty part just below the shoulder so it didn’t break anything.

What we all remember was George Sr for awhile had a baseball sized welt on his upper chest it must have hurt but he took it like a champ and it was kind of a badge of honor for quite sometime. George Sr ended up laughing it off, he was that kind of guy. Even a baseball into his chest a million miles an hour didn’t slow him down. George Sr you will be missed by all of us and your a very special friend and colleague.
George Devine Sr. gone at 74.

David Zizmor is a co-host of George Devine Sr’s and does commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below