Tim Haddock, a longtime former L.A. Times and ESPN sports and features writer who at one time laid claim to be “America’s only fast-food newspaper columnist” for The Signal in the 1990s, died Wednesday. He was 54.
The award-winning print journalist was born in the San Fernando Valley and raised in the Santa Clarita Valley. A longtime SCV resident, his first mention in The Signal came in 1988 as a distinguished Hart High graduate, and by 1991, his name was back in print as a sportswriter for a number of news outlets, including The Signal.
During his more than 30-year career, Haddock worked as editor, designer, reporter and sports columnist for the L.A. Daily News, L.A. Times, Ventura County Star, Antelope Valley Press, ESPN, NASCAR and the Team USA Website, according to a biography on his Amazon publishing page. Haddock also wrote a pair of children’s books, “The Adventures of Freddy the Frog,” and one with a sports theme called “Susie Swish.”
He was working as assistant news editor for the City News Service, the state’s largest regional wire service, which has coverage spanning L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties, at the time of his death.
His sports coverage spanned all levels from a start in high school games to some of the nation’s biggest races and its biggest names. His extensive collection of blogs and other published writing also covered the activities and sports of his two sons.
Those who knew him well described Haddock as a thinker with a sense of humor who could catch you off-guard with a story or a hypothetical question that could stop you in your tracks.
“He made you laugh, but he made you think,” said Carol Rock, a longtime coworker of Haddock’s.
The two began working together at The Signal in the mid-1990s and the two became family friends over the years, she said.
“He was smart and he might have seemed he took things casually, but he was very serious underneath,” she added. “And if he believed something, he worked hard to defend his point.”
More information regarding a celebration of life being planned will be updated in this story as it becomes available.
