RIP Jack Falla

Part of having a blog is that you can write whatever you want. So I am taking time this week to eulogize a mentor of mine you probably don't know, unless you are a journalism or sports journalism major at Boston University’s College of Communication. This past Sunday, Jack Falla suddenly passed away of a heart attack at 62. Jack was not just a teacher but also a mentor, advisor and very good friend.

Jack was someone who also was able to devote his life to the two things he was passionate about – writing and teaching (although he would call the latter “coaching” to use one of his endless sports metaphors.) Many people write well. Jack was an incredibly gifted writer who was able to become a sports journalist, and was on staff for Hockey News and Sports Illustrated in the 1980s. He then started to freelance and teach at BU. He also loved hockey, so he decided to build a hockey rink in his backyard. After some humorous trial and error it worked, and he rebuilt it every winter.

I was one of the few who did NOT have Jack for sports journalism at 8 a.m., but rather a regular writing class at COM in 1989. I picked his class by chance and it changed my life. Not only was Jack one of the best teachers I ever had, but we became friends and kept in touch long after graduation. I had lunch with him less than two months ago and he was exactly the same – an all-around great guy. His premature death has left me extremely sad, but I truly am a better person (and writer) for having known him.

To this day, I remember much of what Jack told me. In one of my first assignments for him that was maybe 400 words, he told me to cut 20 words out. When I finished he said, “Now cut another 25 words out.” I got through it and he said, “How many of those were adjectives and adverbs?” They almost all were. I never forgot that lesson, plus his loathing of exclamation points and love of sports metaphors. There are many good writers, but not all of them have the skill to teach writing well. Jack did.

Throughout the years Jack served as a reference, mentor and drinking buddy. He never said no to anything. When I found an athlete who I thought had a great story I told Jack, fully confident he would send out the word to his minions in the sports world who would be interested in the story. Naturally he found someone, and the athlete was profiled in the Sunday Globe. When I was applying to grad school a few years ago, I put Jack on standby as a reference in case one of my former bosses couldn’t pull through. Sure enough, my old boss went AWOL and Jack delivered a reference even though he had taught me over 15 years ago. That’s the kind of man he was; always willing to help out and eager to swap stories.

After Jack’s book Home Ice, I learned much more about Jack’s rink and his family. His love and care for them was evident throughout its pages. Of course I will be reading his new book Open Ice with a heavy heart, but he told me at our last meal together how pleased he was with it and he was very proud of some of the essays inside.

It’s been said that you can tell a man’s worth by what he leaves behind after he passes away. Jack leaves a stadium full of professional and amateur sportswriters and others who all seem to have identical memories of this amazing family man, teacher and coach. I can truly say my life is better for having known him well. And for his sports journalism class, there are currently three writers in the Boston Globe sports section, one Yankee writer at the Daily News, on columnist at the Chicago Tribune, four PR directors at four different professional sports franchises and one PR director for the NHL that are alumni of Jack’s classes. And those are just the ones I know about.

If you’re looking for a good read this fall, do yourself a favor and purchase either Home Ice or Open Ice. Even if you don’t skate, the stories will make you laugh and warm your heart.

Here are additional eulogies on Jack from others at The Boston Herald, BU's Daily Free Press, The NY Daily News, the Metrowest Daily News and The Boston Globe. Almost all were written by former students like me.