As long as you are in this business, your fondest memories always are of the people who walked in the door with you back in the day. Everyone was young, full of energy, and yes, a bit of mischief.

So that’s why it was so special when the veteran Chicago Tribune folks got together over the weekend to remember  legendary sports editor Cooper Rollow, who died last month. In advance of Rollow’s memorial service Sunday, Don Pierson, the Tribune’s great NFL writer and a mentor of mine, threw a reunion for the old crew Saturday night.

The group included Roy Damer, who had his first byline in the Tribune in 1956; George Langford, Rollow’s successor as sports editor; Robert Markus, who covered many events with Rollow as a Tribune columnist; former high school sports writer Jerry Shnay, who still talks of his battles with Taylor Bell. There was Skip Myslenski, Neil Milbert, Mike Conklin, Steve Nidetz, and Fred Mitchell, whose familiar bylines graced the Tribune for years.

It had been decades since we were all together, but the stories flowed as if it was yesterday. One tale after another about true Tribune characters like Rollow, Dave Condon, Bob “Lefty” Logan, Bill Jauss, and the sports department’s beloved Bernie Colbeck, our greatest advocate and friend.

Not to sound like an old veteran who says “it was better back in the day,” but it truly was when it comes to camaraderie and just having fun. Nobody worked from home as they do today. As a result, the newsroom hummed with everyone coming together to put out the paper the next morning. It was serious work, to be sure, but there also were plenty of byplay, pranks, and in general just goofing on each other. Simply, you couldn’t wait to come in every day to be a part of it.

My former boss, Owen Youngman, now a journalism professor at Northwestern, wrote about Rollow and the weekend’s activities on OwenYoungman.com. He recalled how being the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune back then was among the biggest jobs in sports:

For a good part of the 20th Century, it was not at all unusual to find one particular person front and center at important moments in the life of Chicago, in the business of media, and in American sports.

That person was not an athlete or a mogul, as such a person almost certainly would have to be today. He was the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune.

“He was so influential,” said one of my former colleagues at a gathering I attended on Saturday night; “it was the biggest job in the country.” “I couldn’t believe the famous people who came in,” said another. “He was a celebrity,” nodded a third.

Indeed, Rollow was a person of considerable influence. Pierson said if Rollow was calling, “Pete Rozelle picked up the phone.”

Why not? Rollow was a wonderful man who had a terrific sense of humor, as evidenced by this story:

Neil Milbert talked about the Saturday night in football season when, with the desk on deadline to close the Sunday paper, Rollow noticed from his office that a tour group was being led through the building.  He burst from his office waving a fistful of paper and shouting, “Stop the presses! I’ve got a story that will turn this town upside down!” The dumbfounded civilians stopped in their tracks, unaware they were the target audience for a very particular sort of street theater.

As I said, only in the newsroom. Thanks to Don for throwing the party. Thanks to Cooper and the old gang for all the memories.