DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Free Press says sports columnist Drew Sharp has died. He was 56.
In this May 19, 2015, Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp poses at Comerica Park in Detroit. Sharp, a longtime Detroit sports columnist, died Friday, Oct. 21 2016, at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb, The Detroit Free Press said. He was 56. Sharp joined the paper as a sports writer in 1983 and was named a columnist in 1999. (Diane Weiss/Detroit Free Press via AP)
The newspaper says Sharp died at his home Friday in Bloomfield Hills, a Detroit suburb. The cause was hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
Sharp spent decades at the Free Press, joining the paper as a sports writer in 1983. His wife, Karen Sharp says her husband “loved his job more than anything.”
When he was named a columnist in 1999, Sharp told readers that his job wasn’t to “blindly lead cheers” or simply “slam” people from his perch. He said he had a responsibility to “raise questions and express doubts.”
His last column this week was about Michigan State’s basketball team.
Sharp covered the Detroit Pistons for years before becoming a columnist. The team expressed its condolences.