Friend until the end

In the world of sports journalism, you will meet a lot of people who share the same passion and many with different personalities.

The first time I met Lonny Demaree was on press row at Kentucky football games where we sat beside each other. It didn’t take me long to get acquainted with Lonny, and he and I forged a friendship that lasted for nearly 30 years.

He was always smiling and joking and made everyone around him feel much better about themselves. He could talk football all day long and knew the sport well, particularly Kentucky football. Before the pandemic, I would always sit at Lonny’s table at the weekly Kentucky football luncheon to get his take on the previous game as well as the upcoming contest. You could count on him being right, and I would get something over on him every once in a while.

The more I got to know Lonny, the more I appreciated his friendship. We eventually spent more time around each other at practices, games and other UK-related events. He loved the Cleveland Browns and the L.A. Dodgers. He often talked about his family and shared insights about his life during our road trips to Tennessee. But the best time was when we went to South Carolina to cover a football game in 2015. We stayed a few miles out of Columbia, and I remember it was a late game in Steve Spurrier’s last year as coach of the Gamecocks.

In addition to his football writing duties, Lonny, the “Mayor of UK Football,” also had to do a postgame radio show with Larry Glover on WVLK. It took a while for us to get out of the stadium, not to mention the parking lot. He did his job and I did mine. When we were both done, we ventured back to our hotel.

That night, however, Lonny was in the mood for food. It was late, way past midnight, and he suggested we stop at Waffle House and get a patty melt. I believe it was 2 a.m. when he and I had an early morning “snack” at Waffle House.

We laughed about that many times. He made me laugh and I made him crack up many times by simply acting naturally. Lonny made it easy for you to be yourself.

The next day, we made our way back to Kentucky and we listened to gospel music and talked about the Lord. He was missing not being in the choir at his church that morning. He loved to sing and did it well. He could sing “Amazing Grace” like no other. I believe he also was part of a group that sang at various churches during his prime.

He talked about his wife and family and shared insights on his life that I will keep personal. The most important thing to Lonny was his salvation. Many of my last conversations with Lonny were about the Lord and the importance of salvation.

One of our last encounters was at a postgame football press conference last year. He was talking about a digital recorder he had but never used because he didn’t know how. I asked him what wanted for it, and he said $20. It was the best twenty bucks I ever spent in my life.

His friendship went beyond sports and I’m glad I got to know Lonny Demaree and call him a true friend.

Rest in peace, Lonny.