David Moffit, 82: Veteran UPI sports writer

By Rick Badie

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

David Moffit covered practically every elite sporting event imaginable in a 50-plus year career as a sports writer and editor for United Press International.

We're talking the Masters, Olympics, World Series,  Super Bowls, ACC and SEC showdowns. Name it. Mr. Moffit, in some form or fashion, probably wrote about it.

And he did it with a smile on his face and a pipe in his mouth.

"He knew all the angles and was great with statistics," said Jack E. Wilkinson of Atlanta, who had worked with Mr. Moffit since 1968. "For a guy covering a game, that sort of ability was invaluable."

When it came to interviewing sports stars -- the likes of Paul "Bear" Bryant or Hank Aaron -- he treated them no differently than your average Joe,  said his son, Mark Moffitt of Cumming.

"He talked  one-on-one with Bear Bryant, Hank Aaron or Billy Payne the same way he would to you or me," his son said. "He was an amazing man."

Mr. Moffit  worked for UPI right up to his demise. In fact, he was on the job Wednesday evening when he  experienced a shortness of breath. He was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center in Duluth, where he died Friday night from complications of a suspected heart attack. He was 82.

The funeral for David Mark Moffit of Berkeley Lake will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at Crowell Brothers Peachtree Chapel. Burial will follow at Peachtree Memorial Park.

As a teen, Mr. Moffit wrote for the school newspaper at E.C. Glass High in Roanoke, Va. He enrolled at Lynchburg College, but stopped his studies to join the Marines and serve in World War II, according to UPI.com.

After the war, he returned to Lynchburg and  graduated with a bachelor's degree in English. He married Margie Eaton, his wife of 59 years.

According to UPI.com,  the journalist worked for the Marine Gazette in college.  As a reservist, he was called back to duty during the Korean War.

In 1952, he joined the UPI in Richmond.  A few years later, a promotion brought him to Atlanta, his son said.

Joey Ledford, former Lane Ranger columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was a UPI colleague.  He called Moffit the "consummate professional" in the days when sports writers watched the game, then dictated a story the minute a game ended.

"That's an art the best wire-service guys perfected," Mr. Ledford said. "And he was one of the best."

Mr. Moffit covered practically all sports save for one -- hockey.

"He had other writers he could put on that who really liked it," his son said. "He'd let them cover that."

His favorite sport? Baseball.  His son remembers spending time with his father at Fulton County Stadium, the old home of the Braves.

"He used to really love baseball," his son said. "He was a journalist, though, not just a sportswriter. "

Additional survivors include a daughter, Mary Moffit of Duluth; a brother, Jere' Moffit of Gainesville; a sister, Jackie Fagelson of Nacogdoches, Tex.; four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.