Longtime World-Herald sportswriter Larry Porter dies at 80

“Best storyteller ever,’’ former colleague Steve Sinclair said.

Porter, who worked 41 years at the newspaper, died Wednesday night at his home from a lung disease. He was 80.

A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Monday at Lincoln's Indian Hills Community Church, 1000 S. 84th St.

Porter was best known for covering high school sports across the state from 1976 to 1990 before shifting to the outdoor page.

"It was 17 years ago that I was given the opportunity to scam The World-Herald," Porter wrote in 2007 about his retirement. "Gene Hornbeck had retired as our outdoor writer, and the coveted job was given to me. What a bunch of suckers these editors were. They were going to pay me to hunt and fish.”

Porter could be playful with his writing. But he was at his best capturing the essence of life. Such as in a 1989 column about Bill Holliday, a well-known athlete and high school coach in central Nebraska:

“My wife and I stood on the windswept tarmac of the Kearney airport Tuesday and watched the twin-prop plane streak down the runway.

"We slipped our arms around each other as the plane lifted off, then hugged after the speck vanished into the western horizon.

"'We take this for granted, don't we?'" Ruth said.

“I knew what she meant. Our friend was strapped inside that plane. Bill Holliday hasn't been able to hug anyone since the morning of Dec. 31 when he fell from a tree stand while deer hunting. He fractured his neck in three places and is partially paralyzed.

“Hugging always has been important for Holliday. I didn't know him in March of 1976, but I and many other basketball fans in the state became acquainted with his values through a World-Herald photograph by Rudy Smith.”

Holliday was the basketball coach at Aurora, which won the Class B title when a last-second shot by Holdrege didn’t go in.

Continued Porter: “Smith's dramatic photo captured the sweet ecstasy of victory for Aurora. In the foreground, Suzy Sinner, a cheerleader, is shown after she leaped into the arms of her twin brother, Scott, an Aurora player.

“But Holliday didn't join in the celebration. In the background of that photo, Holliday is shown bending over a distraught Brian Kohlscheen, who slumped to the floor and buried his face in his arms after missing the shot that would have given Holdrege the title.

“Smith's picture was so poignant that it was used as the cover for the state tourney program in 1977.”

On the outdoor beat, Porter said that the most heart-wrenching story came during the winter of his first year as the outdoor writer.

“Three neighbors — lifelong friends — had hunted deer together in western Iowa for years. One of the men fired a shotgun slug at a deer. The slug traveled 239 yards and struck a hunting companion in the chest as he was crossing a fence," he wrote.

“The man who was killed was hidden from the view of the shooter by a hill. For me, the incident was a riveting lesson in hunter safety. Killed by a shotgun slug that traveled 239 yards? Few would believe it is possible. I hated to write that story. I still grieve for those who were impacted by that tragedy.”

In retirement, Porter continued to write occasional outdoor features. In recent years, he put down the hunting gear and did his shooting with a camera. The last time was three weeks ago.

“He became this great bird photographer," said Sinclair, a former World-Herald sports editor and Porter's colleague for 34 years. “We encouraged him to put together a book with his bird photos and his commentary. Never got that done, though.”

Porter was a graduate of Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson and attended Omaha University. He worked for four years at the Council Bluffs Nonpareil and for three as sports information director at Omaha University before joining The World-Herald in 1966. His early beats included southwest Iowa high school sports as well as the Kansas City-Omaha Kings pro basketball team and the Omaha Royals.

He was the state's sports writer of the year three times and twice won the Associated Press sports story of the year in the state. He entered the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame last fall.

Survivors include his wife; daughters Kelli Forest of Wichita, Kansas, Shannon Clayton of Plattsmouth and Heather Masten of Republic, Missouri; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

“Dad was hoping he’d make it long enough to see the Huskers have a winning season," Kelli said.​