Obituary: Longtime Daily Pilot sports writer, editor Roger Carlson dies at 88

Roger Carlson, whose journalistic influence at the Daily Pilot spanned decades as both a sports reporter and editor, has died at the age of 88.

Carlson passed away at a hospital in St. George, Utah, on Oct. 15, said his niece, Karen Carlson.

Roger Frederick Carlson was a Southern California native, born in Altadena in 1936. A former member of the U.S. Marine Corps, he started working for the Daily Pilot part time as a freelancer in 1964, and full time in 1968 as a member of the sports staff.

He took over as sports editor in 1988, a position he held until he retired in 2003.

Rich Dunn succeeded Carlson as Daily Pilot sports editor after working with him for more than two decades.

“There is no greater or more significant staff member in the history of the Daily Pilot, which has its origins dating to 1907, than Roger Carlson,” Dunn said. “Roger taught me how to cover football and basketball games when I was 19, how to keep statistics and a running log of the games. As a Daily Pilot stringer under Roger’s tutelage, I learned more about sports coverage, sports journalism and interviewing than during any time in college or any classroom setting.”

Carlson was embedded in the local sports community and always sought to write about the positives in the performances of local high school athletes, rather than the negatives.

In 2011, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board unanimously voted to name the press box at Davidson Field, on the campus of Newport Harbor High, the Roger Carlson Press Box.

Dunn said he traveled together with Carlson on many assignments, to Rose Bowl games, the 1988 World Series and more, but he also considered him a friend.

“My wife, Andrea, once wrote Roger a thank-you card after Roger worked on me to stop chewing snuff tobacco, a bad habit that I quit based on conversations with Roger in his office,” Dunn said. “There were myriad profound discussions between us in his office, some joyful, some sad.”

Roger Carlson, left, receives an award from California Newspaper Publishers Assn. President Mort Levine at the Del Coronado Hotel, circa 1992.

(Courtesy of Karen Carlson)

Karen Carlson said her uncle also endured a lot of tragedy, as his first wife died of cancer. He also lost two sons, one as an 2-year-old infant and one as an adult via a car accident in 2010.

In terms of his work, it spoke for itself.

“He was just a legend, “ said Karen Carlson, also a former journalist as a TV newscaster. “He was one of those people who was a stickler for facts … You had all of these newspapers, but it was his pride to beat them all with a scoop because he knew people, and they trusted him.”

Carlson is preceded in death by his wife, Dorothea Florence Joy, and his sons, Paul Edward and Steven Roger, his brother, Kenneth and sister, Norma. He is survived by his son, Brian Keith Carlson, his widow, Christeena, grandchildren Andrew, Breana Ceballos, Monet and Marcus, and great-grandchildren Aubrey Dorothea and Emily.

A viewing for Roger F. Carlson will be held Monday at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar. The viewing will start at noon, with the service beginning at 1 p.m.