William J. Rechin (August 20, 1930 – May 21, 2011), better known as Bill Rechin, was an American cartoonist who created the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s ''

Out of Bounds In sports, out of bounds (or out-of-bounds) refers to being outside the playing boundaries of the field. Due to the chaotic nature of play, it is normal in many sports for players and/or the ball to go out of bounds frequently during a game. T ...

'' and '' Crock''. Born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, Rechin studied art at Buffalo's Albright Academy of Art, where he met his wife, Trish. He drew his first strip, ''Pluribus'', in 1971. In 1975, Rechin, Don Wilder (1934–2008) and

Brant Parker Brant Julian Parker (August 26, 1920 – April 15, 2007) was an American cartoonist. He co-created and drew ''The Wizard of Id'' comic strip until passing the job on to his son, Jeff Parker, in 1997. Cartoonist Johnny Hart, his co-creator, ...

launched '' Crock'', a strip depicting the French Foreign Legion. Wilder and Rechin began their ''Out of Bounds'' strip in 1986. Rechin lived in

Spotsylvania County, Virginia Spotsylvania County is a county in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the July 2021 estimate, the population was 143,676. Its county seat is Spotsylvania Courthouse. History At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of the area that bec ...

with his wife. The couple had seven children and eight grandchildren. He died of

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voice ...

on May 21, 2011.

Awards

He received the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1992 for his work on ''Out of Bounds''. He was president of the NCS for part of 1988. His son, cartoon illustrator Kevin Rechin, received the National Cartoonist Society Magazine and Book Illustration for 1999, and was nominated for the same award for 1997. Kevin Rechin took over ''Crock'' in May 2011, with his brother-in-law, Bob Morgan, scripting.

References

Sources

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External links

National Cartoonists Society biography

1930 births 2011 deaths American comics artists Artists from Buffalo, New York Deaths from esophageal cancer American comic strip cartoonists {{comic-strip-creator-stub