David Climer (1953 – January 19, 2020) was a sports reporter and

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

for over four decades at ''

The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, ...

'', from 1974 to 2015. Climer was raised in

Lebanon, Tennessee Lebanon is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metropolit ...

, where he wrote for the school newspapers at Lebanon Junior High and Lebanon High School (where he was also a pitcher on the baseball team) before joining the ''

Lebanon Democrat The ''Lebanon Democrat'' is a daily newspaper based in Lebanon, Tennessee, Lebanon, a town of more than 32,000 in the central part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is published by Lebanon Publishing Co., which is owned by Paxton Media Group. Hi ...

'' as a sportswriter. In 1974, he began writing for ''

'' on a part-time basis, earning a full-time assignment covering

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

in 1977. In 1984, he was assigned to the beat for

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

sports. In 1994, he became a columnist, writing about local and national sports stories. Climer retired from The Tennessean in 2015. He continued to write columns for ''The Ledger'', a weekly publication in Tennessee. Over his career, Climer was named among the top ten columnists in the country by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

sports editors three times. In 2015, he was named to the Tennessee Sports Writers Hall of Fame. In retirement, Climer moved to Fripp Island, South Carolina, with his wife, Rebecca. In late 2019, Climer revealed that he had stage 4

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. He died in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

on Sunday, January 19, 2020. He was 66.

References

2020 deaths American sports journalists Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Tennessee People from Lebanon, Tennessee 1953 births {{US-journalist-1950s-stub