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Bob West
Bob West, a longtime Southeast Texas sports editor and personality, passed away July 28 after a battle with colon cancer at the age of 79.
Born in Mexico, Missouri in 1944, West moved to Southeast Texas in 1965 to attend Lamar Tech, then later served in the Texas National Guard. His 49-year newspaper career began in 1966 at the Beaumont Enterprise, then ventured to the Port Arthur News 1971 where he spent years before retiring in 2015.
West was known for his heavy emphasis on coverage of high school sports and for championing athletes from Southeast Texas who went on to play at collegiate and professional levels. He was twice named Texas Sports Writer of the Year by the Texas High School Coaches Association and twice was selected recipient of the prestigious Fred Hartman Excellence in Sportswriting Award. West built a bigger platform by branching out into sports talk radio, doing shows in Houston, Beaumont, and Port Arthur for more than three decades.
His fundraising efforts on behalf of the Babe Zaharias Foundation led to the implementation of an endowed $50,000 Babe Zaharias-Bob West scholarship for women’s athletics at Lamar University. West also hosted 13 “Homecoming Roasts” that helped raise more than $700,000 for the Museum of the Gulf Coast.
West is survived by his wife, Genie Montie West and three sons – Brandon West of Washington D.C., Damon West of Nederland, and Grayson West of Celina, Texas, along with two grandchildren and his beloved bulldog, Watson.
A gathering of family and friends will take place Sunday, Aug. 6, from 1:30- 2:30 p.m. at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church (2006 Nall St.) in Port Neches. A memorial service will follow.