Sportswriter Mike Muldoon dies at 60 (2024)

Mike Muldoon, an award-winning Eagle-Tribune sports reporter and editor, gifted storyteller and beloved friend to many, died Monday after suffering a heart attack.

During his 35-year career with the paper, Muldoon recognized tens of thousands of local athletes in his stories. His passion for writing local sports was exceptional and set him far apart from many other sportswriters. After high school, Muldoon was known to track and report on local athletes in college sports.

“Mike did not cover local sports, he loved local sports. In my 35 years in media, I never met any reporter who cared more about the purity and joy of scholastic sports,” said John Molori of Methuen, a fellow sportswriter and author.

Tom Cuddy, one of three captains of the 1987 Greater Lawrence Technical School football team, said Muldoon “made all student athletes feel special regardless of the sport or level of talent.”

Fellow Eagle-Tribune sportswriter Dave Willis, who worked alongside Muldoon for the past 19 years, said Muldoon’s expertise on local sports was unprecedented.

“Mike’s encyclopedic knowledge of The Eagle-Tribune’s area local sports teams was awe-inspiring, and his meticulously-kept record books for local teams are legendary. Having a local sports discussion with Mike — of which we had countless — was always fascinating because of the decades of knowledge he had of local programs and athletes,” Willis said.

Muldoon resided in Methuen with his wife of the past 18 years, Yadira Betances Muldoon, who was also a longtime Eagle-Tribune reporter covering religion and the city of Lawrence.

Yadira said her husband would not have cared for a memorial or remembrance story about him ‘’because he hated the limelight.”

“But he deserves it,” she said Tuesday morning. “I am devastated. I lost the love of my life, my best friend, my confidant.”

She added, “I am blessed to have had Mike in my life because he made me whole. He was the most selfless man I’ve met. There was nothing I asked for that Mike didn’t give me.”

Muldoon suffered a heart attack Sunday morning and died Monday at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he was taken by MedFlight helicopter. Yadira said she and family members were by his side and his passing was peaceful.

His sudden illness and unexpected death immediately darkened The Eagle-Tribune newsroom, where Muldoon was a quick-witted friend to all.

“There were many tears shed here Monday,” Editor Tracey Rauh said. “Because of the intensity of the work we do, photographers, reporters and editors become very close, like family. We lost one of our close family members Monday and enormous grief comes with that.”

While he stood 6 feet, 6 inches tall, Muldoon was regarded as a gentle giant.

Former Eagle-Tribune editor Ken Johnson said Muldoon “had a wonderful touch with the young people who were the subjects of his stories, putting them at ease.”

He added that Muldoon “was a kind and gentle man who will be missed by all who knew him.”

Muldoon, an Andover native, originally joined The Eagle-Tribune in 1987.

“He is widely known and respected all over the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire for his excellent coverage and commitment to local sports — especially high school,” wrote Jim Falzone, general manager of North of Boston Media Group, in an email to employees Monday evening.

“Subscribers looked forward to Mike’s ‘Athlete’s Oath’ that published annually in The Eagle-Tribune. The column offered wise advice to athletes and coaches for the upcoming school year — with the theme ‘let’s be good sports, let’s be caring people, let’s keep sports in the right perspective ... and let’s have fun,’” Falzone wrote.

He noted Mike worked closely with Bill Burt, executive sports editor, and that his passing leaves a large hole in the Eagle-Tribune newsroom.

“He mixed it up with everyone in the newsroom,” Burt said. “He was as witty as they come. He will be greatly missed.”

Six years ago, Muldoon suffered an aortic dissection — a critical injury to his heart. While most of the time such a medical condition is fatal, Muldoon survived and after surgery and months of recuperation, returned to work.

In December 2017, he wrote a column about “cheating death” and recovering just in time to cover the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic basketball tournament — his favorite yearly event.

Yadira Muldoon said her husband was adamant about walking 5 miles daily. He would pace around the house if needed to meet his goal. He also walked at the mall in Salem, New Hampshire, where he got to know many of the other walkers, she said.

Upon hearing of Muldoon’s passing, Michael Sullivan, former Lawrence mayor and a Merrimack Valley business owner, described him simply as a “great human being.”

“There was no one better to report and highlight sports in the Merrimack Valley. Especially when it came to youth, high school, college local spotlights. His legendary stories will always be shared in the lives of thousands of young athletes throughout their lives,” Sullivan said.

Molori described Muldoon “first and foremost” as “a uniquely gifted writer, always prepared and adept at choosing the right word or phrase to describe any situation. He was a legendary figure at so many big games and milestone moments, a true chronicler and trumpeter of student athletes’ accomplishments.”

“There have been a lot of great sports voices and scribes in this region, but I do not hesitate one bit in saying that Michael Muldoon was the best local sportswriter ever,” Molori said.

Ryan Breton, a New England meteorologist who attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, said he was “heartbroken” to learn Muldoon had died.

“Mike was so good to my family. He wrote about my brother Connor, a four-year track athlete with autism, at Timberlane in 2014. Who else would make someone who rarely scored a point an ‘unsung hero?’ Mike always found the inspiring team stories,” Breton said.

Breton said Muldoon always took phone calls from Kathy Greene, Breton’s late stepmother, when she called the newsroom “asking scores of meets or games any of her nine grandchildren were part of.”

“She was a longtime Methuen High teacher he dubbed ‘Nana Greene’ in many of his columns, and he took the time to pay tribute to her when she suddenly passed two years ago. In the middle of the pandemic lockdown, when we could not have a funeral, his words meant the world to me and my family,” Breton said.

As a three-sport captain at CCHS in cross country and track, Breton said he read the “Athlete’s Oath” every fall.

“Years later, I still read it every fall, because those lessons don’t just apply to sports, they apply to life,” he said.

Willis said he was lucky to work with Muldoon for the past 19 years as a college intern, stringer, and full-time sportswriter starting in 2007.

“I first met Mike when I was a 19-year-old freshman at Northern Essex Community College. He supervised my internship in the summer of 2003, and from the first day I worked with Mike, I realized two things — you have to know your facts, and you have to be able to take a joke,” Willis said.

In addition to his reporting skills, Willis said Muldoon’s abilities as an editor were also tremendous.

“I always felt safe when Mike edited one of my stories, because I knew he was going to find whatever typos I had missed, and have a few suggestions on how to make my writing better. He simply had a knack for finding errors in stories. and his writing was always nearly mistake free. I rarely ever found a mistake in the hundreds of his stories I edited,” Willis said.

Willis also recalled Muldoon’s wit, noting his jokes were sometimes cutting, although never mean-spirited, often self-deprecating, and always funny.

“He had a zinger for just about everyone — including once for NBA Hall of Famer Ray Allen — which he often punctuated with a loud “Zing!” acknowledging how silly it was. He was usually the target of his jokes. A former colleague recently referred to him as a ‘6-foot-6 Rodney Dangerfield,’” he said.

Willis said he and Muldoon were both night owls and quite often after deadline would hang around the office.

“Sports talk would turn to life,” he said. “He played a major role in helping me through some rough times I experienced in my 20s, like losing my parents, with long talks — while we were the last two in The Eagle-Tribune office — over Dunkin’ Donuts ice coffees, as sunrise approached. I find it difficult to accept that I no longer have the chance to talk though life with Mike, who truly became like family,” Willis said.

Chris Rattey, now director of digital at GBH News, worked with Muldoon from 1997 to 1999 when Ratty was first breaking into the news business.

He recalled Muldoon’s care and patience with younger reporters.

“I got my first ‘real’ newspaper gig out of college as a stringer for the Merrimack College women’s basketball team,” Rattey said.

“My very first night, I went to the game and took feverish notes, documenting nearly every play, rebound and shot. I came back to the newsroom with a stack of notes and started writing my game story. I met Mike Muldoon for the first time then, and after an hour or so of feverish typing ... I handed my story in. Needless to say, it was all over the place and not up to E-T standards. But Mike patiently called me over, and I sat with him for two-plus hours as he explained the building blocks of writing a proper game story,” he said.

Rattey said Muldoon left a lasting impression on him.

“Total pro,” he said. “I will never, ever forget it.”

Dianne Tarpy of Bradford said she also shared Muldoon’s “Athlete’s Oath” column whenever she found it appropriate, “which was often.”

“His words stand the test of time, and are as worthwhile now as the day, years ago, that he wrote them. I admired his ability to appreciate and write eloquently about the high school/college student athletes. ... He got it right. He was an honest, warm human being whose journalistic skills allowed us to fully understand the athletes. His words inspired, informed, educated and excited us, the readers.”

Tarpy said she will miss Muldoon and “his authentic, caring brand of journalism.”

“May we all bring a smile to someone’s face as often as possible in his memory,” Tarpy said.

Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.

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