A Red Deer sportswriter honoured for his lifelong dedication to athletics has died.
Greg “Meach” Meachem, 71, passed away after a short illness at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre last Thursday.
In his long career Meach covered every sport that could be found on rink, diamond, pitch, field, pool or track for the Red Deer Advocate as a sports reporter and editor.
Meach’s lifelong passion for sports was recognized last year when he was awarded the Central Sport Lifetime Achievement Award.
When he accepted the award, he typically shone the spotlight on the thousands of athletes he has covered, saying it had been a privilege to follow their achievements.
On the Red Deer Rebels beat since they entered the league in the 1992-93 season, Meachem went to work for the team as a correspondent when he retired from the Advocate after 35 years in 2016. After every Rebels game, he could be found doing what he loved best talking hockey with coaches and players and giving fans an inside look at the team and the sport.
Meach was born in Arborfield, Sask. and was raised in Creighton, Sask. and Flin Flon, Man. After high school, he worked in construction, mining, and maintenance before deciding to pursue a sportswriting career in the late 1970s.
He came to Alberta and graduated from SAIT’s journalism program in 1978 and took his first job at the Strathmore Standard and then worked for the Lloydminster Times.
In 1981, he joined the Red Deer Advocate as a sports reporter and remained until he retired as sports editor in 2016. For decades, he and sportswriter and Alberta Sports Hall of Fame member Danny Rode covered and promoted central Alberta’s sports and athletes. Among Meach’s career highlights were covering Calgary’s 1988 Winter Olympics and the 1990 World Figure Skating Championships in Halifax.
Rode remembers Meach as an easy-going, generous friend and golfing buddy with a great sense of humour.
“It’s easy to say he was a great guy — but he was. He was a guy who liked to laugh. He’d go to the movies, and if it didn’t have a laugh in it, he didn’t like it most of the time,” Rode said with a chuckle.
“He loved sports, all sports, but especially hockey. When he first came here he covered the Red Deer Rustlers and then he got involved from Day 1 with the Rebels.”
Rode said he and Meach routinely worked 10- to 12-hour shifts trying to get as much sports into the next day’s paper as they could.
Meach was great around the young athletes he covered, he said.
“He was good with kids. He always knew how to handle different situations and when to talk to people. He’d never do a story on a kid and say something negative. He was always positive.”
After Rode retired in 2014, Meach became a one-person sports department but still tried to cover everything he could.
He was devoted to his family, wife Brenda, son Dallas and daughter Kelsey and spent many hours cheering on his two grandchildren, Bodhi and Saffron, during their sporting activities.
Rebels owner, president and general manager Brent Sutter said he spent many hours sitting in his office talking hockey with Meach and he will be missed by all who knew him at the organization.
“He was an awesome person, Number 1,” Sutter said. “He always had great knowledge of the game. His reporting was honest and truthful.
“He was a very intelligent reporter and he worked his butt off. From a professional level, he was outstanding.”
His love of the game and regard for the young Rebels players also set him aside.
“He handled everything extremely well. He asked questions that were very knowledgeable, intelligent questions, then allowed a young player to answer the questions.
“His thoughtfulness and his caring towards the players was always very top notch.”
The Red Deer Rebels and Sutter paid tribute to Meach on Facebook.
“Fans were treated to some of the best coverage across the entire WHL thanks to Greg’s personality, skill and dedication to his craft.”
“Our league, franchise and myself personally, will miss him dearly.”
Meach’s entire Red Deer Advocate family offers our condolences.
Funeral services will be held Friday at Red Deer’s Eventide Funeral Home, 4820 45th St., beginning at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers and to celebrate Greg’s love of sport, donations can be made to Penhold Minor Soccer Association via e-transfer to penholdsoccer@gmail.com.