There was no mistaking one Robert Dean Franklin.
All he had to do was open his mouth.
In nearly four decades in the Daily Times sports department, the Texas native never lost that deep, smooth Southern drawl.
His name was Bob Franklin, but to all of us at the Daily Times as well as the Delco sports community, he was simply Bobby Dean.
I don't think I ever addressed him otherwise.
We've lost another member of our old Daily Times family. Bobby Dean Franklin died this week. You can read Terry Toohey's remembrance of Bob here.
Bobby Dean was as genuine, as friendly a person as I've ever met. And he was a rarity for a person who spent a lifetime working in newsrooms. I don't think I ever heard him raise his voice. The only thing that ever came out of out Bobby Dean's mouth was that smooth drawl, a comforting sound even when it seemed like the world was coming apart at the seams.
I will always remember Bobby Dean for two things:
One, he was in charge of the longtime Daily Times fixture, our weekly football pool.
The second one involves another longtime Daily Times institution, our local historian and Delco sports legend Harry Chaykun.
Harry, who had spent decades chronicling high school sports at the paper, left the paper.
After several years in exile, he returned and picked up right where he left off on the high school sports beat.
On his first night back at the paper, I happened to be in the sports department talking football with Bobby Dean when Harry walked in.
Never looking up from his computer, Bobby Dean offered the following quip: "How was your vacation, Harry?"
That's the Bobby Dean I will always remember.
Rest well, friend.
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