Mike Rathet, longtime journalist and former executive sports editor of the Daily News, has died at 88
He assembled and deftly managed an eclectic staff that made Philadelphia’s People Paper a must read in the 1980s and ‘90s. “He taught me how this business is meant to work,” a former colleague said on X.
Mike Rathet, 88, formerly of West Chester, retired longtime executive sports editor of the Daily News, former sports reporter for the Associated Press, onetime publicity director for the American Football League and Miami Dolphins, author, and mentor, died Tuesday, June 25, of complications from age-associated issues at his home in Amelia Island, Fla.
Acclaimed by former colleagues and rivals in Philadelphia and around the country for his creativity, humor, loyalty, leadership, and integrity, Mr. Rathet turned his lifelong love of sports and journalism into a colorful 26-year run, from 1974 to 2000, as executive sports editor of the Daily News. A native New Yorker who made it big in Philly, he launched the careers of award-winning journalists, assembled and managed one of the nation’s most celebrated sports staffs, and helped his devoted department produce memorable People Paper projects, special sections, and sales gimmicks to move papers.
He was all things to all people on his staff, and his rough-and-tumble management style seemed to stir in them just the right measures of confidence, excitement, frustration, and satisfaction. His writers got mad at his demands, they said. But they always answered his phone calls. They worried constantly about meeting his high standards. But he was always there, they said, when help was needed.
“Mike was a master in the art of management,” said former Daily News columnist Ray Didinger. “He put his stamp on that paper every day in every way.” Former Daily News football writer Paul Domowich said on X (formerly known as Twitter): “There were many times when I wanted to run him over with my car. But his tough love made me a better sports writer.”
Zachary Stalberg, then the editor of the Daily News, said in a 1992 column: “His people feel they are special, and they feel they have to meet a special standard day after day.”
He shared adjoining offices with his eventual successor, Pat McLoone, for a decade, and McLoone watched Mr. Rathet massage egos, juggle schedules, and make hard decisions. “We accomplished a lot,” McLoone said, “and laughed even more.”
Mr. Rathet did enjoy office antics, and nearly every former colleague has a Rathet tale to tell. There was the time two of his assistants argued loudly in his office, and he emerged afterward and said happily to a nearby colleague: “That was something, wasn’t it?”
Stalberg called Mr. Rathet the “Genghis Khan of the Daily News sports department” in 1992 and said he won an assignment dispute with a writer by “shedding his trademark pair of blue and orange wingtips and jumping repeatedly on the office couch.” Another time, in the busy newsroom, Mr. Rathet yelled to a veteran reporter: “Don’t let me down again.”
He told writer Rich Hofmann: “If you don’t tell me how unhappy you are, I won’t tell you how lousy you’re doing.” He told writer Marcus Hayes: “Glad to have you aboard. Good to see you. I hope I never see you in here again.”
Hofmann said Mr. Rathet “was the reason I ended up staying 37 years.” Hayes said: “He was a giant in this industry.” Former Daily News reporter Mike Kern said: “He had one rule. Write good stories.”
Mr. Rathet covered mostly baseball and football for the Associated Press in the 1950s and ‘60s as a young reporter out of New York University. He was a fan of Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers, and named his son after Baltimore Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson.
He left newspapers for the publicity department of the new American Football League in the 1960s and, knowing what reporters wanted, produced fact-packed media guides and arranged convenient interviews with AFL personalities. He served as public relations director for the Dolphins in 1972 and ‘73, when they won back-to-back Super Bowls.
The Daily News hired him in 1974, and he built an eclectic staff of witty columnists, Philadelphia Bulletin veterans, and talented upstarts that rivaled the nation’s top papers. He put them on local TV and featured their work in detailed stories, and special sections such as “Sportsweek.”
“His talent,” former Daily News reporter Tim Kawakami said in 2020, “was to burn into your brain that commitment to the story was everything. Or you had nothing.”
He enjoyed reader engagement, and answered sports questions in a Daily News column called “Ask Us,” and appeared with his writers on TV and radio call-in shows. He wrote books about football and was inducted into the Philadelphia chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
“He was fiercely loyal to staff and family,” said his son, Brooks. “If he believed in you, he would go to war for you.”
Michael Henry Rathet was born Sept. 19, 1935, in New York. He grew up in Washington Heights, worked on the college newspaper, and earned a bachelor’s degree at NYU in the late 1950s.
He met Lois Skudin, and they married in 1957, and had daughters Ilyse and Shari, and son Brooks. Mr. Rathet and his wife lived in New York, Miami, West Chester, and Amelia Island.
They traveled the world together, and he doted on his grandchildren, and followed all sports, especially at Villanova University and the University of Florida. His wife died earlier.
He had heart surgery in 1980 and read constantly about history. He had “a passion for life and sharing with others,” said his daughter Ilyse. “He actually had me convinced he was indestructible,” said his daughter Shari.
His son said: “He didn’t have a bucket list. His bucket overflowed.”
In addition to his children, Mr. Rathet is survived by two grandchildren and other relatives.
A private celebration of his life is to be held later.
Donations in his name may be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, Box 32141, New York, N.Y. 10087.