Metro HONORING A LEGEND A Chat With George Cantor The Jewish News' award-winning columnist reflects on his city, his family and his lifetime in Detroit journalism. George Cantor has been the Jewish News Opinion Page columnist and an occasional editorial writer for the past seven years — after spending decades as a sports reporter, travel writer, editorialist and columnist at the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News as well as a local TV commentator and the author of many books with sports, travel or historical themes. In recent months, he has been struggling with the twin maladies of advanced prostate cancer and crippling Gaucher's disease. On Wednesday, April 14, George, at age 68, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists at its annual dinner in Troy. George recently reflected on his illustrious career in a conversation with Jewish News' Senior Copy Editor David Sachs. : People comment all the time about how much they enjoy reading your JN"Reality Checle'cohunns — like your recent tale about how a bad cell phone connection mistakenly threw your wife, Sherry, into a panic, thinking your baby grand- daughter (not her stroller) was missing. A: I've found there's nothing better than family matters when writing a column as long as there's a point that can be applied to other families, too. That's the secret of writing a column — universality. The more people the column applies to, the greater response it's going to get. Q Q: You really connect with the Jewish News readers when you talk about the old neighborhoods. A: Every time I write about the old days at Central High or Mumford, I always get a response. But, here's a precaution ... don't ever try to go back! When my kids were very young, I thought I'd take them to the apartment where I grew up. It was on the corner of LaSalle and Elmhurst. Well, it was gone — I mean nothing remained. And that was 25 years ago. But, I still dream about that place. Just the other night, I dreamt they had turned it into a luxury apartment house. These are parts of my past that I've lost, but apparent- ly I'm not quite ready to give up on them. Q: Do you see any hope for Detroit with Mayor Dave Bing and the schools' emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb? A: Well, those are good people — but I don't know if you can fix a boat that's cap- sized. I wish them luck, but I don't think you can reverse it. Maybe, at least, you can give the improvements a chance to catch up with the decline. Q: So, how are you feeling? A: Good days, bad days. My knees are really the focus of my problems right now The Jewish News has been carrying good articles on Gaucher's disease. Q: Is Gaucher's more of a problem than your prostate cancer? A: No, but it hurts — often severely. Q: How is the cancer treatment going? A: We've managed to keep it at bay, and there's no further deterioration. The doc- tors, of course, are very eager to test any new drug. I don't think most of them have ever seen prostate cancer and Gaucher's disease in the same patient. Q: You've followed in the footsteps of a lot of great sports writers who became general columnists — like Doc Greene and Pete Waldmeir. A: Sports reporting trains your pow- ers of observation — how to describe what you see happening in a concise and entertaining fashion. It was the best training I think I could have received. Following a team through a pennant race is just as dramatic and fast moving as anything you'll experience as a jour- nalist. Emotional Detroit Tiger fan George Cantor with his wife, Sherry (sporting a Mah Jongg T-shirt about three years ago), will be honored next week by fellow journalists. Q: Does sports serve as a metaphor? A: Oh, yeah ... for many things. Like politics or a natural disaster! Q: Last year's Tigers team just miss- ing winning the pennant on the final day of the season was certainly a disas- ter. I'm beginning to appreciate the 1984 World Champion Tigers more and more. Several of them should have been named to the Hall of Fame. A: What a travesty that Trammell and Whitaker didn't go in together. The longest double-play combination in baseball history. And they both hit with power and ran well. Q: A black guy and a white guy like blood brothers. A: Sure, on either side of second base. Maybe it's another book that I should get my nose into writing. Q: I was surprised to learn about all the racism that the 1968 Tiger team dealt with — particularly in spring training in Florida. A: It was certainly there. Lakeland at that time of my first year, 1966, was a segregated, redneck town. Disney World, which really changed the social param- eters, didn't open for another five years. Q: The black players had to sleep in separate accommodations? A: The Tigers' management insisted that it was by choice — that the black players didn't want to stay at that big old mean Holiday Inn with their teammates. So they became boarders at these ramshackle houses where they couldn't take their wives. The establishment was so blind. And they wondered why Detroit blew up the next year. You can only take so much of that b.s. Q: You've had your heart broken many times as Tiger fan. A: Last Labor Day weekend, Sherry and I drove to a wedding in Boston and back. I remember on that Sunday, Brandon Inge won the game with a grand slam home run in the ninth inning. And the two of us Cantor on page 14 Jr4 April 8 • 2010 13