Church will livestream funeral of long-time coach, reporter
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
CONNELLY SPRINGS — The life of Lee Shook, who spent more than 50 of his 73 years contributing to the sports landscape in the Greater Hickory area, will be celebrated on Wednesday and Thursday.
Shook, 73, died on Sunday.
His family will receive friends on Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Heritage Funeral Service in Valdese. Due to COVID-19 regulations, the family requests masks and social distancing.
SHOOK
On Thursday at noon, Shook’s funeral will be held at Warlicks Baptist Church – where Shook was a member – with the Rev. Gary Murry and Rev. Jesse Starnes officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
A livestream of the Shook service will be available at the Warlicks Baptist Church website (https://warlicksbc.org/) and or by visiting the WBC Facebook page.
While working for Vesco Industrial Trucks, Shook also enjoyed his role as a “stringer” for newspapers that included The Hickory Daily Record and The Morganton News Herald.
He was also very active in coaching youth in Burke County with the East Burke Youth Athletic Organization and as a junior varsity basketball assistant at East Burke High.
At one point, he worked full-time in the day for Vesco and in a full-time role for The Hickory Daily Record’s sports department.
(Full disclosure: The writer of this article was Sports Editor of the HDR at that time and throughout Lee’s later years as a stringer after he left working full-time for the newspaper.)
Shook covered events involving high schools in an eight-county region, Lenoir-Rhyne University sports, racing at Hickory Motor Speedway, golf tournaments, many important events like state championships and/or accepted virtually any assignment(s) that provided exposure for student-athletes.
He was a significant contributor to the local sports scene from the mid-1970s until retiring after more than 40 years of covering local sports.
He was a key part of a sports department at The HDR that became recognized as one of the state’s best and one that once had nearly 170 years of combined journalism experience. In addition to Shook, that group included HDR Sports Editor Chris Hobbs (now editor and content coordinator for this website), full-time sports reporter Allen Haynes (now retired), the late Gary Olinger and local attorney Paul Fogleman.
When the North Carolina Press Association (NCPA) added a category judging sports sections by size/circulation (first, second or third) in the state, HDR placed in the top three in eight of the first 11 years of that award.
In 2002, sports columns written by Hobbs were selected No. 1 in the state in HDR’s division. Haynes also won a first-place for writing during his career at the newspaper.
In 2005, the HDR’s sports section was judged as the state’s best in its division.
LEE’S OBITUARY: http://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/Robert-Lee-Shook-108512643