Byrne, Emmons

September 16, 1906 - April 1, 1972

Emmons Byrne, The Oakland  Tribune's baseball writer for 23 years through' 1967, and a 41-year chronicler of Bay Area sports, died Saturday at the age of 65 after a lengthy illness.

Byrne, who began his sports writing days in 1927 with the old Oakland Post-Enquirer, is  survived by his wife Elsie,daughter Sally Church and two brothers, Joseph and Malcolm Byrne. He was the grandfather of D a v i d and Scott Church.

When Byrne began writing for the Post-Enquirer, a sports boom was hitting Oakland, with boxing, college football and baseball taking the headlines. Emmons took over the Oakland Oaks beat in 1936, and kept it until the team moved to Vancouver In 1956. He also covered Cal football.

Byrne, who had moved to The Tribune in 1944, took over the San Francisco Seals until 1958, when the New York Giants b r o u g h t the major leagues west.

Byrne covered the Giants until 1967, missing only part of the 1960 season when a stroke hospitalized him s e v e r a l months. Upon recovery, he was on the job non-stop until the 1967 season when a second stroke took him off the beat and forced him to retire in February of 1968. Byrne and his wife lived at 4001 Oakmore Road in Oakland. He was the son of a former South Dakota governor