‘Most underrated sports writer in the Bay Area’ was 78.
The U.S. Army’s typewriters never stood a chance against Bill Soliday’s heavy-handed approach to a problem.
Carl Steward, a former Bay Area News Group columnist, called Soliday “perhaps the most underrated sports writer in the Bay Area . . . he had an engaging style, a crackling sense of humor, a wisdom grounded in personal experience and loads of raw perspective.” Davis had the story laminated and placed on a wall outside the door of his office at team headquarters in Alameda.
With a deep bass voice one colleague compared to actor James Earl Jones, Soliday could be passionate and appear gruff but was generous with his time and wisdom with young writers. Always on the lookout for a story, Soliday one day saw Raiders backup quarterback Wade Wilson injecting himself in the locker room. As a diabetic himself, Soliday later approached Wilson and ended up with a story on the challenges and dangers of playing in the NFL with diabetes.
“I don’t want to say he became obsessed, but I think he bought every set of the cards for at least three decades,” Hickey said. However, those who played for Soliday on the Daily Review Bears point to his impromptu, late-inning at-bat at a Lake Tahoe tournament in the late 1990s as their favorite memory from his playing days. By then, physical ailments prevented Soliday from playing much, but that day he was forced from his role as scorekeeper and into action as a pinch hitter after one of his players was thrown out of a close game.
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