Keep in touch with George

This website is a way for people to keep people in touch with George Rooney and to make it easier for him to keep in touch with you. Some of you know George better than others.

Above all else, George is a devoted husband to Sally and the father of two wonderful children, Tim and Kristin. He was born and raised in Plymouth, Wisc., which explains his fondness for the Green Bay Packers and the Milwaukee Brewers (and his appreciation for frosty cold beers).

As a lad, George displayed an early talent for journalism — he was a paper boy — and his family got the Milwaukee Journal at home. In high school, he worked at a cheese-packaging plant (No kidding? In Wisconsin?). After reading the Journal every day for many years, George decided to major in jounalism at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where, as George tells it, “I met the love of my life, Sally.” They had season tickets to UW football and basketball games and usually went to them togeher.

As a journalist, George worked as a reporter and editorial writer/editor. Not one to part with a passion too easily, George’s name continues to appear in print even after leaving journalism. In a letter to the editor printed in the Los Angeles Times in 2003, George takes exception to a former prosecutor whining about the jury’s acquittal of murder defendant Robert Durst.

“… I respect a jury’s verdict more than I respect the point of view of a prosecutor who moans that her belief in our judicial system is ’shattered’ because of an acquittal,” he wrote.

Those are George’s words, all right, exposing the singular view of someone perhaps a little too steeped in certainty.

George’s letter-writing bent, at times, also showcases his unrivaled ability to recall obscure moments from long-ago sporting events better than even Billy Crystal and Bruno Kirby (note unrivaled, obscure movie reference to City Slickers). Like this one from Sports Illustrated in 1998.

“John Schulian’s piece on Milwaukee’s National League past (National Pastime, June 1) struck a chord in my middle-aged heart. The first big league game I saw was in County Stadium on my sixth birthday, in September 1957, after the Braves had clinched the pennant. Warren Spahn pitched, and he and Red Scheondienst hit homers. Great memories. Who holds the record for career home runs by two teammates? Not Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of the mighty Yankees, but Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews of the Milwaukee Braves.”

In The Press Enterprise in 2001, he questions the opinion of his former employer (not exactly a first):

“Your August 15 editorial about the rising income disparity between high- and low-wage earners in California makes a valid point. It is a disturbing trend.

However, I would disagree with the editorial’s definition of ‘middle class incomes,’ which it categorized as gross annual household incomes of $35,000 to $70,000. If “middle class” means the ability to pursue the classic American Dream — buy a home, raise a family — it would seem almost unattainable, certainly in Southern California today, on a gross annual household income of $35,000. In most cases, two incomes are required today to buy a house.

Perhaps a better definition to use would be annual gross incomes between $50,000 and $90,000. I would guess that more of the ‘middle third’ of households would fall into this income category.”

Tackling concerns about justice, neighbors struggling to build a good life for their families — all that plus a love of baseball. Not a bad body of work for an occasional letter writer. Not bad at all.

We hope these pages help you KeepInTouchWithGeorge so that he can keep in touch with you.

The Editors