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Galloway honors Eierdam at Hall of Fame induction

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After two long years, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame-Media class of 2020 was finally honored at a special ceremony in Waco. The inductees included legendary names Bill Mercer, Eric Nadel, Brad Sham, and Aledo resident Randy Galloway.

“It was a great honor for me,” Galloway said. “Definitely the greatest professional honor that you can receive. I spent 50 years as a sportswriter, only in Texas, 33 at the Dallas Morning News, 16 years at the Star-Telegram.”

The night went as planned, with the inductees receiving their rings and giving their speeches. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened, but Galloway did something that meant a lot to himself and the Aledo community.

“My role in my short speech was just to say thank you to everybody,” Galloway recalled. “That’s what I tried to convey, thankfulness and appreciation for including me. But one thing I wanted to do was what I did at the end of my speech. I held up the ring that they give you, and I said ‘This is dedicated to my mother,’ who was a newspaper woman for 60 years, ‘and to Tony.’”

Tony Eierdam spent many years at The Community News covering almost anything to do with Aledo, particularly sports. He and Galloway became friends, and after his death Galloway still reveres Tony.

“All my life I was in this business,” Galloway said, “I’ve known a thousand or more sportswriters across the United States and across Canada. But I’ve never met a sportswriter who loved his job more than Tony.”

In one particular memory, Galloway summed up the man Tony was and what he meant to the community.

“My oldest granddaughter was playing on the golf team,” Galloway remembered. “They went to state four straight years. The state tournament was held at the University of Texas Golf Club, out by Lake Travis. Just an outstanding club, and it was so hot. It was a two-day tournament and just blistering hot both days.”

“Here’s Tony,” Galloway continued. “He could have sat up in the clubhouse drinking coke and eating cheeseburgers waiting for the scores to come in. That’s how they cover major golf tournaments. But here’s Tony out on the course. And each year it was the same way. I went by him once and asked ‘Tony are you ok?’ and he said ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ But he’s huffing and puffing going up these hills. He just wouldn’t back off. He wanted to be there in the middle of the action, and this is girls golf. But he loved those girls and he followed each and every one of them.”

Tony did not get to see Galloway’s induction, nor did Galloway get to celebrate Tony’s life the way he wanted. However, the last two words of Galloway’s Hall of Fame speech ensures that Tony’s memory is forever enshrined.

“We never got to say a proper goodbye,” Galloway shared. “As sad as it was, we couldn’t have the community come together for everything he had done for Aledo schools and Aledo athletics. That never happened. You couldn’t help it, but it was almost an injustice. So I just wanted to get a mention in my speech of Tony.”

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