Horace Billings, who was sports editor of the Salisbury Post for 40 years, has died at the age of 85. Billings became sports editor in 1948 and retired in 1988, but continued to work as a sports writer for the Post for many years after that.
Billings garnered a host of awards for his writing and service through the years and was named to the Salisbury Rowan Sports Hall of Fame, as well as others.
He got his first sports byline at 14, in the Winston-Salem Journal. He went on to be the public relations man at High Point College and a sports writer at the High Point Enterprise before coming to the Post. He joined the Army in 1950, then returned to the Post.
At the Post, he was known for his love of golf and attended the Masters almost every year. He covered NASCAR from its earliest days. In 1997, he was honored by Catawba College with Horace Billings Day. He was among the official voters for the Heisman Trophy.
In 1992, the Rowan Amateur Golf tournament was dedicated to Billings.
His wife Joyce died in 2002. As her health declined, Billings visited her four to five times a day at the Brian Center. Son Bill and wife Lesley survive.
There will be a private burial in Salisbury. A remembrance service is planned for early November.
See more in Friday’s Salisbury Post.