July 31, 2002     Los Gatos, California Since 1881 Los Gatos Weekly-Times file photograph John Baggerly, beloved local storyteller, youth sports hero and Weekly-Times columnist, dies at the age of 87. Picture From The Past Columnist's stories told tales of an earlier time By Dale Bryant Since 1991, John Baggerly's Pictures from the Past column has run weekly in this space. For a number of years before that, in his days with The Los Gatos Times and later the Times Observer, this town's most dedicated storyteller has been weaving tales about the history of Los Gatos. On July 28, John Baggerly, longtime journalist, hometown booster and youth sports supporter extraordinaire, died at the age of 87. Baggerly lived in the Los Gatos house where he grew up. Two years ago, Baggerly wanted to slow down, so the Los Gatos Weekly-Times began running his old columns under the banner The Best of Pictures from the Past. Once a month, though, Baggerly would come out of retirement and churn out a fresh column. He was the first to admit that it was tough to quit cold-turkey when journalism was running through one's veins as it was through his. The Weekly-Times columnist grew up in the newspaper business. His father, Hiland Baggerly, worked first at the San Francisco Bulletin for his brother-in-law, the crusading editor Fremont Older. Then in the 1920s, Hiland Baggerly bought the San Jose News and later, wanting to slow his pace, he bought the Mail-News in Los Gatos. John Baggerly was Hiland's adopted son. "Hiland took me in," Baggerly told this writer two years ago. "And what a life I've had." Baggerly graduated from Harvard University, but when he returned, he took some journalism classes at what was then San Jose State College and soon went to work at the Post-Inquirer in Oakland covering sports and news—and as he described it, making daily calls to the local pound to see if there were any good dog stories. Baggerly had a particular fondness for good dog stories, and he spun a few tales about town dogs in his column. Among the most enduring: Chiefy, who in the late '20s and early '30s stopped in daily for a few handouts at the old fire station at W. Main Street and Tait Avenue, then visited the back door of the Lyndon Hotel, stopped by the butcher shop and then made his way to University Avenue School to enjoy whatever scraps the students might be willing to share. And Taxi Cab dog who lived in the '30s. His mistress had a standing order with taxi cab owner Bert Ferino to bring her dog home whenever he was found wandering downtown. One day, the columnist wrote, the dog's mistress found herself trudging up a hill toting two bags of groceries when the taxi went cruising by with her dog sitting inside. In his later years with the Weekly-Times, when Baggerly became what he often referred to in his columns as an "old-timer senior grade," Baggerly used to love sharing stories about the good old days of journalism with the young journalists starting their careers at the paper. In those days, journalists were still known as "newspapermen." They were more than a little rumpled; they had no qualms about chasing ambulances in search of a story, and unlike today's journalists, they gratefully accepted free tickets to events of all types, the perks of the trade in an earlier era. "In those days, journalists lived a style beyond what they could afford to pay," he would say, once suggesting that Barbara, his wife of 58 years, might have married him because he was a journalist. "She hung on to the guy with the free tickets!" he said. Baggerly enjoyed the shocked looks on the faces of the young reporters when he talked about the days when editors and reporters considered a flask a standard desk item in a newsroom. The columnist loved to socialize with people in the newspaper business and never missed a staff party whether it was pizza and beer downtown, cake to celebrate a birthday in the office or the annual holiday party. David Cohen, publisher of Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, recalls that Baggerly not only livened up a party, but never missed an opportunity to educate those in attendance about local history. "I once mentioned to him that I live in Willow Glen," Cohen says, "and without missing a beat, he began a tale about the Willow Glen girls who came to Los Gatos High School on the old interurban and eventually married more than a few Los Gatos boys." The newspaper business wasn't Baggerly's only passion. To those involved in youth sports in Los Gatos, he was a local hero. In addition to helping put out the Los Gatos High School football program, he helped the Little League with whatever was needed—at one time, he even trapped gophers at Balzar Field to keep the area free of dangerous gopher holes. In 1996, the Los Gatos Little League honored Baggerly by naming its complex at Blossom Hill School Baggerly Field and installing a bright green and white sign for all to see. Baggerly married Los Gatan Barbara Gibson a few years after the two of them appeared together in a play on the pageant grounds behind the Civic Center. They raised their family of three daughters and a son in town. Baggerly is survived by his wife and four children, Jeanne Pifferini, Carolyn Shank, Gayle Shank and John Baggerly Jr. A public memorial has been scheduled for Aug. 25 at 11 a.m. at Baggerly Field.