Sports cartoonist Bill Gallo, 88, dies

Bill Gallo, among the last of the disappearing breed of newspaper sports cartoonists, whose Basement Bertha, Yuchie and General Von Steingrabber creations were mainstays during a 70-year career at the New York Daily News, died late Tuesday in a White Plains hospital of complications from pneumonia. He was 88.

Gallo, who often wore a bow tie, had been hospitalized for some time but continued to draw. His last cartoon, playing off the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, appeared in the News April 19.

Able to sketch lifelike portraits and depictions of sports action that rivaled photography, Gallo nevertheless is remembered by most sports fans for his simplified comic characters, which appeared regularly in print. Basement Bertha -- a disheveled woman in sneakers inspired by the early Mets -- and Yuchie represented fans of the underdog. And General Von Steingrabber, depicted with a spiked helmet recalling the World War I German Kaiser, was a tease on bombastic Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

In a statement, current Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner called Gallo's work "the voice of generations of New Yorkers. My father was a frequent subject of his work, and he had tremendous respect for Bill's talents."

Among Gallo's memorable pieces was a 1979 drawing in the clouds of Yankees catcher Thurman Munson, who had died in a plane crash, while two young boys -- with bats and baseball caps -- slouched along, muttering that they didn't feel like playing ball that day.

Boxing and its charismatic champion Muhammad Ali were favorite subjects for Gallo, who published more than 15,000 cartoons and also was a columnist for the News. Among his honors were the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cartoonists Society, 20 Page One Journalism Awards and induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His cartoons appear, among other prominent places, in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Gallo was born Dec. 28, 1922, in Manhattan and raised in Astoria, the son of emigrants from Spain and Argentina. His father, Frank, a journalist for the Spanish-language La Prensa newspaper, died when Bill was 11. Upon graduation from high school, he took a job as copy boy at the Daily News in 1941, but left seven months later to serve in the Marine Corps during World War II.

Under the GI Bill of Rights, Gallo attended Columbia University and the School of Visual Arts, returned to the Daily News and began drawing sports cartoons in 1960 following the death of veteran cartoonist Leo O'Mealia.

Gallo, who lived in Westchester County, is survived by his wife of 61 years, the former Dolores Rodriguez; his sons, Greg, former Post sports editor, and Bill, director of racing at the National Steeplechase Association in Maryland; a brother, Henry; four granddaughters and a great-granddaughter.