You were one of kind, JR - we’ll miss you

CRESCO - On Sunday, June 8, at 10:46 a.m., I got a text message from my former co-worker, Theresa. She told me that John Reicks, former teacher and golf coach at Turkey Valley, had just passed earlier that morning. 

While I had known that John (or JR, as all the TV kids called him) had been extremely sick the past few months, the news of his passing still hit me like a ton of bricks.

I will be the first person to admit that many, many people knew JR better than I did. In fact, I am 100 percent certain that every student, teacher, faculty member or anyone associated with Turkey Valley knew Reicks at least as well as I knew him, if not more so.

Even though dozens of people could write a better tribute to him, I want to try. 

I can’t remember the exact date of the first time I met John, but it probably was in the early 2000s, when he was working as the sports editor of the Calmar Courier covering Turkey Valley sports. 

Although we were both covering the Trojans, I never saw him as a cut-throat competitor who was going to scoop me. Instead, I saw him as a colleague and a friend, who always made me smile or laugh with a joke or a story. 

Fast forward to the 2010s. I was back at the TPD covering sports and Reicks was back at Turkey Valley as a teacher and the head coach of the  girls’ and boys’ golf teams. 

As any sports writer who covered the Turkey Valley golf teams will tell you, John was a joy to work with. Every spring, TV has its sports teams’ photo day. JR would always have his squads dressed in their golf shirts ready for their team photo. 

He also had copies of his season preview information for all the sports writers, which included team records, individual statistics for the returning players and a few comments. (One comment he always included was, “We’re still waiting for Mother Nature to cooperate so we can get out there on the course!”)

Covering TV golf meets at Jackson Heights was also enjoyable (despite the weather) because you could always count on JR driving around the course on his golf cart, giving his players an encouraging word here or there. When he emailed me and other sports writers the results of a golf meet, he practically wrote the entire story for us.

The last time I saw John on the course at Jackson Heights was on Friday, April 19, 2024 during a home meet against South Winn. As is often the case, the weather was cold with strong wind gusts. I remember taking a few shots of the Trojans teeing off on hole one before making my way around the course.

As I was walking to another hole, JR pulled up behind me and offered to give me a ride to some of the other holes so I could get a variety of other shots without having to walk to every hole. So I took him up on his offer.

We pulled up to a tee box where two TV girls were about to tee off and I took a few photos. JR gave the girls a few words of support before saying, “Hop back in the cart, Nate, and we’ll head to another hole.”

So he drove me to a few mores holes where I could get more pictures of the TV girls and boys. After hitting three or four more holes, I thanked JR for driving me around and told him I was going to walk back to my car.

He said, “I can give you a ride to your car, Nate. It’s no problem.”

So he drove me to the parking lot at Jackson Heights and said, “Which car is yours?”

“It’s that piece of (expletive) red car over there,” I said, pointing to my Olds Alero.

“I’ve had a few pieces of (expletive) cars over the years, too!” JR said with a laugh.

I thanked him again for driving me around the course and helping me get some photos before I said goodbye.

Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw or talked to JR in person. Had I known last year that I wouldn’t see him again, I probably wouldn’t have talked to him about my stupid car.

To say that John was simply friendly and generous would be a massive understatement. Reicks was the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back, as well as the stocking cap on his head or the gloves on his hands if it was cold outside.

John Reicks was to Turkey Valley what peanut butter is to jelly or mac is to cheese. It’s hard to imagine TV without JR, but knowing him, he would probably be embarrassed by all these compliments. To all his family and friends, you have my deepest sympathy. 

Suffice it to say - JR, you will be missed immensely by a great number of people. Thanks for everything!