Ben Garlikov distinguished himself as one of the nation’s leading golf writers during his 45 years as Assistant Sports Editor at the Dayton Daily News.
Ben started his career as a sports writer while a student at Stivers, becoming the Sports Editor of the Stivers News. Ben was fortunate to be able to cover the championship Stivers basketball and football teams of that era. He turned this beginning of sports writing for the Stivers News into a long and rich career at the Dayton Daily News.
As a newspaper man, he searched for the facts; and then sought the story behind the facts. Ben covered all sports, but his eventual specialties were golf and pro football. “Ben was a friend and classmate at Emerson Grade School and Stivers High School”, wrote Dayton Daily News’ Sports Editor, Si Burick. (2008 Stivers Hall of Fame inductee) “In his retirement years, he was my companion on the drives to Riverfront Stadium. We attended baseball and pro football games and he offered valuable critiques on the drive home,” Burick added. Although for three decades Ben regularly covered national golf tournaments, he never lost interest in the local golf scene.
Ben always believed in old fashioned ideals. He was proud of his Army Air Corps World War II years. He entered the Army as an enlisted private and returned as Captain, serving in the Burma Theater. He was a fiercely patriotic man.
Ben retired from the Dayton Daily News in June 1974 and passed away March 19, 1980, at the age of 70. His wife Tillie passed away in 1969. Tillie and Ben had one daughter, Marsha Bicks of Memphis, Tennessee.