With his colorful clothing and playful on-air manner, Tim Weigel was one of the most identifiable, influential and popular broadcasters in Chicago television history. Unfailingly upbeat even in the face of losing seasons and churlish coaches, he covered the sports scene with a reporter's hard-nosed instincts and a fan's on-the-sleeve emotions.

Mr. Weigel, 56, died Sunday, June 17, in his home in Evanston, a year to the day after he had been operated on for a brain tumor. His battle with the disease was waged in a public manner that not only inspired many people in similar circumstances but also was in keeping with Mr. Weigel's forthright persona.

That was his trademark in a career that began when he became a sportswriter and columnist for the Chicago Daily News in 1971 and continued for three decades on radio and on television, most recently on WBBM-Ch. 2.

"Tim was as much a part of Chicago sports as any of the players he covered," said former Bears coach Mike Ditka. "He was passionate and enthusiastic and a damn good reporter. He was also one of the great gentlemen and a lot of fun to be around. My wife, Diana, and I are devastated by this loss because we had become great friends."

Mr. Weigel was born in 1945 and grew up in north suburban Gurnee, with younger siblings Tony and Deni. His father, John, was a broadcast announcer and did voiceovers for national commercials; he later founded Weigel Broadcasting, which began airing on Channel 26. Mr. Weigel's mother, Virginia Ahn, had been a big-band singer with the orchestras of Tommy Dorsey and Vaughn Monroe.

The Weigel family moved to Lake Forest, where Mr. Weigel attended Lake Forest High School and excelled at sports and academics, ranking third in his class.

He attended Yale University, where he was captain of the freshman football team, on which he played halfback alongside fullback and future NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Hill. His roommate freshman year was another child of the Chicago suburbs, Gene Siskel, the film critic, who died in 1999. That both of these men would die in their 50s of brain-related diseases strikes many as a chilling coincidence.

Graduating with a bachelor's degree in history, Mr. Weigel worked for two years as an inner-city schoolteacher in New Haven, Conn., and began a family after marrying his high school sweetheart, Kathy Worthington, in 1966. The couple had two children, a son, Rafer, named for Olympic decathlete Rafer Johnson, and a daughter, Jenniffer. The family returned to Chicago, where Mr. Weigel got a master's degree in film from Northwestern University. They later went back to New Haven, where Mr. Weigel waited tables, played keyboards in a rock band called the Gross National Product and eventually went to work as a reporter with the New Haven Register.

In 1971 he was back in Chicago, on the sports staff of the Daily News. In 1975 he began filing reports for WMAQ radio and, a few months later, was named its television sports anchor on Channel 5. When asked if it was difficult to make the transition from newspapers to broadcasting, Mr. Weigel said, with a laugh, "Oh, yeah, until I got my first paycheck."

`Weigel Wieners'

In 1977 he went to work at WLS-Ch. 7, where he would become well-known for his colorful clothing and for his packages of sports bloopers called "Weigel Wieners." Those who may have thought his sartorial style a television affectation were not present at his high school junior prom, where he arrived in tux jacket, tie and Bermuda shorts. Nor did they work at the Daily News, where he shocked colleagues by sometimes wearing an outfit that consisted of blue T-shirt, orange overalls and blue suede boots.

"Tim's the only Yale graduate I know who dresses like a Blue Island pimp," the late Mike Royko once said.

Royko and Mr. Weigel were great friends, sharing a passion for language, music, piano bars and sports. They first met when Royko recruited Mr. Weigel to play outfield on the Daily News softball team, and they later competed on handball courts and golf courses.

"Some of Mike's happiest moments were spent with Timmy on the golf course," said Royko's widow, Judy. "They were like a couple of kids when they were together. Really smart and great storytellers, but kids."

Mr. Weigel was the lead sportscaster on the top-rated WLS news team from 1977 to 1994, except for a short experiment as a news anchor.

Mr. Weigel worked with hundreds of broadcasters during his career, and most share the opinion of former WMAQ anchor Floyd Kalber, who told the Tribune some years ago: "There's not an ostentatious bone in his body. He doesn't give a damn about status. What you see is what you get."

That was obvious whenever Mr. Weigel was in public. He was always polite and gracious, even to the most overserved bar patron who wanted to yammer on about sports. "These people don't have to watch me on TV, but they do," Mr. Weigel said by way of explanation. "I'm just returning the favor."

Though he did have famous feuds with rival sportscaster Johnny Morris and later with agent Steve Zucker, Mr. Weigel was admired by his competitors. WFLD-Ch. 32 sportscaster Bruce Wolf once observed, "Tim to me is the godfather of irreverence in Chicago television. He was the one who started taking sports not so seriously. But he still, of course, maintains his journalistic integrity."

Back to his roots

In 1994 Mr. Weigel moved to WBBM. He also began writing a sports column for the Chicago Sun-Times and contributed stories to the Tribune, including one about opera. He also was active in many charitable organizations, including the Off the Street Club, Evanston Shelter for Battered Women and the Salvation Army. Among his favorite duties was emceeing the annual March 4 birthday thrown by the City of Chicago. It was also his birthday.

He was divorced from Worthington in 1975; a second marriage, to Carol Phifer, also ended in divorce, but her son, John, came to regard Tim as his father and friend. Mr. Weigel's children, about whom he never tired of bragging, were successful. Rafer became an actor starring in films and a television series, and Jenniffer's career finds her the entertainment reporter at WBBM-Ch. 2.

"My dad was an amazing guy," Jenniffer Weigel said. "A friend of his said that everybody always rooted for Tim, that nothing ever came easy to him. But interviewing did come easy and he was never more comfortable than when doing his job. I think he fed off of people's appreciation. In that way I think he would have been a great politician. I think he could have been elected mayor of Chicago."

In 1992, in front of a small gathering of family and friends, Mr. Weigel married then-morning radio personality Vicki Truax at their home near the lake in Evanston. Two years later, they had a baby girl named Teddi.

"Tim and I were friends long before we fell in love and that is what hurts so much right now," Truax said. "He was not only husband and father but the best friend I've ever known."

Last June, after Mr. Weigel experienced vision problems while typing his script for the evening sportscast, an MRI revealed a tumor.

During the week he was in Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center awaiting surgery, Mr. Weigel's hospital room was constantly filled with family and friends. One evening, longtime pal Sam Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, took a cab to nearby Greektown and returned with a feast large enough, it seemed, to feed the entire hospital wing.

This all made Mr. Weigel feel, he said at the time, "like the George Bailey character played by Jimmy Stewart in `It's a Wonderful Life.' Every one of my relationships has been intensified. And the outpouring from viewers has been amazing. I know it sounds corny but I really feel blessed."

The operation was mistakenly hailed as a success. After undergoing radiation treatments, Mr. Weigel was back on the air in early July.

He had decided to be very public about his battle because, he said, "That's just who I am. I couldn't be secretive and, besides, what have I got to hide? It's important for me to keep all my relationships, including the one I have with the audience, as honest as I can."

Mr. Weigel was back in the hospital in the fall for further treatments, and a December MRI showed a recurrent tumor.

One of Mr. Weigel's last public appearances came in late March, when he was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame. After the proceedings, celebrating with friends, Mr. Weigel said, "The Hall of Fame? I'm honored, of course, but gee, to get to do the thing you love. I've tossed a football around with Walter Payton. I had a ringside seat to watch the greatest basketball player of all time. I went to the Rose Bowl with Northwestern. A job? It's really been like a dream."

In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Weigel is survived by his father, brother and sister.

Services will be scheduled for Wednesday evening in the First Congregational Church of Evanston, 1417 Hinman Ave.

John T Weigel