Tributes paid to Sheffield sports journalist Peter Markie
Tributes have been paid to Sheffield sports journalist Peter Markie who has sadly died.
Peter worked as sports editor at both The Star and Sheffield Telegraph and was hugely popular among journalists in the city.
He loved football and had a particular passion for boxing - building strong links with Sheffield fighters Herol 'Bomber' Graham and Brian Anderson.
He also took huge pride in working hard to support and promote school sport, proudly championing young Sheffield athletes of the future.
Former Star reporter Jon Cooper said: "I first met Peter when I was doing work experience as a budding teenage journalist at The Sheffield Telegraph where he worked as the sports editor at the time.
"We became friends many years later when Peter, who knew my father from their shared world of sports journalism, offered a great deal of support during my dad's long-term illness and right up to his death.
"One of the many nice things I remember about Peter is that he loved sport and football so much that he was equally happy watching a Sunday pub league game on a council parks pitch in the rain as he was down at Bramall Lane or Hillsborough.
"Peter was one of the kindest, funniest and gentlest people I have ever known. Such a cheeky sense of humour and a true, humble gentleman. I always enjoyed spending time with him, and I will always feel proud and very lucky to have been considered one of his many friends."
Sheffield sports journalist Alan Biggs added: "Peter was a great journalist with a piercing insight that went right to the heart of stories. He had a very grounded and sometimes mischievous sense of humour, all delivered with a self-knowing wink."