Jamie Samuelsen: If you just knew his work, you didn't know Drew Sharp

Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the "Jamie and Stoney Show" weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. He also appears regularly on Fox 2​. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen.

If you’re lucky in life, you have a list of people who qualify as the “nicest people you’ve ever met.” They might be teachers or volunteers or grandparents, or if you were really, really lucky, Ernie Harwell.

On my personal list of “nicest people I’ve ever met” are Clem and Cindy Kolesar. Cindy is a kindergarten teacher at Hamilton Elementary School in Troy where she taught all three of my kids, a blessing we’ll be thankful for the rest of our lives. Clem was a longtime teacher and administrator at Troy High School. Both are ardent Spartans fans.

►Update: Funeral arrangements have been set for Drew Sharp

So imagine my surprise when they told me that they met a friend of mine and that they thoroughly enjoyed talking to him and his wife while vacationing in Petoskey -- Drew Sharp and his wife, Karen.

I laughed when they told me largely because Drew always made me laugh. But I also laughed because they were probably expecting the worst from Drew and got the best. They expected not to like him, but they loved him. That’s a common theme that you’ve probably read since the awful news broke Friday morning that Drew had passed away at the age of 56.

Drew was, in his own words, a negative sports writer. This caused a lot of readers and fans (or non-fans) to assume only negative things about Drew. If you ever read the comments section at the bottom of his columns here on freep.com, you knew this was the case. Comment sections by their very nature are hazardous places to roam. The comments on the bottom of a Drew Sharp column were toxic, and that’s putting it mildly.

►Obituary: Drew Sharp remembered as tough critic with a kind heart​
►Related: Harbaugh, Izzo, Isiah, Jalen Rose, teams say good-bye to Drew Sharp
►Remembering Drew Sharp: Free Press colleagues share stories, say farewell
►Joe Rexrode: Drew Sharp was fearless, kind, accountable & hilarious

I didn’t always agree with Drew. I thought he embraced his “Prince of Darkness” persona a little too much at times. But I always read him. And I always liked him. A lot.

If you thought Drew was a negative writer, trust me when I tell you that he was exactly the opposite as a person. He was fun, caring, funny and intelligent. His opinions weren’t bits. They were real. And he’d passionately argue them over a beer just as he would every day he wrote for the Free Press. If you didn’t care for Drew the writer, that’s fine. He knew that. But everyone that I know who knew Drew cared for him deeply as a person. This is why his sudden passing hits everyone in Detroit so hard this weekend.

►Condolences: Friends on Twitter react to sudden passing of Drew Sharp
►Shawn Windsor: Tom Izzo respected Sharp, 'crushed' to learn of his death
►In honor of Drew Sharp: A glimpse from heaven

I moved to Detroit from Chicago in 1994. Before I left Chicago, I was covering a Cubs game at Wrigley Field for my old employer and I was seated next to an out-of-town sportswriter who was covering the game that day -- Drew Sharp. We struck up a conversation and I told him of my impending move to the city. He couldn’t have been nicer or more welcoming. It reassured a punk kid about an impending move to a new city. We worked together off and on over the years at Fox 2 and at WDFN. I couldn’t call him a close friend, but he was always a friendly, smiling face in press boxes across Detroit and the state of Michigan. And that laugh, good lord that laugh. He always enjoyed a good story or a good joke or a good barb about the Lions.

Yes the Lions. Perhaps no team felt the wrath of Drew more than the Detroit Lions. I won’t say that Drew took glee in the Lions foibles. Let’s just say that those foibles provided him with plenty of fodder. Drew once gave me one of the greatest pieces of advice that I’ve ever had in all my years of journalism in Detroit - “When it comes to the Lions, always assume the worst will happen.” Sad. Depressing. But true. Very, very true.

►Jeff Seidel: Drew Sharp was simply a great guy
►Drew Sharp's final column: MSU's Tom Izzo stares out into the unknown

If you weren’t a fan of Drew’s writing then perhaps you won’t miss his voice in the Detroit sports world. I will. And I think Drew’s was an important voice - a Detroiter who was raised and lived his whole life in this city.

I’ll also definitely miss the man. The Drew Sharp that most of us knew was a relentlessly positive person who happened to deal in the negative. Good people knew that. Good people were able to discover that when they were exposed to it. If the Kolesars could see that, than anyone really should have.