William G. “Cap’n Billy” Myers, Denver Post reporter and newsroom character for 26 years, died Saturday after a stroke. He was 84.
Dubbed “Cap’n Billy” by his co-workers for his infantry career as a private during World War II, Myers was a thorough reporter and rewrite man, who took dictation from reporters in the field and polished their prose for publication.
His folksy, Midwestern interview style frequently lulled rural sheriffs and politicians into spilling details to him. He retired from The Post in February 1987.
An avid hunter and fisherman, he was respected as a reporter, but he was loved for his sense of humor and storytelling abilities. In an era when off-duty hours were passed at the Sportsman Inn on 15th Street, the newspaper’s home away from home, he would spin almost believable yarns about his Indiana upbringing and military life, usually concluding with the words “Boys, that’s the truth!”
Bill Saul, who worked in public relations for the National Western Stock Show for 38 years, remembered that Myers would show up every year with a large box of notes and stories from previous years.
“He had to haul it from the parking lot to the office. One year, he dropped it on the desk and had to catch his breath,” Saul said.
Myers opened the box and inside found a 40-pound lead weight that one of his editors had slipped into the box.
He was one of the last hard-working, hard-drinking newspapermen at a time when The Post put out five editions a day and everything was written on typewriters. After one late-night excursion, Myers was discovered by the publisher, who was giving some important visitors a tour of the newsroom, asleep on a couch in the photo lab, covered with a blanket of newspapers.
Rookie reporters were often assigned the city-room desk next to his, unaware of the peril involved. Myers, who favored elastic suspenders, white socks and baby-blue jumpsuits adorned with a pocket protector, was a seasoned tobacco chewer who frequently used the wastebasket between his desk and the reporter next to him. He would lean over, spit into the basket, then apologize, pat the young reporter on the arm and say, ‘Oh, sorry, did I get any on you?”
Myers was born June 14, 1925, in Montpelier, Ind., enlisted in the Army after graduation from high school and served in Europe during the war.
He was wounded in France and awarded a Purple Heart.
Later, he graduated with honors from Indiana University School of Journalism and worked at newspapers in Boise, Idaho, and Spokane, Wash., before joining The Post in November 1961. He also wrote frequently for Argosy and Field & Stream magazines.
Myers was preceded in death by two younger brothers and his wife, Mary, whom he married on Dec. 27, 1947. She died in 1983.
He is survived by three daughters, Marilyn Ayala, Ellen Droel and Emma LoScalzo; seven grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and two nephews. At his request, there will be no services.
