Matt Zabitka

Zabitka died in his sleep on May 29, 2009, in Wilmington, Delaware, at the age of 88. Ed Gebhart, who he worked with for the Chester Times, said "I don't know what the situation is in heaven these days, but I do know this: If there's not a newspaper up there, with Matt on board, there soon will be."

He spent forty years regularly writing for The News Journal, finally retiring in 2002. Also in 2002 was the publishing of Matt Zabitka, Sports: 60 Years of Headlines and Deadlines, his biography written by Ed Okonowics and Jerry Rhodes. Though retired, he continued to periodically write articles over the next few years.

He became the paper's executive editor in 1999. He was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 2000.

Following his graduation from high school, Zabitka worked as a laborer at the Sun Shipyard & Drydock Co. before being drafted in the United States Navy to serve in World War II. While aboard the USS Randolph, he wrote a newspaper for his shipmates. Following his return to the United States, he wrote columns sponsored by local businesses, and convinced them to buy advertising space for his stories. He later worked for various local newspapers before getting hired by the Chester Times in 1952.

Matthew John Zabitka (October 25, 1920 – May 29, 2009) was an American sportswriter. He spent forty years working with The News Journal and The Morning News.

Zabitka was born on October 25, 1920, in Chester, Pennsylvania. He began his career at the age of 13, in c. 1934, when he noticed the local Progressive Weekly newspaper did not include a sports section. Zabitka, a sports fan, subsequently wrote a few articles on local sports titled "Sports of all sorts", and sent it to the paper's office. "I picked up the paper the next Thursday and there it was!" he said. The newspaper then hired him to write the column, paying him $5 per story.