Usually, baseball guys are baseball guys and soccer guys are soccer guys and never the twain shall meet.

But the Star-Bulletin’s Al Chase was both.

There should be two moments of silence for Al, who passed away Thursday: at the next University of Hawaii home games at Murakami Stadium and the Waipio Soccer Complex. Make that three, since he was also the Wahine basketball beat writer.

Other sportswriters have covered the national pastime and the world’s favorite sport, but I doubt any with the versatile expertise and consistency of Big Al (I identify everyone named Al as Big Al, but Al Chase really was big, and strong … ask the guys who played "touch" football against him in the ’70s.).

When I passed the sad news to Bill Kwon, our retired sports editor reminded me of another, less obvious nickname of Al’s.

"Remember? He was ‘The Tree.’" I knew that, but never knew why. So I asked Bill. "He was immovable. Solid and stolid," said Kwon, referring to Al’s quiet but strong presence.

If you truly loved baseball and its rhythm you appreciated the way Al wrote about it. He didn’t get fancy. He just told you what happened and why the ‘Bows won or lost the game.

"There was always a consistency that he brought that attracted me to search the sports section for his story each day," said Randy Kimura, the former Roosevelt and Hawaii Pacific baseball standout.

"His stories about baseball games were always exactly what happened," said Don Robbs, the longtime radio voice of UH baseball and Al’s fellow press box denizen of Rainbow and then Les Murakami Stadium, as well as numerous road trips.

Al was indeed consistent and traditional, but also ahead of his time and unique. In addition to being versatile as a sports scribe, he was one of those very interesting two-career people.

Before he became a sportswriter he was a P.E. teacher and soccer coach at Kalani High School. Some of his players went on to become widely known in other pursuits: Joe Story, Olympic handball player; Steve Kimura, Advertiser sportswriter; Dalton Tanonaka, TV newscaster.

People in the soccer community always told me Al was one of the major forces in building the sport’s popularity in Hawaii. You’d never know it by watching him work in the Rainbow Stadium press box. He was the classic old-school baseball writer, settling in for a game with a row of freshly sharpened pencils and a hot mug of coffee.

In the office, Al was organized and neat. If he couldn’t remember a fact from the past, which was rare, he would quickly find it for you in his files.

He was originally from the Boston area. But "The Tree" grew solid roots in the islands starting with attending UH, then marrying a local girl, Lee, and then raising a family.

And making a lasting impact on two sports here.

"Very sad news," said Ricki Bass, the leadoff hitter and center fielder on the 1980 UH College World Series team Al covered. "A real pro and nice man."

Al Chase was a rarity as a baseball guy and a soccer guy. But mostly, he was a great guy.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.