It is the quiet moments that I love most about covering sports. The people on the sidelines. The behind-the-scenes sights. You can have the games. I’ll take the off days.
My favorite memory while covering the Redskins daily for 10 years was Arnie and Lorraine Sachs, sitting in a golf cart in the end zone during summer practices in Frostburg. Arnie covered the Redskins for 56 years and Lorraine was always with him. For someone who never knew his grandparents, they were a comfort amid the chaos of the NFL.
Arnie was buried in the Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery on Monday after a bout with cancer. Just three months ago, he was still on the sidelines during training camp, using a motorized scooter to get around at age 78. He still loved the team, loved the people, loved being in the game.
Arnie knew everyone in his near six decades as a photojournalist. He’ll probably be best remembered for his 1963 photo of a young Bill Clinton shaking hands with John F. Kennedy. Yes, that was Arnie’s. He was still winning White House photo awards in 2005. In between, there was a photo of Jacqueline Kennedy that the First Lady made her official portrait.
There were political conventions and space launch shots. Four generations of the Bush and Kennedy families. Eleven inaugurations, including 2004, when Arnie transmitted photos to clients in Japan from his perch on the platform. Then again, Arnie was the first photographer to use satellites for photo transmission.
A fierce Democrat who led the integration of the White House press corps and operated local political campaigns from his Oxon Hill home, Arnie enjoyed people. He even created an outdoor movie screen in his backyard for neighbors on Saturday nights. And the dill pickles Lorraine made could outdraw any popcorn. Indeed, a friend hearing of Arnie’s death wondered if there were any pickles left.
Most of all, Arnie loved the Redskins. Players used to hitch rides around the Frostburg campus on that golf cart. I mean, six of them at a time hanging on with Arnie driving. Training camp was like summer vacation for the Sachs, who stayed in the dorms despite being in their late 60s. Some people go to Europe; Arnie and Lorraine preferred Frostburg and Carlisle.
Arnie began covering Redskins games when Joe Gibbs was nine years old. A photo of John Kent Cooke with his father, Jack Kent Cooke, on the sidelines together that once hung in the owner’s office of Redskin Park was John’s favorite of the two and taken by Arnie. The last games at Griffith Stadium and RFK Stadium were in Arnie’s collection.
The Sachs family was completing funeral plans on Sunday when stopping to watch the final moments of the Redskins-Cowboys game. Nick Novak’s winning field goal started drifting towards the right upright before curling back in. Ironically, Arnie always photographed games behind that upright in the end zone. The family knew that was Arnie’s way of saying goodbye. He went out with a win.
Arnie and Lorraine Sachs were married 54 years before she passed away two years ago. Arnie is now with her. Their son, Ron Sachs, still strolls the sidelines as a photographer. I will miss his parents dearly.
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
