Scott McCoy

I don’t have the words to express my love and respect for Pete and everything I write is far, too far, short of the mark. I’m still missing him. He was my hiking buddy, my fellow Premier League fanatic, my father in law, my friend and a life mentor. He was generous in many ways but I most appreciated the generosity with his time which I feel fortunate to have had my share. We had innumerable hikes in the East Bay hills, especially Tilden and Redwood, several baseball games from the nosebleed section behind home plate in the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum (for $2), trips to the first 3 World Baseball Classic finals and a memorable visit to Chavez Ravine. Among my favorite activities was watching early Saturday/Sunday morning Premier League games. We also shared many trips around California: Yosemite, Sequoia, Norden, Tahoe – all with amazing hikes. 

Pete’s knowledge about and interest in all things athletic is legendary. I can recall first being impressed with his knowledge of all the runners in the 1992 Olympics. He called the winner most of the races and could recite all the best runners’ times from memory. Later, we started going to the CA state high school track championships and he knew all the sprinters’ times there, too. Of course, baseball was a particular love of his. I can recall many (many) warm words of advice he had for Tommy Lasorda – not Pete’s favorite baseball manager. He was an exacting fan demanding the same level of excellence that he demanded of himself. Woe to his best-loved teams. He favored Barcelona in La Liga, much to their chagrin. I can recall Pete telling me that Barcelona’s defense was “horrible” one year and Gerard Pique was a disaster in their defense. I thought they seemed pretty good. When I looked it up, I found that they were the all-time best defense for “goals against” in La Liga – the best … all-time. Still not good enough.

I enjoyed his famous sense of humor and he found humor in many situations. My favorite story is not about Pete but is, rather, a story he liked to tell. When we visited the Linda and Paul Worthman home in Los Angeles, Pete regularly took Alex to the Santa Monica Pier for a few rides at the amusement park. One weekend in Santa Monica they went to the pier only to find that the Democratic National Convention had rented the pier for the day in the run up to the 2000 presidential election. Alex was 5 or 6 and not entirely clear why the park was closed when he could see people riding the rides.

Pete: Sorry, the park is closed.

Alex: Who are all those people in there?

Pete: Those are the bosses, the rich people keeping the workers out of the park.

Alex: How can we be rich?

Much love Pete. Miss you!

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Larry Hendel

Sometimes you meet someone who seems exactly suited for what he has chosen to do in life. Paul Worthman was that way. 

I first met him when I was Staff Director for SEIU 790/1021 in Oakland. We were looking for someone with the skills to dissect the budgets for the Port of Oakland and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), two employers with loads of money hidden in the weeds of the capital expenditure budget. I contacted Peter Olney, who at that time was with the UC Labor Center, and he recommended Paul. At that point I had no idea they were long time friends and comrades. Paul agreed to help us at the bargaining table. Not surprisingly he was far more than a researcher – he was an educator, a tactician, and a mentor to the bargaining team. I learned later that he was an avid sports fan. I wasn’t surprised. He loved the fight, he loved winning for workers, he loved figuring out strategy and he loved sticking it to the boss. I remember before the internet, Paul had figured out a way to hook up cable stations around the world so he could keep up with international soccer. During the World Cup he’d get up at 3 am to watch games, even when the announcers spoke only Spanish. His appreciation of the game was such he didn’t need to understand the details of the commentary. He probably could have called the play-by-play himself. 

The ultimate competition for him, of course, was the class struggle. With his passing, progressives have lost a teacher and a warrior, and I will miss him very much.

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