Jack Falla, BU professor, sportswriter, hockey expert

Jack Falla, helping a neighborhood boy tighten his helmet, annually fashioned an ice rink out of his yard for his family and friends in Natick. (photos by David Kamerman/Globe Staff/file 2001)

Jack Falla, a Boston University professor who covered the National Hockey League for Sports Illustrated in the 1980s, died Sunday in Maine while visiting family. He was 62 and lived in Natick.

Colleagues said Mr. Falla brought real-world experience and a passion for sports to his classes on sportswriting and communications at BU - even though he didn't like public speaking. He may have given many lectures on the same topic over the years, but he got nervous before each one.

"He didn't want to let them down," said Micha Sabovik, assistant dean for student services at the BU College of Communication, who had known Mr. Falla for 16 years. "He would be brilliant in class. He didn't want to just phone in his performance."

Former student Gary Dzen, who now works for Boston.com, said Mr. Falla was a mentor who was able to translate his love of sports into a classroom setting.

"You could tell that he loved what he did. He had a passion for hockey, and he had a passion for the craft of journalism. His enthusiasm always showed," said Dzen.

In 1982, Mr. Falla built a hockey rink in his backyard in Natick, a winter tradition he would continue. The rink was named Bacon Street Omni, after the street where Mr. Falla and his family have lived for 34 years.

On the homespun ice, several generations of the Falla family, along with neighbors and friends, played pickup games or twirled away many a twilight.

"My favorite part of the rink is the first skate," his wife, Barbara (Baldwin), told the Globe in 2001. "For lots of kids, neighbors, nieces, and now our grandson, the rink is where they have their first skate."

In 2000, a series of Mr. Falla's stories about the rink, "Home Ice: Reflections on Backyard Rinks and Frozen Ponds," was published. It was one of five books he wrote about the sport.

Mr. Falla was born in Cambridge and grew up in Winchester. He graduated from BU's College of Communication in 1967 and received his master's from the same program in 1990.

He freelanced for many publications for several years, including Boston Magazine and The Hockey News, said his son, Brian of Hudson. Mr. Falla began writing for Sports Illustrated as a staff writer in the 1980s, where he covered hockey legend Wayne Gretzky's best years, his son said.

After Mr. Falla left the magazine, he spent one year working as public relations director for the NHL in New York.

Mr. Falla began lecturing at BU in 1987 and became an assistant professor in 1989. He was quick to offer students help in getting jobs, said another former student, Peter Stringer, Internet operations manager for the Boston Celtics. Stringer said that although it was tough to rise for Mr. Falla's notorious 8 a.m. classes, he always went.

"That was a class you didn't miss," he said.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Falla leaves a daughter, Tracey of Cumberland, Maine; a brother, Patrick of Conway; a sister, Elizabeth Verrill of Hampstead, N.H.; and two grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. in St. Patrick Church in Natick.