By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor

There are a number of genuinely good people who either made or currently make a living covering local high school and college sports.

Perhaps none was as generous, loyal and accommodating as Louis Brewster.

Brewster, who was the longtime sports editor of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin died on Monday.

His passing is the ultimate heartbreaker and punch in the gut for those who were lucky enough to call him boss, colleague, friend, son, brother, uncle, dad, husband and grandfather.

If you did good work and had earned his loyalty, Lou would go to the mat for you.

And that includes this writer, who caused him some major headaches in my immature past.

I won’t pretend that I know him nearly as well as his staff of writers, but I wanted to take the time to pay tribute to a man who not only put Inland Empire high school sports front and center, he also helped get me through some difficult times with his counsel and keeping me busy with assignments.

I can still remember the first time I spoke to Brewster, which was nearly a decade ago.

At that time, he was the sports editor of the Daily Bulletin.

A few weeks had gone by in the high school football season and he was looking to expand the football coverage at the Bulletin.

Lou had already left a couple messages on my cell phone after a friend/co-worker told him who I was and that I was available for anything he might want covered.

On his third or fourth time calling, I picked up the phone and had a long conversation with Mr. Brewster.

We immediately connected because of our shared love of the U.S. military.

At the time of our first conversation, my brother Brad, a U.S. Marine, was in Iraq and fighting alongside our allies.

We were lucky enough to get Brad back safely after all six of his tours (four in Afghanistan, two in Iraq).

Sadly, Louis Brewster’s family did not get that same blessing.

His brave, patriotic and heroic son Bryan Allen Brewster was killed in Iraq back on May 5 of 2006

He was just 24.

We spoke about it on a number of occasions and he always referred to it as Bryan having an extended tour and that at some time down the line, he would see his son again.

Lou was about as old-school as one could be.

He was pressured immensely to accept the fact that social media and its posts were an inevitable reality if the Daily Bulletin wanted to keep pace with other newspapers in Southern California.

His longtime staff, including Brian Goff, TJ Berka, Clay Fowler, Michelle Gardner, Will Lester, JP Hoornstra and Pete Marshall were like family to Lou.

I remember coming to the Bulletin late on a Friday night during football season.

I hadn’t been to that building in Ontario, and I was going to meet Lou for the first time in person.

He was so welcoming and even invited me to get a drink with the rest of the guys after all the stories had been published.

I couldn’t go that night, but I remember thinking how refreshing that was, because staff writers at other papers didn’t usually show us lowly “correspondents” much respect and they certainly weren’t going to invite us into their world.

Over time, I found out just how revered Brewster was in the Inland Empire.

It was because he kept up and maintained relationships with current and past coaches and athletes.

His most adoring crowd seemed to be those in the motor sports world, where he treated their events like most did for football, basketball and baseball.

He was also a huge proponent of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, a minor league baseball team that Lou and his staff covered nonstop.

Even when some pressured him not to cover the Quakes as often, Lou fought as long as he could, because he knew how important they were to the Rancho Cucamonga area and beyond.

In the last years of his life, nothing made Lou happier than hanging out with his grandson, Louis Bryan Brewster.

Louis Bryan is the son of Brewster’s son Scott, and he was named after both his grandfather and his heroic uncle Bryan, who died in combat.

Post after post on Facebook, including anecdotes and photos of Lou with his beloved grandson, and you could see the love and happiness on Brewster’s face.

I’ll remember Lou for that love of family, supporting his writers and putting IE sports in focus, like they deserved to be.

To Lou, thank you so much for everything you did for all of us. Thank you for supporting me when it might have been easier not to. And thanks for just being you.

To Lou’s family, thank you for sharing a talented, giving and loving man with us all.

God bless, Louis Brewster.