Bob Bestler | Tribute to a trivia expert

Among several reasons I continue to subscribe to The Sun News is for the obituaries. I've been around the Grand Strand long enough to recognize some names, and I'm always surprised and saddened by the passing of an old friend.

The latest came Tuesday when I hit the obituary page and found a death notice for Toby Eddings, a copy editor for the Gastonia (N.C.) Gazette, who died last weekend at the age of 52.

In my first days at The Sun News, in 1988, I worked closely with Toby.

I came in as assistant sports editor, hired primarily to put the sports section together every night.

Toby was my primary copy editor, and he made it easy for me to slide over to sports after building a career on the news side.

He was a strong supporter and encouraged me in writing a rather irreverent sports column, which we called "Monday, Monday." If the column made Toby chuckle as he edited it, I knew I had a winner.

By the time he left The Sun News, in the late '90s or early 2000s, I had come to know him as one of the most interesting and unique people I'd ever met.

Nobody knew as much about South Carolina as Toby, who grew up in Camden. Whether I was business editor, managing editor or columnist, Toby was my go-to guy on anything to do with the Palmetto State and its politics.

He was, as the obituary said, a walking encyclopedia, but his knowledge didn't end at sports or politics. He was a trivia expert on most any subject. I think he knew every song written in his lifetime and every television show ever produced.

He especially loved game shows, and the first time I met him was when he came into our bookstore, The Whale's Tale, looking for a book on the history of game shows.

All of us in the newsroom used to joke about the way Toby gave directions. His landmarks always seemed to be a fast-food restaurant: "Take a left at Burger King, then go about two miles and turn right at Wendy's." Like that. He took it in good humor.

I don't know how Toby died, but I know it was too young. I also know he is taking a mountain of trivia with him up to heaven. I hope he can find worthy challengers.