Hugh Edmund Keough was one of the brightest wits in American sportswriting during the early part of the twentieth century. The first editor of the "In the Wake of the News" column in the Chicago Tribune--thought to be the oldest continuous sports column in the United States--Keough was cited by his newspaper as a "powerful and unique influence for high standards, sanity, and sportsmanship in athletics." He made "In the Wake of the News" the most brilliant feature of the Tribune sports section, creating a tone and style that would be followed by sports journalists for generations to come.

Keough, who would come to be known as "Hek" from his byline, "By Hek," was born on 24 January 1864 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. While information about his early life is sketchy, it is known that he began his newspaper career with the Hamilton Spectator at the age of seventeen...