Gary Lundy, an award-winning sports columnist and sportswriter for the News Sentinel, died Monday at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center. He was 49.

The cause of death was a massive heart attack, a hospital spokesman said.

Mr. Lundy became ill shortly after reporting to work Monday morning. An ambulance was called, and he was taken to Fort Sanders Regional.

A Knoxville sportswriter for 27 years, Mr. Lundy won numerous writing awards at the national and state level. He wrote for The Knoxville Journal before joining the News Sentinel in 1992.

Mr. Lundy was a past winner of the prestigious Associated Press Sports Editors Columnist of the Year award, which honors the best sports columnist in the country. He was the 2003 and 1999 winner of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association's Tennessee Sports Writer of the Year award and was named Tennessee Sports Writer of the Year three times by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association.

"This is a sad, sad day," News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy said. "Not only was Gary an exceptional sportswriter and journalist, he was a very fine man and as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet. We, in the newsroom, will miss him terribly, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Cindy, and, son, Christian."

Mr. Lundy was admired by those at the newspaper, throughout the profession and in the Knoxville community.

"Gary was the one of the most talented writers I've ever worked with, but you would have never known it by the way he carried himself," sports editor John Adams said. "He took his work very seriously but didn't take himself seriously at all. He was one of the best friends I've ever had and one of the finest people I've known."

As a writer, Mr. Lundy had incredible range. He was equally adept at producing hilarious features, thorough investigative pieces, tough columns and heart-melting human-interest stories.

Some of Mr. Lundy's most-biting columns were directed at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee, but on Monday UT officials were among the first to pay their respects.

"I am very saddened to learn of Gary's passing," UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said. "Gary was one of the good guys.

He was a consummate professional. He never shied from asking the tough question but was always willing to listen to sound reason and respect a story from all sides."

Basketball coach Buzz Peterson, whose team is playing in the Maui Classic in Hawaii, held a moment of silence for Mr. Lundy

before practice and spoke of him to his players.

"As a coach, being covered by the media, I always thought he was a class individual," Peterson said. "I got to know him best as a dad. He would bring Christian to our father-son camps every year. This is a tough loss for the Knoxville community. My heart goes out to Cindy and Christian."

"I want to send my condolences out to Gary's family," said UT football coach Phillip Fulmer. "That's just a tremendous tragedy. Gary was always tremendously fair. If you had an issue with him, you could sit down and talk to him about it."

In addition to his amazing writing ability, Mr. Lundy was among the most beloved people in the sports writing profession.

"As much respect as I had for Gary as a journalist, I had even more respect for him as a person, husband and father," said Chris Low, who, as a reporter for the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, often competed with Mr. Lundy on stories. "I had the pleasure of getting to know his son, Christian, who loved his dad dearly and so looked forward to being able to come to practice and games with his dad. I will miss your competition, Gary. I will miss your friendship."

"Gary Lundy was the ultra professional," said sportswriter Ron Higgins of the Commercial Appeal newspaper in

Memphis. "Unlike a lot of writers in today's media, he never made himself the story. He was quiet, unassuming but extremely observant with a keen sense of opinion."

His last column, which ran in Monday's sports section, exemplified Mr. Lundy's ability to find a story few others would think of and deliver it in style. Coming after Friday night's NBA brawl in Detroit, Lundy came up with the idea of asking Tennessee players after the Vols' football game with Vanderbilt on Saturday what they thought of the fiasco. The answers were wide ranging and interesting.

Among writers, Mr. Lundy was also known for his legendary absentmindedness. WNOX sports director Jimmy Hyams, a former News Sentinel sportswriter, remembers Lundy constantly forgetting his notebook and having to make do.

"I used to get a kick out of him," Hyams said. "He'd take notes on scraps of paper, check forms from his checkbook or even his hanky. He was a terrific sportswriter and even a better person."

Higgins related perhaps the most retold story of Mr. Lundy's newspaper career when he forgot to bring money on a trip to a men's basketball Final Four in New York.

"He didn't have enough cab fare to get back from the airport in New Jersey to the hotel," Higgins said. "So he carried bags for travelers at the airport until he accumulated enough (tip) money to pay for a cab."

The family will receive friends 5-7:30 p.m. today at Click Funeral Home Farragut Chapel. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Farragut United Methodist Church.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be sent to the First Farragut United Methodist Church Building Fund or to the American Heart Association.

Steve Ahillen can be reached at 865-342-6259.