Ash Friederich, who wrote more than 800 stories as a freelancer for the Tucson Citizen and Arizona Daily Star before becoming an English teacher and assistant football and baseball coach at Tolleson High School, has died. He was 40.
In a Twitter post, Tolleson's baseball program wrote that Friederich died Saturday night of COVID-19 complications. He had been sick for three weeks, but tested negative for COVID-19 twice, football coach Roy Lopez told The Arizona Republic. Friederich had taught at the school since 2016, the Republic said.
Freiderich began his journalism career as a high school sports freelancer for the Tucson Citizen, working there from 2004 until the afternoon paper's closure in 2009 before moving on to the Arizona Daily Star, where he wrote until 2011. Friederich freelanced more than 800 articles for the publications and did the same for the Republic after moving to the east valley. Friederich also spent six months (April 2010-September 2010) writing for TucsonSentinel.com, worked security for the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders and served as the official photographer for the Tucson Toros of the Golden Baseball League.
Former Tucson Citizen sports editor Mike Chesnick said Monday that Friederich had a knack for feature writing and for finding different angles to stories.
"He helped us really do a great job with high school sports," Chesnick said. "He was conscientious. He made people feel at ease. He was a good communicator."
Michael Schmelzle, who worked with Friederich at both the Citizen and Star, said the reporter "had a deep love of sports and eagerly accepted assignments while constantly coming up with ideas for future stories."
"He had a strong desire to learn and was willing to do whatever it took to improve and produce a quality story," Schmelzle said. "He always had a smile on his face and got along with everybody."
Born in Chicago, Friederich moved to Tucson in 1985 and graduated from Tucson High in 1998. He earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in creative writing and journalism from the University of Arizona.
Lopez told the Republic that Friderich got sick three weeks ago with flu-like symptoms. Friederich was tested twice for COVID-19, Lopez told the Republic, but both came back negative.
"He progressively got worse," Lopez told the Republic. "We had already quarantined. Then, after a few days, he was feeling better.
"He had a high respiratory infection on Friday and was admitted (to the hospital)."
Lopez told the Republic that Friederich's oxygen levels had gotten so low that he was put on a ventilator.
"He was my freshman coach," Lopez told the Republic. "He loved sports. He loved the Chicago Cubs. He loved the (Arizona) Wildcats. He was so happy (my son) Roy chose to play at UofA. He was a happy-go-lucky man. He was the butt of jokes. Just a great sport."
Added Schmelzle: "It was impossible to talk to Ash for five minutes and not crack up laughing at least once. He loved his Cubs — and let you know it."
Friederich is survived by his wife, LeAnne. The two were married last year.
