Edwin Howard “Eddie” LITAKER^{[1, 2, 3, 4]}

1966 - 2022  (56 years)

• Name	Edwin Howard “Eddie” LITAKER  [5]
  Birth	16 Feb 1966
  Gender	Male
  HIST	Eddie Litaker, Sumter Item sports stringer and longtime journalist, dies Sunday after sideline injury Blood clot found in leg broken after being hit by tackle going out of bounds Eddie Litaker is seen reporting in Manning in 2013. Posted Monday, October 10, 2022 11:00 am BY KAYLA GREEN kayla@theitem.com A person whose name was long found atop articles in the sports section of The Sumter Item died Sunday after initially being taken to the hospital from the sidelines of a Friday Night Lights game in Lake City. Eddie Litaker was hit Friday as he was reporting from the sidelines of the Lakewood-Lake City game and initially taken to the hospital from the field with a broken leg. Ahead of his scheduled surgery Sunday after being transferred to McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, a blood clot moved from his leg to his chest, and medical staff was unable to revive him. He was 56. Litaker was a staff sports reporter for The Sumter Item before becoming a longtime freelance writer, traveling the region to cover games for The Item’s three-county coverage area. He was a former editor for the Manning Times. When he was not on the sidelines or in the press box, he could be found helping customers at Walmart Neighborhood Market on Bultman Drive in Sumter. He also previously worked at Piggly Wiggly. Litaker was a Gamecock fan and received his bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from the University of South Carolina Aiken and studied at USC Sumter. He graduated from Sumter High School’s Class of 1984. The family will hold a visitation from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct 13, at Elmore Cannon Stephens Funeral Home on Miller Road, and the funeral will be 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at First Baptist Church on East Liberty Street. A memorial article will be published soon. To share your condolences or memories of Eddie for that article, please email Kayla Green at kayla@theitem.com. The Sumter Item has set up a GoFundMe for Litaker's family to help with funeral and other expenses. All donations will go to the family. To find the fundraiser, go here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/funeral-and-other-expenses-for-eddie-litaker?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1. Locals can also bring a check to The Sumter Item's office at 36 W. Liberty St. in downtown Sumter that we will collect for the family. Make checks out to John Litaker. EDWIN HOWARD LITAKER Posted Wednesday, October 12, 2022 6:00 am Edwin Howard "Eddie" Litaker, 56, died on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence. Born on Feb. 16, 1966, Eddie was a lifelong resident of Sumter and graduated from Sumter High School Class of 1984. Eddie earned an associate degree from USC Sumter and a bachelor's degree from USC Aiken. He was employed by Walmart Neighborhood Market and was a freelance sportswriter for The Item. Eddie was formerly employed by The Item as a staff writer. Eddie was also employed previously by Piggly Wiggly and The Manning Times, among others. Eddie enjoyed sports journalism, and he wrote the story on countless games during his career. He was a familiar face at sports events in the press box, on the sideline or courtside. Eddie was an avid fan of the South Carolina Gamecocks, the Dallas Cowboys and professional wrestling. Eddie accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at age 9 and was a member of First Baptist Church in Sumter. Eddie is survived by his mother, Joyce Drakeford Litaker; a brother, John Litaker (Cristin) of Sumter; a nephew, Ethan Litaker of Sumter; an aunt and uncle, Betty and Norm Taylor of Sumter; cousins, Debbie Lepley (Bob) of Elloree, Nita McLeod of Sumter, Beth McLeod of Columbia, Christie Beatson (Bobby) of Sumter, Britton Beatson of Sumter, Abbie Beatson of Sumter, Mary Beth Williams (Daniel) and their new baby, Addie Williams, of Elloree; as well as a special friend, Laureen McBeath of Sumter and her daughter, Elizabeth Silvey, of Franklin, Tennessee. He was preceded in death by his father, Edwin White Litaker. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Elmore-Cannon-Stephens Funeral Home, 515 Miller Road, Sumter. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. on Friday at First Baptist Church, 107 E. Liberty St., Sumter, with the Rev. Jim Johnson, Dr. Dan Barber and the Rev. Wayne McElveen officiating. Burial will be in Evergreen Memorial Park cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Baptist Church Sumter benevolence fund, 107 E. Liberty St., Sumter, SC 29150. Elmore-Cannon-Stephens Funeral Home and Crematorium of Sumter is in charge of the arrangements. EDWIN HOWARD ‘EDDIE’ LITAKER • 1966 - 2022 Family, friends and colleagues remember Item freelance sports writer Eddie Litaker Eddie Litaker, 56, worked as a sports reporter for The Sumter Item for years and died in October after a sideline injury suffered during a high school football game. Posted Wednesday, November 23, 2022 6:00 am By KAYLA GREEN kayla@theitem.com As families gather and dine this holiday week, it is important to remember those missing from the table. A Sumter family, the Sumter community and The Sumter Item lost a brother, friend and journalist this fall. Eddie Litaker died suffering a sideline injury while covering a high school football game, developing a blood clot before surgery. He was 56 and had been a staff sports reporter for The Item for some time before becoming a longtime freelance writer, traveling the region and state to tell the stories of our tri-county teams. He died Oct. 9. While The Sumter Item reported his sudden loss, the newspaper has been collecting memories and remembrances from the community, his family and those who knew or worked with him as a remembrance. Here are some of the things people had to say. "Eddie developed an interest in sports going back to childhood when he became a Dallas Cowboys fan in the days of Tom Landry and Roger Staubach. He was also a South Carolina Gamecocks fan from an early age. He got introduced to journalism through writing for the Sumter High School newspaper, The Cock's Quill. Eventually, his love of sports and experience writing for the school newspaper married into a sports journalism career. "When Eddie was in the press box, on the sideline or courtside or near the field of play of any sporting event to observe the game and report the story, he was in his element. He was doing what he loved until the end. "Many of the customers who knew Eddie from Walmart have commented on how nice and helpful he was. Wherever it was that people knew him from, Eddie was known to all as being an affable, kind-hearted and generous man who left us with wonderful memories as his legacy. He was a blessing to those who knew him, and he will be sorely missed." -John Litaker, his brother "Eddie was a strong Key Club member at Sumter High, an eager participant in any civic project that we had. He was the first to arrive and the last to leave, always giving a yeoman's performance." - J. Grady Locklear, Key Club adviser "We came to know Eddie via American Legion baseball. In 2009, our local team (Rowan County, N.C.) played in the Southwest Regionals, hosted by Sumter. Eddie saw our son's name on the roster, Alex Litaker (no relation), and made a point to seek out Alex and us, his parents. He introduced himself, and we just hit it off. We got to visit and talk with Eddie during the tournament a good bit. My wife, Julie, said something to the likes of, 'Guess we cousins.' It stuck. From that day forward, we considered ourselves cousins. From that day forward, he was always Cousin Eddie. After the tournament, our local team went on the American Legion World Series in Fargo, North Dakota, and then Alex off to college the day after they came home. Eddie made a point to keep up with Alex about his baseball and education. Over the last 12-plus years, we have stayed in touch, many an e-mail or Facebook message, just asking how all were doing, lovingly always referring to him as Cousin Eddie. He was such a wonderful person. I am still in shock to read of this accident that ultimately took his life." - Dale Litaker "I know Eddie from when he was with the Manning Times. This is truly heartbreaking. Eddie loved sports. I would see him at many of the games in the county covering the story when he worked for the Manning Times. He was always fair in his reporting and made it so interesting." - Patricia Pringle, Clarendon County auditor "I worked at the Manning Times right at the end of his tenure as editor. I was a stringer and columnist. He was always so kind to me. ... I know he loved being a sports writer." - Melissa McCoy "First and foremost, condolences to Eddie's family. I had the pleasure of attending school with Eddie for a long period of time as a classmate at Sumter High. He was a magnet to others around him because of his personality and outgoing smile that he always had on his face. We would laugh and laugh and laugh about some of the silliest things, and he was just an all-around genuine person. I thank God for allowing such a beautiful soul to be on this Earth for the time that he was. Eddie will always be remembered as a good friend. God bless." - Frederick Prince, president, Omega Financial and Insurance Services "Eddie Litaker was one of the nicest fellows you could ever meet. He loved sports, and he loved covering football for The Sumter Item, and he loved Sumter. I worked plenty of Friday nights when Eddie would return from a game, and he would stop by your desk to tell you about an interception or a fumble or a touchdown or something ... because Eddie was a talker. Right now, I can hear Robbie Evans or Chip Chase fussing at Eddie that he needed to quit talking about the game and start writing about it. Good times. I was fortunate to be part of a newsroom with some great folks who worked hard and put out some first-rate newspapers, and Eddie was undoubtedly a piece of the puzzle. We all loved Eddie, and high school football coverage won't be the same without him. Rest easy, my friend." - Joe Perry, Sumter County Government communications coordinator, former Item journalist "I felt terrible hearing about the death of Eddie. I worked at The Item as a sportswriter and later an assistant sports editor to Dennis Brunson from 2002-2006, and over the decade and a half after that, I would run into Eddie while he was stringing articles for The Item, working for the Manning Times or any other newspaper that would call. I think I even directed a couple of newspapers his way when it came to covering LMA or Manning or a Sumter team. (I'm a communications specialist for a Medicare contractor, but I've freelanced stories regularly with the Voice of Blythewood, The State, The Item and several other papers). "Beyond his lovable goofiness, Eddie was one of the nicest sportswriters, nicest person, I have ever worked with, and he tickled me with this thing he did: when an editor, me or Dennis or anyone, needed something cleared up in his work, he'd always say this sly 'Ooookay' like he didn't really like the change but he wasn't going to contest it or anything. I will hear his voice in my head forever. "His stories were long and winding roads of adventure, filled with great fires and falling houses, dead witches and play-by-play down to the final lightbulb on the scoreboard being extinguished. He wrote of the grass and how it grew on the field before cleats tore out the root systems. He wrote of the paint drying in the press box as a defensive back would pick off a probable touchdown pass and run it in for the game clincher. He wrote until his laptop was out of ink, and he enjoyed every minute of it, every hyphen and semicolon of putting the action down. "Approaching deadlines did not dissuade him from getting the story complete, and for all of this I'm writing about, I have to say how much I admired his tenacity at getting everything he could in a story. He wrote games up for those aged, infirm folks in hospital beds and wheelchairs who couldn't make it to the game. His compulsion was to get everything possible into the story so that people who lived and died by those teams he covered would get the whole view of the ballgame. "It is also of note that in the 20 years I knew him, I don't feel like he aged a day. When I last saw him a couple of years ago working on games at the SCISA basketball finals in the Sumter Exhibition Center (whatever its name is now), he was as young as when I saw him come in from covering a Clarendon County area ballgame in 2002. Same person, same vocal tones, same personality. I know he worked for Walmart and elsewhere, but I know him more as the Manning Times editor and our guy on the sidelines. I think he is out there in the great hereafter right now, looking for some kind of something to write stats on, wanting to give games to people who couldn't see what he could see." - Worthy Evans "I coached American Legion baseball in Manning, and Eddie covered our games for The Item. He would always wait until I was finished talking and would slowly make his way to me. He never got in a hurry, and that's what we liked about him. Our friendship lasted over 20-plus years." - GG Cutter, Manning American Legion baseball "You have blessed everyone with your kindness, goodness and unconditional love! Your life should be a testimony on what it is to be an amazing human being! You Loved Big, and as we have cried our eyes out over you leaving this world, we know that you have gone on to your eternal home!" - Excerpt from Facebook, Christie Beatson, his cousin  [2, 3, 4]
  _UID	2D500577AB2C4E8E8E59A6A4731979C9AB8C
  Death	9 Oct 2022	McLeod Regional Medical Center, Florence, Florence County, South Carolina
  Burial	14 Oct 2022	Evergreen Memoral Park Cemetery, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina   [3]
  	Elmore-Cannon-Stephens Funeral Home & Crematorium, Sumter, South Carolina
  Person ID	I150380	Singleton and Related Families
  Last Modified	30 Nov 2022

  
  

  Father	Edwin White “Ed” LITAKER,   b. 23/25 Sep 1923, Monroe, North Carolina d. 23 Jan 2016, National Health Care Center, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina (Age 92 years)
  Mother	Living
  Family ID	F102827	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S23506] Edwin W. Litaker. [S30292] Longtime Item sports writer dies after injury at game. [S30293] Edwin Howard Litaker. [S30396] Family, friends and colleagues remember Item freelance sports writer Eddie Litaker. [S5103] He’s back on the podium.