The much-loved and respected newsman was an exemplar of an intelligent, ambitious and uncompromising brand of journalism.
His wife Chan Cheng Tuan said he had been battling with pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease where the tissue in the lungs becomes scarred and stiffens over time.
She said Francis’ daughter, Kylie, from his first marriage to the late New Straits Times (NST) journalist, Goh Keng Lee, returned from New York yesterday while son Mark was making arrangements to leave London.
Chan said: “Tony mumbled the word ‘publicity’ two days ago and we were wondering what he meant. Now, everyone is talking about him.”
Indeed, superlative-laden tributes are pouring in about the “sifu” (master) as many remember him for his thought-provoking work, his writings, leadership and his rapier wit.
For close to 50 years, Francis stamped his mark in many newsrooms as editor-in-chief, chief news editor and sports editor, showing a commitment to authentic issues with care, sympathy and integrity.
He toned Malaysian sports through his writings, radical approach to sports pages and guidance of sportswriters. He always had common sense and good policy.
Francis was central to the professional lives of some of Malaysia’s finest English journalists who benefitted from his mentorship and whose friendship they cherished for decades.
He never took credit for the many awards won by his reporters but his recognition came in 2015 when he was inducted into the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s Hall of Fame for his contribution to sports through journalism.
Francis, being the man he was, dedicated the award to several sportswriters with whom he worked in the ‘70s, ‘80s and in the early ‘90s, saying:
“They changed the complexion of sports reporting, from straightforward news stories to commentaries and inside and behind the scene stories. They campaigned for what was right and necessary.
“They delivered, among others, the 1994 semipro football bribery scandal, the first people’s cycling velodrome in the country, and to a certain extent also sparked the constitutional crisis in the ’90s.”
As the NST sports supremo, he was in the centre of the match-fixing expose of the 1993-94 season that led to the arrests of more than 200 players including big names. The scandal destroyed Malaysian football.
In 1986, he led a NST joint nationwide public donation campaign with then Perak Cycling Association president Darshan Singh Gill to raise RM3.25 million to build Velodrome Rakyat in Ipoh, the first such arena in Malaysia.
In 1992, the NST published the sensitive story of the Douglas Gomez affair that led to one of the greatest upheavals in Malaysia, which saw even royalty being reined in.
Gomez, coach of the Sultan Abu Bakar College, was allegedly assaulted by the then sultan of Johor after he protested against an order to his team to withdraw from the national schools hockey tournament.
The order came after the then sultan’s son, Tunku Majid, was banned for five-years by the Malaysian Hockey Federation for assaulting Perak goalkeeper, Mohamed Selvaraja at the Malaysia Games.
Then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s government had to step in to resolve the matter and laws on the relationship between the monarchy and the people were reviewed.
The story of Francis, a La Salle Sentul school alumnus, who became a cadet reporter at the age of 20 in 1967 in journalism’s days of chattering typewriters and smoke-filled banter will be told for years.
Francis talked intimately about his elder brothers who were with NST. Jeffery, who has migrated to Australia, and Jerry, the paper’s former Ipoh bureau chief, influenced him in his career while the late legendary sports editor Norman Siebel inspired him.
Siebel and the late Mansoor Rahman, who Francis succeeded as editor, were among the first sportswriters to be inducted to the OCM Hall of Fame.
Francis spent 33 of his 35 years with NST as sports reporter and editor during which time he covered two Olympics (Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992), three World Cups (1974 Germany, 2006 Germany and 2010 South Africa) besides a host of international events like the Thomas Cup, SEA Games and Asian Games.
Another of his highlights was the Muhammad Ali-Joe Bugner heavyweight bout at the Stadium Merdeka in 1975. A pair of Ali’s training gloves, given to him by trainer Angelo Dundee, remains one of his prized keepsakes.
Francis ghost wrote columns for Indonesia’s badminton great Rudy Hartono in the run-ups to the Thomas Cup finals and got England football star Kevin Keegan to write a column when he was in Malaysia in 1982.
Francis often said: “Sports took me on a high like a drug. You get so much joy in telling a happy story to your readers or a sad one when you have to tell them what happened in defeat.”
After a brief spell as editor of Golf Digest, he embarked on his last major stint in the print industry after The Malay Mail was sold to a businessman by New Straits Times Berhad in 2008.
As editor-in-chief, he assembled a group of his ex-colleagues to help him spark energy to turn around the paper.
When people asked him how he would deal with the rapid changes battering troubled newspapers, he would chortle: “We have to make sure reporters tell compelling stories.”
They did. In the first two years, the paper’s investigative reporters snared the Malaysia Press Institute Journalist of the Year awards.
Francis left mainstream journalism in 2011 after ownership of The Malay Mail changed hands. But many stayed in touch with him because just to be in his company was an absolute treat. So loyal, so passionate, and extremely kind.
His last article was a first-person account of the 1969 May 13 riots in NST on Oct 27 in which he recounted an incident that made him stronger to face challenges.
He had gone to the TPCA Stadium (now Jalan Raja Muda Stadium) with the late Malay Mail stalwart Francis Emmanuel to cover a Selangor Division 1 match between Umno Youth and Hong Chin when all hell broke loose.
Veteran journalist, Fauzi Omar, said he looked up to his mate as the “standard for fair, probing and thoughtful journalism, and I know countless others who feel the same way.”
“They don’t make versatile sportswriters like Tony anymore. He covered everything: football, badminton, hockey, bowling, swimming, tennis, cycling, motor racing, golf – everything.
Fauzi said: “My best years in the NST was working on the sports desk under him in the ‘80s and I had the pleasure of covering the Seoul Olympics with him in 1988.
“It was Tony who gave me my biggest break in the form of my column ‘Fauzi Omar on Tuesday’.
“He was a quiet guy and never talked much in the office but he managed to get the best out of his reporters.
“It was my sheer respect for him both as a professional and a friend that I always gave him my best.”
When people asked Tony about retirement, he would quip: “In the world of journalism there is no such thing as retiring. If journalists do not continue working in some capacity, we might die.”
Farewell, sifu.
**The wake will be held at the Assumption Church parlour in Petaling Jaya next to Assunta Hospital at 8pm today and from 10am tomorrow. Funeral details will follow.