Vin Cherwoo, longtime AP sports desk editor and union leader, dies at 56

Vin Cherwoo, a trusted editor and writer for The Associated Press sports desk for more than three decades and the president of the News Media Guild, has died. He was 56.

Cherwoo died early Friday in Tampa, Florida, following a long illness, said his wife, Stacy. He had been hospitalized since May.

Known affectionately as “Woo” by many colleagues and friends, Cherwoo was a reliable mainstay of the sports department’s night editing crew.

Cherwoo was elected president of the News Media Guild, Local 31222, in 2020 and was reelected in 2024. It was a role for which he often expressed pride, and even while he was ill, he repeatedly mentioned to friends how much he looked forward to returning to his work with the union.

He was elected to the guild’s Executive Committee in the 1990s and helped negotiate several contracts with the AP. NMG First Vice President Kim Kruesi said Cherwoo leaned on his vast experience to set the tone as a union leader.

“It is really hard to convey or stress just how deep his institutional knowledge was of the guild, the various contracts he oversaw,” she said. “He helped lead years of bargaining and was extremely knowledgeable and confident in how to represent our members. It was very powerful to watch.”

Cherwoo first joined the AP in 1993 as a seasonal baseball dictationist in New York, calmly handling phone calls from sometimes-frantic reporters at major league ballparks and helping guide their breaking game stories onto the national sports wire.

He was later hired full time on the sports agate desk, meticulously compiling statistics and standings from national and international sporting events. He joined AP MegaSports, the AP’s early multimedia sports service, before becoming a newsperson on the national sports desk.

Cherwoo worked as an editor on the desk and often as an overnight supervisor. He also covered the NHL’s New York Rangers and Islanders and New Jersey Devils, along with the Yankees and Mets and the early years of the WNBA’s New York Liberty.

Cherwoo was one of the sports desk’s most quirky and lovable characters. He was unassuming in many ways, never boisterous or seeking to be the center of attention. But Cherwoo was always eager to share his thoughts on sports, fantasy football, pop culture, politics or the best spots to grab a bite or a beer — or a screwdriver, his cocktail of choice — in Manhattan.

He also enjoyed telling tales from his early childhood in India, his days of roaming the outfield in youth baseball or spinning records as an amateur party DJ in college. And he would make a turkey for the office on Thanksgiving if he was working.

“Woo was a character. He enjoyed needling his friends and colleagues about their favorite sports teams — often sending text memes late into the night — and giving reviews of obscure action movies he watched on his phone,” former Deputy Sports Editor Howie Rumberg said. “But he also loved working for AP Sports, the camaraderie, covering the Rangers and Islanders, and helping make sure stories were accurate and on the wire quickly.”

He had a knack for numbers, and that was put to good use in his many roles in the sports department. Cherwoo also had an impressive working knowledge of sports history, particularly with baseball, and was an avid fan of the Devils, Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Lakers. He often joked that he just happened to like teams that were champions.

Cherwoo was born in Kashmir, India, and moved to the U.S. with his family when he was 6. He went to Suffern High School in New York before going to Binghamton University, where he graduated in 1992 with a degree in English Literature and Rhetoric.

Cherwoo is survived by his wife, Stacy, and parents Bal and Peggy Cherwoo.

Assistant Sports Editor Jake Seiner contributed to this report.