Children reflect on Fort Worth dad’s remarkable career, from media work to community servant

In his life Fort Worth’s Charlie Dierker has been many things, from a successful media career to a humble community servant. And though retired, his life is far from over.

But according to his children, the greatest thing he did was give them and all who knew him so many incredible memories.

And though his career in the work world is now past, that only opens more opportunities for him to serve the community he loves even more. With that will come more moments to share and add to the ones they share now to celebrate their father.

▪ Star-Telegram copy editor from 1994-2011.

▪ Sports information director at TCU (1979-89).

▪ Serving in the media room at the PGA Tournament at Colonial Country Club for more than three decades.

▪ Installing “Little Free Libraries” across Fort Worth to honor grandchildren.

▪ United States Coast Guard Academy admissions recruiter after his son, John, achieved lieutenant commander.

▪ Three decades serving Boy Scouts Troop 50, raising three Eagle Scout sons.

Oh, and he’s ambidextrous, can ride a unicycle and can be seen driving a bright orange 1980 Ford F-100 around town that he has been restoring for years.

Time at TCU

“The sports information office was in the bowels of the basketball arena and the football press box was in the stratosphere,” Joey recalled.

Daughter Caroline Poe noted perhaps the item her dad is most proud of was the media blitz to promote running back Kenneth Davis for the Heisman after his 1984 season.

“The idea for the ‘Temple Tornado’ and ensuing poster came from him. The poster is still up at Mama’s Pizza on Berry,” she said.

While at TCU, Charlie won several awards from the College Sports Information Directors Association.

Charlie and his wife Kathy have attended St. Paul’s Lutheran Church for more than 40 years and once led a college ministry.

Billboards

Charlie’s face was all over billboards.

“Texas Health Resources always needed ‘models’ for marketing material, and where better to pool from than staff - and family,” Ben said, chuckling, “I only ever saw dad as a ‘patient.’ Maybe if he’d worked another decade, they’d have promoted him to ‘doctor.’”

Ben also recalled his own opportunity.

“My junior year of high school, Dad pulled me out of class one day to be a free model,” he said. “My pic ended up in a number of print publications and digital ads.”

Colonial and Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods played Colonial once, in 1997. It was Charlie who got a comment.

“Tiger didn’t fare well on the back nine and refused to go to the media center, so dad sought some sort of comment in the locker room,” Joey said. “Asked by someone on his way out if he was going to go to the media center for a press conference, Tiger responded, ‘I gave my statement to the man.’”

Caroline noted the year that stood out most to her was when LPGA great Annika Sorenstam played in 2003.

“It was really cool to see Fort Worth roll out the carpet for a female golfer,” she said.

For Charlie, the tournament often turned into reunions with former colleagues, professional athletes, and sports writers.

“Since meeting him in 1984, Dad often caught up with Dan Jenkins at the media room,” Ben said.

Little Free Libraries

For the first one, Charlie and Kathy chose the Ronald McDonald House near Cook Children’s to honor their oldest grandchild, Charlie Poe, and in tribute to the RM Houses in Florida that Caroline and her husband stayed in during their son’s intensive care stays after a premature birth.

“If you drive by Charlie’s house, you can usually see a grocery bag or box of donated books,” Caroline said.

Coast Guard work

Charlie was never in the military himself. His father spent a short stint in the Navy in the 1950s.

“When I went off to the US Coast Guard Academy for school and follow-on service as an officer, Dad was hooked,” John said. “Perhaps partly out of patriotic duty and partly to give back to the school that offered his son ‘free’ tuition, Dad got involved.”

Charlie arranged for Coast Guard Academy cadets to come to Fort Worth on a Glee Club performing and recruiting tour. Ben said, “He later remarked about this event that it was ‘One of my life’s fondest memories!’”

Scouts

Charlie was a Boy Scout as a youth in the 1960s. He joined Troop 50 as a leader in 1994.

“While my brothers and I eventually aged out, he’s remained. He hit his stride in Scouting backpacking,” Joey said.

Charlie’s been on eight 11-day backpacking treks to Philmont, the Boy Scouts’ premier high adventure base in New Mexico, several with his sons.

“He did all 8 carrying the same hiking stick,” Joey said.

That orange truck

Charlie’s bright orange F-100 still sports its original coat of paint.

“In 2005 it was my daily driver for a semester in College Station,” Joey said. “Back then the gas gauge didn’t work right. If the needle so much as touched the top right corner of the E you had about 100 yards to get gas.”

In 2003, Charlie spotted the 1980 Stepside Ford F-100 Custom in a driveway. He paid $1,100 in cash.

“He is routinely propositioned when out on the town by people who want to buy it from him - even at stoplights,” Caroline said.

Unicycles and ambidextrous

Charlie can ride a unicycle.

“The last time I saw him ride it was after Easter church, still in his suit, but he removed his jacket and tucked his tie into his button-up to increase his aerodynamism,” Caroline said, smiling.

John said Charlie was in a “unicycle gang” growing up. In his neighborhood, the local boys rode unicycles en masse.

“I woke up one Christmas morning when I was in middle school to find that Santa had brought me a unicycle,” John said. “Dad took it for a spin that morning, rode it more often than I did, and it still sits in his garage today.”

And about being ambidextrous...

“I remember playing catch as a kid and Dad seamlessly switching his throwing and catching hands like some kind of baseball savant,” Ben said.

More to come

Charlie and Kathy are now world travelers. They recently went to Austria.

And, of course, more time with the grandkids is a priority.

“His dream job is to be the engineer of the Forest Park Miniature Train,” Caroline said.

This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 11:34 AM.