William J. Rechin (August 20, 1930 – May 21, 2011), better known as Bill Rechin, was an American cartoonist who created the sports-themed

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s ''

Out of Bounds In sports, out of bounds (or out-of-bounds) refers to being outside the playing boundaries of the field. The legality of going out of bounds (intentionally or not), and the ease of prevention, vary by sport. Sports that use this term include Am ...

'' and the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...

humor comic '' Crock''. Born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, Rechin studied art at Buffalo's Albright Academy of Art, where he met his wife, Trish. He drew his first strip, ''Pluribus'', in 1971. In 1975, Rechin, Don Wilder (1934–2008) and

Brant Parker Brant Julian Parker (August 26, 1920 – April 15, 2007) was an American cartoonist. He co-created and drew the comic strip ''The Wizard of Id'' comic strip until passing the job on to his son, Jeff Parker, in 1997. Cartoonist Johnny Hart, h ...

launched '' Crock'', a strip depicting the French Foreign Legion. Wilder and Rechin began their ''Out of Bounds'' strip in 1986. Rechin lived in

Spotsylvania County, Virginia Spotsylvania County is a county (United States), county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is a suburb approximately 60 miles (90km) south of D.C. It is a part of the Northern Virginia region and the D.C. area. As of 2024, Spotsylvania County ...

with his wife. The couple had seven children and eight grandchildren. He died of

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer (American English) or oesophageal cancer (British English) is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing and weigh ...

on May 21, 2011.

Awards

He received the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1992 for his work on ''Out of Bounds''. He was president of the NCS for part of 1988. His son, cartoon illustrator Kevin Rechin, received the National Cartoonist Society Magazine and Book Illustration for 1999, and was nominated for the same award for 1997. Kevin Rechin took over ''Crock'' in May 2011, with his brother-in-law, Bob Morgan, scripting.

References

Sources

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External links

National Cartoonists Society biography

1930 births 2011 deaths American comics artists American comics writers American comic strip cartoonists American humorists American sports comics artists Artists from Buffalo, New York Deaths from esophageal cancer in the United States {{comic-strip-creator-stub