“It was the essence of Piv,” said Eric Olson of the Associated Press, who worked with Pivovar at The World-Herald for 18 years. “He just loved to work. He got great joy from that.”

Maybe it was South Omaha roots, Olson said, but Pivovar didn’t believe in shortcuts. You earned your way. You showed up early and stayed late.

Readers knew Pivovar, 63, because of his prolific writing, but in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s he occasionally worked late nights on the sports desk, supervising production of the paper. The World-Herald had six nightly editions, and deadlines came by the hour. Piv’s wisecracks cut the tension.

“Honest to God, he would write a column and the lead story of the day while working a desk shift,” Olson said. “It was incredible that he could juggle that many balls in the air.”

Pivovar’s commitment is best illustrated in his dispatches from Rosenblatt Stadium. He covered approximately 1,700 games at the stadium, writing about the CWS and Omaha Royals.

“He was just the guru of the College World Series,” Olson said. “People from across the nation that were there to cover the event would come over and ask him about historical aspects.”