This is a summer of news and sports Bruce Bakke would have loved to cover.

Mr. Bakke, a longtime reporter and editor at United Press International, died surrounded by family at his Carrollton home Friday after suffering an injury and paralysis. He was 74.

In retirement he enjoyed Scrabble, pool, bridge and the occasional hand of Texas Hold 'Em poker with his friends at the Carrollton Senior Center, but he never lost his nose for news.

"He always knew everything that was going on," said daughter Cristella Bakke of Costa Mesa, Calif.

Mr. Bakke left UPI to work for Dallas marketing firm Levenson and Hill as vice president for media relations, then later did freelance public relations and writing work.

But he never worked for another news agency.

He was dedicated to UPI. "That was his love," said Ms. Bakke.

During his 25-year career at UPI, he covered five national political conventions, the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and five manned space launches at Cape Canaveral, as well as scores of political campaigns and sports games, including the 1974 baseball game where Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record.

Mr. Bakke covered the volatile 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago for UPI and said he had to hide in a phone booth when police used tear gas on protesters.

"He said he couldn't believe what he was seeing," said sister Susan McGuire of St. Paul, Minn.

He followed this year's presidential campaign closely and would have enjoyed covering the upcoming Democratic convention, she said.

The oldest of six children, Mr. Bakke was born in Virginia, Minn., in 1933. He was raised in Thief River Falls, Minn., and was a proud Eagle Scout, said Ms. McGuire, who said her big brother once hitchhiked from Minnesota to Chicago for a Boy Scout convention.

Mr. Bakke joined the Army in 1953 and served as a Morse code intercept operator in West Germany. Later, he attended the University of North Dakota, where he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism in 1959. He was the first in the family to graduate from college and made sure each of his siblings did the same.

Mr. Bakke's wife, Bettianne, died in 2005.

In addition to his daughter and Ms. McGuire, Mr. Bakke is survived by his brothers, Lee, Paul, and Steven Bakke, and grandson Noah Johnson.

Services will be at 11 a.m. today at Rhoton Funeral Home, 1511 S. Interstate 35E in Carrollton.