El Paso Times El Paso, Texas Wednesday, November 07, 2001 - Page 9
Longtime civil-rights advocate, writer, mentor dies
Archie Waters was a mentor to chess prodigy Bobby Fischer, served in the Pacific during World War II and co-wrote two books on Spanish pool checkers.
Often described as a “quiet and gentle” man, the El Paso Times columnist, author and civil-rights advocate died Monday at age 83. He was hospitalized a month ago after suffering a stroke.
Memorial services are pending. Cremation will take place with arrangements by La Paz Funeral Home.
Waters is best remembered as a friendly man who quietly influenced others, his friends and coworkers said.
“He didn't like people making a fuss about him, but he liked making a fuss about others,” El Paso Times Managing Editor Bob Moore said.
Tuesday, his co-workers recalled his signature greeting, “Howdy do, howdy do,” and how he was always passionate about many topics such as African-American history, chess, politics and writing.
Waters, a New York native who moved to El Paso in 1980, was a member of the Black El Paso Democrats since its inception more than 20 years ago.
“He certainly was a dedicated individual toward his profession and the community he served, regardless of location,” said Otis Hopkins, president of the organization.
In New York, Waters worked for 11 years at the Long Island Daily Press and was a civic-affairs columnist for the New York Daily News.
“He was certainly a champion for the cause to make the community a better place to live,” Hopkins said.
Waters also broke racial barriers in his home state. Six years after taking up chess, he became the first black member of the prestigious Marshall Chess Club of New York.
He befriended a teen-age Fischer in Brooklyn in the 1950s and accompanied the chess genius to Iceland during his landmark world title match against Russian Boris Spassky in 1972. Waters played pingpong with the enigmatic Fischer between his matches with Spassky.
During his Army service in World War II, Waters became interested in Spanish pool checkers, or draughts, a complicated variation on standard checkers. Spanish pool checkers was extremely popular on the East Coast, particularly in the black communities, at that time.
“I found that there were no books on the subject, so I did research and wrote my books,” Waters said several months ago, when his birthday was celebrated at the newspaper. He said he was proud to find that his books were in the New York Library System when he once visited.
Waters had been honored for his work as a columnist with the El Paso Times, as well as for his dedication to the Democratic Party as an activist and volunteer. A former clerk for the El Paso Police Department, Waters was also the publicity director for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign in El Paso.
Waters was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and attended Columbia University.
Jean Waters, a daughter, remembered the values her father taught her and her sister when they were growing up.
“Education was important and try not to judge people,” she said he told them. “Try to look beyond certain social facts to something more important.
“He was a person of great intelligence, feistiness, focus, and he never gave up,” she said.
Onilaja Waters, his other daughter, said she appreciated how El Paso embraced her father.
“He considered El Paso his adopted him; he had many friends here,” she said.
Waters was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Josephine Waters. He is survived by his daughters and a sister, Osceola Simmons. ★
