AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Longtime sportswriter and columnist Bill Robinson, known in part for his NASCAR coverage, has died. He was 79.

Lafayette Sun editor Michael Hand said Robinson, who died Saturday, had open heart surgery in April and spent some two months in the hospital. His cause of death was not immediately available Monday.

Robinson was a retired Atlanta Journal writer living in Chambers County. He still wrote columns for the Opelika-Auburn News and Lafayette Sun.

Former Atlanta sports editor Jim Minter said Robinson was the writer who nicknamed famed driver Richard Petty “King Petty.” NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter recalled Robinson as a “fun-loving, unique person.”