WFAA/Channel 8 bid an affectionate farewell Thursday night to George Riba, the sports reporter-anchor who is retiring after 37 years with the station.

The final 10 minutes or so of the 10 p.m. newscast were dedicated to Riba, with a sweet goodbye led by sports anchor Dale Hansen and featuring a few special guests.

“He arrived in Dallas in the middle of the golden age for local TV news,” Hansen said. “A one-man-band: reporter, photographer and editor — long before the term ‘multimedia journalist’ existed.”

Riba was working at KXAS/Channel 5 when Channel 8 lured him away in 1977, as revealed in the clip. The tribute was followed by an in-studio farewell in which former Texas Rangers player-manager Toby Harrah gave Riba a parting gift: a framed, signed Rangers jersey with “Riba” and the

The 10 p.m. newscast was only part of a farewell tour that Riba did Thursday, a sign of what he meant to the station. During the 4 p.m. newscast, anchor Shelly Slater interviewed Riba and his wife, Maggie, about his departure, life and career.

And on Thursday’s Good Morning Texas, co-host Mike Castellucci chatted with Riba and another longtime DFW sports-media vet, Norm Hitzges of KTCK/1310 AM “The Ticket.” Riba talks about change — when he started, there were no Dallas Mavericks or Dallas Stars … or, for that matter, “The Ticket.”