Life has a way of taking some detours.
What started as a boyhood dream of becoming a sports broadcaster turned to aspirations of becoming a sportswriter. Sports always have been my passion, stemming from the days of audio-recording myself commentating my own video games as a child. Becoming fully immersed in a life of sports seemed so wonderful but so difficult to achieve.
It seems like it could be a simple change, going from a desire to broadcast to the desire to write, but it’s taken me from Illinois to Indiana to Iowa and back to Indiana to get to this point, through countless roadblocks.
Growing up in northwest Indiana, I never thought I’d be a writer. I didn’t know it was something I would grow to love, an area where I had the ability to succeed. As I neared high school graduation, I decided to go where the money was and chose to major in computer information technology.
If you don’t know, that kind of degree takes an awful lot of math and coding. Unlike all the times where life has forced me to follow its own direction, this time, I made the decision to change where I was headed. That wasn’t the path I wanted to follow.
I made my own detour. I found writing.
My career in journalism started small — freelancing for several Iowa newspapers, some small, some large. I’ll never forget my first assignment, semi-professional hockey, covering the Quad-City Mallards. For a kid with no formal journalism education or background at the time, it was a pretty big exciting leap. I was given a chance.
I took the ball and ran with it (admittedly, sometimes into walls or in circles). I haven’t stopped since.
The plan was simple. Go to school, write about sports in what free time I had and get my journalism degree. From there, it would be time to achieve my dream. Full speed ahead.
Of course, life got in the way. Life had some more obstacles ahead.
I graduated from Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with a journalism degree. I wrote sports for more than five years in Iowa, covering everything from high school sports to Big Ten football as a beat writer covering the Iowa Hawkeyes. But that all was in my free time. Upon graduation, I had a full-time job that wasn’t in the newspaper industry.
I wasn’t quite living the dream, although I was close. I could see the destination in sight.
Getting here took me through several newsrooms as a copy editor and a page designer. My journey brought me home, back to Indiana, where I’ve spent the last several years designing this very paper. Making it to this moment required navigating a lot of twists and turns.
But I made it.
I come into the position of sports editor here with a unique background and prior knowledge of Hancock County and the teams, players and coaches here. I’ve seen so many of your faces as I’ve designed this sports section the past few years. I’ve seen the successes and the struggles of your teams.
I’ve seen a passion for sports from this community, and I’ve heard so many good things about the people I’m going to meet and the experiences I’m going to have. I’ve seen some of your stories.
But there’s more to tell.
It’s time to turn a long-sought dream into reality. Yes, I’ll be at games, tournaments and meets. I’ll tell those stories.
I also want to hear your stories. More importantly, I want to tell your stories.
What I’ve given you of my personal story is just a glimpse. Feel free to ask me anything you want to know when you see me out and about in the community.
In the meantime, I’m ready for some sunshine, some games and some writing. I can’t wait to witness Hancock County sports in person.