Sports Writing

Fundraiser-Huntington West Virginia -early 90s

Being a sports writer has always been the most rewarding job I ever had. Often, I think back and wish I could have stayed in that career path. But working for a small-town newspaper was not financially rewarding enough to raise a family.

But I have some wonderful memories.

I started out by being a stringer reporter for my local daily newspaper’s sports section. Back then, that was a big deal. EVERYONE read about their favorite high school teams, and our editor was dedicated to local sports. At that time, it was the bread and butter of our small-town daily paper. Having a strong local school presence can make a local paper very important.

So, one night, one of the full-time sportswriters was ill, and my editor threw me into the fire. He had me cover a local game and write it up. After a few corrections and suggestions, it went to print. I was so excited and proud. After all, I was about 20 years old at the time. I even had a byline – that was bigtime to me.

Soon I was given a full-time position. It was a blast. I was actually getting paid to go to ballgames and write about them. It was a dream come true at the time, and I felt like a local celebrity. As time went on, I found out that I could get media passes and cover some professional and college games for free as well. I wasted no time signing up.

I quickly sent off to get passes to cover the Cincinnati Bengals and the Reds and any nearby NBA team hosting the Boston Celtics. Back then, I loved the NBA. I was an avid Larry Bird fan and was able to interview him a couple times. In fact, one column that I wrote about an interview with Bird won an Associated Press Sports Writers Award in Ohio. I was so happy about that. Not only did I get to go watch the Celtics play Cleveland, I got to interview Bird and was honored by the AP. Wow! I had it made.

One funny memory I have happened when I took my dad to a Bengals game.  We had gone down to stand on the sidelines to watch the fourth quarter when Gary Reasons, a linebacker for the New York Giants, made a tackle and wiped out several of us who were on the side watching. We were fine, but a little sore.

Within a year, I won another AP award and also won an award from the Ohio Prep Sports Writer’s Association for a series of columns I wrote on whether or not a shot clock would serve in the best interest of high school basketball.  I got opinions from coaches, players, parents, fans and officials and spread the series out over a few weeks.

So as time went on, I was able to interview some of my other sports heroes like Orel Herschiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers, PGA great Greg Norman, and former Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry as well as Pete Rose and Muhammed Ali. Rose liked my interview with him so much he called me a few weeks later to thank me. I had previously written a column on Pete after he was banned from having any association with the MLB for betting on the game. I had pointed out that many who were already enshrined in the MLB Hall of Fame had done things in their personal lives that were far worse, in my opinion, than what Rose had done. He liked what I wrote and he let me know.

One night after a Reds game, I was interviewing Herschiser in the locker room, and again my dad tagged along. After a while, it was just the three of us talking when the Dodgers’ trainer yelled for Herschiser to get on the bus. We were having such a good time that he didn’t want to leave.

I loved covering high school sports, especially football and volleyball. In volleyball, there are so many exciting adjectives to use like: spike, kill, jam, slam, pound, volley, smack, etc. It was a sports writer’s field day.

But mostly I loved writing columns and telling my opinion to everyone. You see, I just assumed everyone agreed with me, or after reading my column, they would come around to my way of thinking. Wrong. I heard from people when they disagreed, but that was okay. It was part of the fun. It made for good discussion when people would see me out at a restaurant or at the grocery store.

My favorite column I ever wrote dealt with game-winning moments in high school. That particular week of high school basketball featured three buzzer-beater shots. So, I called each player who made each shot, as well as their coaches, to get their reactions.  I started out the article with my personal memories of my two sons who also experienced such moments in time that will last forever.  I loved capturing memories for athletes and their parents. When I played ball in high school, I always anticipated getting the paper after I had a good game and reading what was said about me.  So, when I wrote about high school games, I wrote every story as if my own child was playing in that game and how I as a parent would want to see my kid’s name in the paper. I never lost sight of that.

Then some doors opened up for me to do some freelance writing for Sports Spectrum Magazine. I was given some assignments which were really fun. I went to Tampa, Florida and interviewed Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees during spring training, and later I spent some time with Bengals signal caller Andy Dalton.  I also interviewed former MLB great Al Oliver, who happens to live in my hometown.

Getting to interview well-known athletes is a perk – sometimes. There were times when people I admired turned out to be jerks in real life. I learned quickly to put things into perspective. You see, a professional is earning a living for a family.  Just like any job, there are good days and bad ones.

But high school athletes, and most college ones, play for the love of the game. And that’s what a good sports writer does – he or she covers that sport for the same reason – because it’s fun and he loves writing about sports. There is no agenda but to promote high school athletes.

That’s what sports writing should be about.

Del Duduit is a freelance writer, and some of his work has been published in Sports Spectrum Magazine and Portsmouth Metro Magazine. When he was a sports writer-reporter, he won two Associated Press writing awards as well as one Ohio Prep Sports Writers Association award. He has several years of experience as a general assignment reporter and broadcast news reporter.
He lives in Ohio with his wife Angie, and they have two adult sons.

www.delduduit.com

Facebook.com/delduduit