It was a Tuesday afternoon that remains burned into my consciousness.
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| NABJ / Jason Miccolo Johnson APSE President Garry D. Howard (center) receives a special Pioneer Award from the National Association of Black Journalists at the organization’s recent annual convention. Howard, the first African-American to hold the office of APSE President, was among the Sam Lacy Award recipients. To read about others honored, click here. With Howard are co-emcees Mike Terry (left), formerly of the Los Angeles Times, and Ron Thomas, director of the Morehouse College Sports Journalism Program. CLICK HERE to view a larger version of the photo. |
It was colleague after colleague, walking out the door via buyout or layoff.
It was brutal.
Overall, almost a third of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newsroom was lost on Aug. 4, a most miserable day. A total of 17 members of my Sports department were a part of that exodus and it took every bit of strength left in my 49-year-old legs to personally return to the office and rebuild with the talent that was left …
Every bit of strength.
But a funny thing happened on the way to a bottle of vodka that night …
My cell phone rang. And rang. And rang. And on the end of each phone call was a fellow Sports Editor – Leon Carter, Joe Sullivan, Michael Anastasi, Roxanne Jones, Mike Persinger, Harry Pickett, Jimmy DuPree, Bryce Miller and Greg Lee, among others – offering words of encouragement, buckets of ideas and basic uplift. There were well over two dozen of these calls and collectively, they lifted me up, sparking my energy level in the process.
And I got back to the job the Journal Sentinel hired me to do: Lead the Sports department.
It was never more evident to me that following day that APSE can literally save souls. It can be that ear to listen; those legs to help you walk; that gift of a splendid idea; that not-so-subtle encouragement stating, strongly, things will get indeed get better.
Our convention in Pittsburgh was a certified success considering the landscape of our business and there are many new developments that will enhance APSE’s ability to stay viable in this economy. As a group, we will continue to forge ahead because although our heads are bloody, they remain "unbowed," as Ernest Henley wrote in his wonderful poem, Invictus.
As individuals, we must lament the losses but remember that there are still enthusiastic colleagues that need our leadership.
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| Garry D. Howard |
I will miss Karl Svatek, Algeria Peoples, Don Griego, Rick Braun, Ben Steele and Ana Menendez dearly, along with every single person that walked out of the Journal Sentinel Sports department that terrible Tuesday.
But ours is a bigger mission:
We must continue to publish wonderful sports sections and web sites in order to grow our readership, which, I remind you, is still growing.
At the end of that most disappointing week, I got on a plane and flew to Tampa, Fla., to attend the last two days of the annual National Association of Black Journalists’ convention. At the host hotel, I immediately received a smothering hug from Jorge Rojas, Sports Editor of the Miami Herald and current APSE Diversity Chair. He handed me a lovely Cuban cigar and said, simply, "Everything will be all right."
And he was right.
That evening, I received a 2009 Pioneer Award from NABJ’s Sports Task Force, along with Doug Williams (Washington Redskins), LeRoy Selmon (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Ken Riley (Cincinnati Bengals) and Jim Dent (PGA), among others.
The surprise name on the list was me, because nobody at NABJ leaked the news about the award beforehand … but the uplift was tremendous.
As a former chairman of the NABJ Sports Task Force, I was there for countless numbers of our members when they needed support. At one of my lowest, the group lifted me so that I could continue to be a leader.
First APSE and then NABJ; talk about a support system!
I returned home ready to tackle.
The cutbacks at my newspaper – and at yours, and yours, and yours, and yes, at yours, too – is a reality check for us all. Still, we can not shrink away from our duties as leaders and we must keep marching forward – "it matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll," Henley wrote.
You may think you are alone while navigating these treacherous waters.
I’m here to tell you, loudly: You are not.
APSE is here for you – even if you are the President.
