Cincinnati sports fans might sense a trend: When Barry Forbis comes to town, another big-name sports figure soon will follow.
In August 1984, when Forbis was named sports editor of the Cincinnati Post, Pete Rose came back to the Reds as player-manager.
This time, Forbis is followed to the Queen City by a football player known by his initials — T.O.
"I guess I'm used to being overshadowed," Forbis said.
He took over on in July as the sports editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, leaving his post as sports content editor of the Orlando Sentinel after nine months. Prior to that, he had been the sports editor of the Rocky Mountain News for nearly 20 years until it was shut down in February 2009.
Not long after Forbis joined the Enquirer, Terrell Owens joined the Bengals to bring a little more excitement to the city's sports scene. The NFL team already had one dynamic, reality show wide receiver in Chad Ochocinco.
"I knew there was a good possibility T.O. would be coming to Cincinnati before I got here," Forbis said. "He's going to make covering the Bengals a lot of fun for us. We already have 'T.O./Ochocinco Moments' running every day in the section. I'm hoping we're able to get those two involved in a lot of offbeat online stuff once T.O. gets settled in.
"I'm also excited about how we can portray them on the cover of our football section — if they'll just play along."
With a NASCAR race heading to nearby Kentucky Speedway and Cincinnati among the college football powers, things have changed since Forbis previous stint in Cincinnati. The Kentucky native and University of Kentucky graduate was the assistant managing editor for sports from 1984 to 1989 at the Post, which he described as "a small Sunday-less, dying PM where we were screaming for attention."
"At the Enquirer," Forbis said, "now the only game in town, there's plenty of attention, but we face the same challenges everyone is facing. Tiny staff, reduced space, reduced budget, impossible deadlines. We'll figure out a way to make it work anyway. That's the fun part."
That, and having subjects like Owens and Ochocinco.
Lehman takes on new role
Brad Lehman was promoted in July as the Texas sports editor for Hearst newspapers. The position is based at the Houston Chronicle.
Lehman, most recently the sports editor at the San Antonio Express-News, will oversee the Express-News and the Chronicle. He will lead a combined staff in Houston and San Antonio.
"The main task is to figure out how we can work smartly as one staff and not do the same things," Lehman said.
Jeff Rosen will be the deputy sports editor at the Chronicle, and Burt Henry becomes the sports editor at the Express-News.
"The Houston Chronicle has a strong staff of writers and editors with a tradition of great sports journalism," Lehman said. "It's going to be fun to work with them."
Returning in Provo
Jared Lloyd had a bit of a starring role at the APSE national convention without being there in person.
But Lloyd, who had been laid off from his sports writer position in October 2009, appeared in slick videos covering high school sports produced by the Provo Daily Herald and shown by sports editor Darnell Dickson during the prep sports session at the APSE convention in Salt Lake City.
In July, Lloyd was rehired by the Daily Herald as online sports coordinator, marking the first time the Provo paper has had someone to focus directly on the online sports product.
Dickson credits the convention. "Partly at least," he said, "because I was able to present information I picked up at the convention to support my plea to our publisher."
Lloyd will be responsible for online sports initiatives, which will enhance the paper's coverage of high school and BYU sports.
In addition, Lee Enterprises approved the purchase of smart phones for all the reporters on the news staff, including sports.
NORTHEAST
Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette — Jim Wilson was named assistant sports editor, replacing Paul Jarvey, who retired in June. Wilson was previously a reporter and high school editor for the Telegram & Gazette for the last 10 years.
MID-ATLANTIC
Baltimore Sun — Hired Chris Korman, sports editor of The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Ind., to the position of Sunday sports editor. He also will oversee enterprise projects and a general-interest sports blog. Korman, who has a bachelor's degree from Penn State and a master's from Columbia University, spent a year as sports editor after three years as the Indiana University beat writer. Before that, he was a general assignment sports writer for The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa.
ATLANTIC COAST
The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) — Hired a new Coastal Carolina University beat writer, Ryan Young, previously of the Kansas City Star. Young started working on the beat July 29. Former CCU beat writer Josh Hoke left in June to work on a book and move to Charlotte, N.C.
Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer — Hired Tyler Dunne as its new high school sports reporter. Dunne, who has had newspaper internships every summer since he was 16, is a recent graduate of Syracuse University. He most recently had internships with the Philadelphia Daily News and Buffalo News.
Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record — Hired Jason Wolf as a high school sports reporter. Wolf had been working in Danville, Va., Register & Bee and has been an APSE top-10 writing honoree three times.
SOUTHEAST
Palm Beach Post — Hired Jeff Greer to cover high school sports. Greer replaces Jason Lieser, who has moved to Gainesville to cover University of Florida sports. Greer joins The Post from U.S. News and World Report, where he was a web producer and writer. Greer, a Pitt graduate, has been a sports correspondent for The Washington Post and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. … Sports web producer Matt Porter will become a beat writer for high school sports, teaming up with Greer. Porter was a correspondent for the Boston Globe before moving to Florida. He will help The Post continue improvement of its high school sports website, PB Gametime.
Macon Telegraph — Hired Seth Emerson to become the University of Georgia beat writer, replacing David Hale, who left to cover the Phillies for the Wilmington, Del., paper.
The Jackson Clarion-Ledger — Hired Ross Dellenger as its Jackson State beat writer and college recruiting writer. Dellenger previously wrote for the Madison County Herald, a suburban edition of the Clarion-Ledger. Prior to that, Dellenger covered Auburn for one year for the Decatur (Ala.) Daily. Dellenger replaced Kareem Copeland, who went to the Green Bay Press-Gazette to help cover the Packers.
Orlando Sentinel — Matt Murschel moved from the production team, where he was front-page designer, to take on a role as college sports multi-media reporter.
The Florida Times-Union — Hired Tania Ganguli from the Orlando Sentinel as Jacksonville Jaguars beat writer. Ganguli replaced Michael C. Wright, who left the Times-Union to join ESPNChicago.com.
Northwest Arkansas Newspapers — Ryan Malashock left to enroll in graduate school at the University of Arkansas. Malashock was the Arkansas men's basketball and baseball beat writer for the past four years. Vernon Tarver, who was a former sports reporter for The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, replaced Malashock. … Tom Glave, a long-time high school reporter for the Benton County Daily Record, left Aug. 3. He is being replaced by Henry Apple, who has been on the NAN sports design desk.
Murfreesboro Daily News Journal — Greg Pogue resigned his position as executive sports editor to accept a newly created position of senior columnist.
GREAT LAKES
Times of Northwest Indiana (Munster, Ind.) — Promoted sports editor Justin Breen to assistant managing editor. Breen spent four years as sports editor and previously had worked at the Post-Tribune. Paul Trembacki was named interim sports editor. … Hired Josh Weinfuss as a sports writer. Weinfuss worked previously for the Panama City (Fla.) News Herald.
DeKalb (Ill.) Chronicle — Sports editor John Styf accepted a news reporting position with the Green Bay Press-Gazette. John Sahley, who had been a sports writer at the paper, was hired as sports editor. … Jeremy Werner was hired as a sports writer and will cover Northern Illinois University and high school sports. Werner previously worked for the Paxton Record and Champaign News-Gazette, both in Illinois.
Sauk Valley (Ill.) Newspapers — Promoted sports writer Dan Woessner to assistant sports editor. Woessner is a Northern Illinois graduate.
WESTERN
Antelope Valley Press (Palmdale, Calif.) — Hired Darren Vaughan as assistant sports editor. Vaughan came the Valley Press from The Daily Times in Farmington, N.M., where he was sports editor for two years after previously being the assistant sports editor for two years. … Eric Shannon, hired in 2009 as a sports reporter, is leaving his position this month. He will return to San Diego State, from which he received his bachelor's degree, to continue his education
Casa Grande (Ariz.) Dispatch — Hired Matt Swartz as a page designer, copy editor and sports reporter.
Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) — High school beat writer John Swartz left the paper to become interactive content manager for NewsChannel 12/Fox Eastern Carolina in New Bern, N.C. Reporter Vincent Tannura was promoted to take over the high school beat.
San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate — David White, who had been on the Raiders beat, took over the 49ers beat, and Vittorio Tafur is the new Raiders beat writer. Previous 49ers writer John Crumpacker is on the Cal beat. … Columnist Ray Ratto, who spent most of the last 30 years working for Bay Area newspapers, moved from print to television. He is now the "senior insider" at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area — and on the website, csnbayarea.com.
