It looked like the worst possible situation.
Employees at the Chicago Sun-Times were in a guild meeting a couple of months ago, being told that the troubling rumors they’d been hearing were true. The company was down to just a couple of days of operating revenue, and if the proposed sale to Chicago banker James Tyree didn’t go through the paper might close.
National baseball writer Chris De Luca was as shaken as everyone else. But, he says, what he saw that night was also encouraging.
"So many people there were passionate about the paper rather than the paycheck," he said. "It really kind of fired me up."
The commitment he saw from his co-workers made an impression. It was one of the reasons why, when he was offered the sports editor job in late October, he accepted.
"It was a tough time, but you could still saw everybody’s dedication," he said. "Even when we didn’t know what might happen, everyone was still going at it. Everyone was still doing the best job they possibly could."
De Luca takes over for his friend, Stu Courtney, who accepted a job with Tribue Company as sports editor for Chicago Breaking Sports. And while the jump from baseball writer to sports editor seems like a big one, De Luca is well prepared.
He started at the Sun-Times in 1996 as a copy editor, after having been executive sports editor at the Contra-Costa Times in California. He was quickly promoted to Sun-Times weekend sports editor, before moving onto the baseball beat full time in 2003.
On that beat he covered the White Sox 2005 World Series title. He was in Philadelphia for this year’s World Series when he was asked if he’d like to be SE.
Although he’s had to sacrifice the natural down time he came to expect at the end of baseball season – "I did get a weekend off," he joked – DeLuca’s first month has been a busy one. Still, he’s excited about the new job and the new direction of the company.
"I think everyone is re-energized," he said. "We feel like we’ve got a new owner who is making a real commitment to the paper. And I feel like we are still putting out a great section.
"This is different, for sure. But I feel good about things."
OTHER REGION MOVES …
The Beaumont Enterprise: Dave Wilson has joined The Enterprise as sports editor. Wilson has worked in sports, news, design and leadership roles at the Dallas Morning News, San Diego Tribune, Las Vegas Sun and Houston Chronicle. Most recently, he was working on a contract basis for the New York Times. Chris Dabe, who had presided over the sports section, has moved to assistant sports editor and is taking on more writing assignments.
Chicago Tribune: Hired Stu Courtney as sports editor for Chicago Breaking Sports. Courtney previously was sports editor at the Chicago Sun-Times; Hired Chris Hine as its University of Illinois basketball beat writer. Hine is a Notre Dame grad originally from Scranton, N.Y. He interned with the New York Times and Los Angeles Times; Former sports editor Dan McGrath left the paper and is writing for the New York Times’ newly launched Chicago regional sports pages.
Muncie (Ind.) Star Press: Hired Jesse Temple as a sports writer. Temple previously was an intern for MLB.com in Chicago.
Quincy (Ill.) Herald-Whig: Hired Jared Bell as a sports writer. Bell is a Northern Illinois University graduate and previously worked at the Ashland (Ohio) Times-Gazette.
Sauk Valley Newspapers: Hired Larry Brennan as assistant sports editor. Brennan spent 13 years as assistant sports editor at the Clinton (Iowa) Herald. He is a graduate of St. Ambrose University and is married with three daughters.
Spokane Spokesman Review: Mike Vlahovich, a 40-year veteran of covering prep sports in the Spokane area, is retiring Dec. 31. Mike has worked for The Spokesman-Review for 17 years. Prior to that he worked at the Spokane Valley Herald.
Seattle Times: Percy Allen, who formerly covered the Sonics, is covering Washington men’s basketball. Bob Condotta, the previous Huskies men’s beat reporter, is covering Seattle U. men’s basketball in addition to Washington football. Jayda Evans will cover Seattle U. women’s basketball in addition to her duties covering UW women’s basketball and the Seattle Storm; Chris Taylor, who previously worked for The Seattle Times as a news assistant in newsfeatures, has returned to Sports to help with high-school sports agate. Brady Henderson was hired part-time in the same capacity.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Hired Gidal Kaiser from the Alamogordo Daily News in New Mexico. Kaiser is covering high schools and the Montana State women’s basketball team.
The Palm Beach Post: The Palm Beach Post has hired John Bisognano as new assistant sports editor. John replaces Jim Coleman, who was promoted to planning and Sunday editor for the newsroom at large. John previously worked in news and sports at The Post after spending five years as an editor in Metro for The Chicago Tribune.
Orlando Sentinel: Former Rocky Mountain News Sports Editor Barry Forbis joined the staff at the Orlando Sentinel as sports content editor. Forbis will supervise all college sports content in print and online and will lead Sports’ projects/enterprise efforts. Barry spent the past 20 years as sports editor of the Rocky Mountain News, where he led a section that regularly captured top-10 APSE awards. Before that, he spent five years as the AME/Sports at the Cincinnati Post. This is be Barry’s second stint at the Sentinel, where he served as assistant sports editor in charge of the sports desk from 1981-83.
Florence Times Daily: Calvin Cooley has joined our staff as a full-time part-timer. He’s a student at North Alabama and is covering mostly preps and G.A. assignments. He works 20 hours per week.
Tuscaloosa News: The Tuscaloosa News hired Chase Goodbread as its University of Alabama football beat writer in September. Chase previously worked for Bamaonline and for more than a dozen years at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla.
L.A. Kings: In October, assistant sports editor Rich Hammond of the LA Daily News accepted a position with the Los Angeles Kings. In a groundbreaking move for an NHL team, Hammond was hired to report solely on the NHL for the Kings Web site, to augment waning newspaper coverage. He is traveling with the team, providing gamers and notebooks as well as first-person analysis on his blog, LAKingsinsider.com. Hammond had previously covered the Kings for the L.A. Daily News. He was replaced by Brad Martin, who moved over from the news section of the LA Daily News.
Antelope Valley Press: hired Eric Shannon, a 2008 San Diego State graduate, to fill a sports reporter vacancy, covering high schools and community news. Shannon worked as a freelance sports writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The Boston Globe:
* Matt Pepin is the new sports editor of Boston.com. Matt was the sports editor of the Middletown, N.Y. Times Herald-Record where he led a staff that won numerous APSE honors. He’s also vice chair of the Northeast Region. Matt replaces Dave Lefort, who is now managing editor of ESPNboston.com.
* Hired Gary Washburn to be the national NBA writer. Washburn, who covered the NBA at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, replaces Marc Spears, who moved to Yahoo.
* Hired Peter Abraham for the Red Sox beat which he’ll share with Amalie Benjamin. Abraham worked at the Journal-News in White Plains, N.Y. covering the Yankees where he established a highly respected blog.
* Hired Albert Breer as national NFL writer. Breer was an NFL writer for The Sporting News and he replaces Mike Reiss, who left for ESPNboston.com.
* Promoted Christopher L. Gasper to web columnist. Gasper had been the Patriots beat writer and he replaces Tony Massarotti, who now hosts an afternoon sports talk show on WBZ FM in Boston. Mazz will continue to write for Boston.com on a part-time basis.
* Adam Kilgore will be moving from the Red Sox beat to the Patriots.
* Monique Walker moves onto Patriots beat and Julian Benbow (an SJI graduate) onto the Celtics beat. Both had been general assignment reporters for the Globe sports section and the Globe’s regional sections.
* Zuri Berry will joint Pepin’s Boston.com staff as a multimedia producer. Zuri was a staff writer and on-line community manager at the Union in Grass Valley, Calif. He is an SJI graduate.
