For Jon Gold and Austin Ward, Sept. 12 was a reunion of sorts.
The writers, who used to work together at the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, were in the press box together again when the UCLA football team played in Knoxville last month against the University of Tennessee.
Gold was hired by the Los Angeles Daily News to cover the Bruins. Ward accepted the UT football beat for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Both start their new jobs this week.
"It’s pretty unusual that they both come from a small paper like that," said Daily News sports editor Gene Warnick. "It speaks to the quality of the product in Casper."
It also speaks to an interesting trend in newspapers this past summer. While many shops are still in hiring and wage freezes, or worse are eliminating jobs, there was a run on major beats. Along with Gold and Ward:
* The Oklahoman hired David Ubben to cover its OU basketball beat.
* The Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian hired Brian T. Smith for its Trail Blazers beat.
* The Birmingham News hired Don Kausler Jr. for its major colleges beat.
* The Bloomington (Ind.) Herald-Times hired Dustin Dopirak for its Indiana beat.
* The Denver Post hired Jeff Legwold as a Broncos reporter.
While it is certainly much too little movement to indicate a recovery in the industry, it is at least encouraging that some papers are hiring.
"We were a little worried about it," said News-Sentinel Deputy Sports Editor Phil Kaplan, the APSE First Vice President. "But they decided pretty quickly to go ahead and fill the job.
"I think they recognized how important the Tennessee football beat is to this paper. And we were able to go out and make a good hire."
In other moves …
NORTHWEST REGION
Seattle Times: Mason Kelley has been hired as high-school coordinator. Kelley, who worked at The Times in college taking prep scores over the phone and writing freelance stories, will be a reporter and blogger while also coordinating The Times’ coverage of more than 100 high schools. He previously covered preps and college sports for The Idaho State Journal in Pocatello, Idaho, and the Bakersfield Californian, and also has experience with CBS Sportsline, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, MLB.com and Unrestricted, a South Florida sports magazine. Kelley, the son of longtime Seattle Times sports columnist Steve Kelley, replaces Tom Wyrwich, who will attend law school at the University of Washington.
Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian: Brian T. Smith has taken over as Trail Blazers beat writer and enterprise reporter. Smith had an earlier stint at The Columbian and then spent two years at the Bristol
Herald Courier, where he won several APSE awards. He replaces Brian Hendrickson.
Everett Daily Herald: Scott Johnson and John Boyle of The Daily Herald in Everett, Wash., switched beats this fall. Scott now covers University of Washington athletics and John covers the Seattle Seahawks.
Casper Star-Tribune: Austin Ward, University of Wyoming football beat writer for the Casper Star-Tribune, was hired as the lead University of Tennessee football writer at the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Eric Schmoldt, UW basketball beat writer, will relocate immediately from Casper to Laramie and cover both beats, as well as serving as the Star-Tribune’s lead rodeo reporter.
The Mail Tribune in Medford, Ore.: Has hired Shawn Miller as a sports writer. Shawn is a University of Oregon graduate who most recently worked for the Eugene Register-Guard. He fills a vacancy created by the departure of Luke Andrews, who moved to the Portland area to pursue other professional opportunities.
The Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle: Hired Gidal Kaiser to cover high schools and Montana State women’s basketball. Kaiser previously worked in New Mexico, the past five years with the Alamogordo Daily News.
The Bellingham (Wash.) Herald: Promoted sports clerk Ben Fletcher to a full-time sports writer/copy editor position.
WEST
San Francisco Chronicle: Al Saracevic has replaced Glenn Schwarz as Sports Editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. Schwarz retired in April after more than 20 years on the job. Among other moves in the reporting department, Rusty Simmons (formerly Cal football/basketball) is on the Warriors beat, Ron
Kroichick is adding Cal football to his national-golf duties and Tom FitzGerald, who had been on general assignment, is on the Stanford football beat. Kurt Aguilar, formerly the metro desk chief at the San Jose Mercury News, has been named the Sports Copy Desk Chief.
Las Vegas Review-Journal: The Las Vegas Review-Journal hired Adam Hill as its full-time mixed martial arts reporter. Hill is entering his eighth year at the Review-Journal, and has been a general assignment reporter covering UFC, UNLV and high school sports. He will retain his role as Community Sports Editor and will write roughly three MMA stories per week during non-event weeks.
Reno Gazette-Journal: The Reno Gazette-Journal promoted Johanna Huybers to head sports copy desk chief. Huybers started as a sports intern six years ago, and joined the sports copy desk full-time two years ago. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, in May of 2009 and was promoted to desk chief in July.
Salt Lake Tribune: Tony Jones was promoted to beat writer for Utah State basketball. He also covers USU football.
SOUTHWEST
Austin American-Statesman: Sports editor John Bridges has been promoted to senior editor for local news. The Statesman sports staff now reports to senior editor Drew Marcks, with deputy sports editor Richard Tijerina and assistant sports editor James Wangemann handling day-to-day operations.
SOUTHEAST
Knoxville News Sentinel: Hired Austin Ward of the Casper Star-Tribune to cover University of Tennessee football. Ward has been the beat reporter for University of Wyoming football since 2007. He won four Associated Press Sports Editor awards — including three for writing in 2008. Ward replaces Drew Edwards who was hired by the University of Tennessee to cover UT sports on the Web.
Orlando Sentinel: Past APSE president John Cherwa left the Orlando Sentinel to return to the Los Angeles Times for his second tour of duty as deputy sports editor.
Pensacola News Journal: Jason Blakeney has been promoted to assistant sports editor. He will handle the multimedia duties, as well as filling in for sports editor Bill Vilona when needed. Blakeney has been on the staff for three years and is an Auburn University graduate. Jamie Secola has joined the staff as a high school writer and general assignment. She started with Pensacola as a page designer and copy editor, then went to the universal design desk when it was created. She is a University of West Florida graduate who has been with the newspaper for 18 months as a full-time employee.
The Palm Beach Post: Dave Tepps was promoted from deputy sports editor to sports editor, replacing Nick Moschella, who had been promoted this spring to Content Editor for the full newsroom. Before coming to the Post in 2004, Tepps held several positions at the San Jose Mercury News, including sports editor and deputy managing editor. He previously worked at the Miami Herald and National Sports Daily.
Florence Times Daily: Monica Collier has been added as a designer/copy editor in sports. She previously worked at the Decatur Daily.
Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel: Joe Schwerdt was named Topic Manager/Sports Editor of the Sun Sentinel and Sun-Sentinel.com in June. Kathy Laughlin and Steve Svekis were each named Content Editors/Assistant Sports Editors.
GREAT LAKES
Chicago Tribune: Paul Skrbina has been hired as Associate Sports Editor/High Schools. Skrbina formerly worked at Sauk Valley Newspapers. Colleen Kane has been hired as full-time assistant high school sports editor. Kane, a University of Illinois graduate, grew up in the west suburbs and had been a part-timer on the Tribune high school sports staff for two years. Before coming to Chicago, Kane covered high schools, colleges and pros at the Cincinnati Enquirer for almost three years. Ben Miraski has been hired as a part-time clerk.
Sauk Valley Newspapers: Will Larkin has been named sports editor. The University of Illinois graduate previously had been assistant sports editor since 2006 and has worked at the paper since 2003. Larkin grew up near Bloomington, Ill.
ThisWeek community Newspapers: Larry Graham has been named Assistant Sports Editor for ThisWeek Community Newspapers in Columbus, Ohio. ThisWeek is a group of 23 weekly papers. Graham was a copy editor at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Indiana University’s National Sports Journalism Center: William F. "Billy" Reed, a former senior writer for Sports Illustrated and a national hall of fame sportswriter and author, is teaching at Indiana University’s National Sports Journalism Center this fall.
Oakland Press: Dave Pemberton has been elevated to the Detroit Pistons and NBA beat. Pemberton has been covering Oakland University men’s and women’s basketball at The Oakland Press for the past two years as well as contributing to the high school sports beat as a writer, videographer and copy desk member. Pemberton, a graduate of Oakland University, joined The Oakland Press staff in 2006. Michael Wigman has been hired as a member of the sports copy desk. Wigman, a graduate of Roosevelt University in Illinois, grew up reading The Oakland Press while attending high school at nearby Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes. Prior to The Oakland Press, Wigman worked at the Alpena (MI) News and the Lake Powell Chronicle in Page, Ariz.
NORTHEAST
Glens Falls (N.Y.) Post-Star: Alex Matthews has been hired as a sportswriter. Her main duties will be covering high school sports and writing features. She is a graduate of Emerson College and nearby Lake George High School.
GREAT PLAINS
The Oklahoman: David Ubben joined the staff as the OU basketball beat writer and backup OU football beat writer. Ubben is a recent University of Missouri graduate and alumnus of the Sports Journalism Institute. He place fifth in the 2009 APSE explanatory writing division for the under 40,000 circulation category. John Helsley moves from the OU to the Oklahoma State basketball beat, completing what The Oklahoman staff calls the "Bedlam cycle" for having served as lead beat writer for OU football and basketball and OSU football and basketball. Brandon Chatmon is the new OSU football beat writer. Chatmon previously served as a high school beat writer and multimedia reporter, where he was one of the first staff members to incorporate print and video reporting into his work. Andrea Cohen left The Oklahoman after three seasons as Oklahoma State basketball beat writer to enroll in graduate school at the University of San Francisco. Bob Przybylo moves from a part-time writing position to a full-time reporting job at The Oklahoman covering high school sports. Chase Colston left a page designer position at The Oklahoman to become presentation editor at The Tyler (Texas) Telegram.
The Tulsa World: John D. Ferguson a Tulsa World staff member for 35 years retired in late July. It’s the first time since 1952 that a member of the Ferguson family won’t be on staff. John’s father, John A. Ferguson, was on staff at the World nearly 50 years. Matt Baker has been hired as a reporter. He will cover high school girls basketball in winter and also will be a general assignment reporter. He comes to the World from the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader. Baker, who is expected to start in late August, was an intern with the World in 2007.
The Denver Post: Jeff Legwold joins the Denver Post as a Broncos reporter. Legwold has covered the NFL for two decades and covered the Broncos for the Rocky Mountain News before it closed.
ATLANTIC COAST
Newport News Daily Press: Ernie Webb, our former assistant sports editor and current assistant universal desk chief, has taken a copy-editing position at the Tulsa World.
USA Today: Long-time USA Today NFL reporter Larry Weisman left to take a position with the Washington Redskins.
Waynesboro News Virginian: Jim Sacco, one-time sports editor and sports columnist for The News Virginian, has moved on after seven years at the 7K circulation paper to take the assistant sports editor job for the Bristol Herald Courier.
Rocky Mount Telegram: Hired Trevor Seibert as a reporter. It fill a position that has been open since November.
Richmond Times-Dispatch: University of Virginia beat writer Jeff White and NASCAR/sports business writer Ralph Paulk have left the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Jeff resigned to take a post writing for the University of Virginia sports Web site. Ralph left to take a writing position with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
