On Wednesday, June 24, we will gather in the western Pennsylvania metropolis of Pittsburgh – home of Jerry Micco and
 |
| Garry Howard |
the Super Bowl Champion Steelers – for the 36th Annual APSE Convention, an event with an illustrious history and one that will be filled with wonderful workshops, general sessions, receptions and requisite fellowship.
It will be a time for us to recharge our drained batteries, search for new ideas, share our past year and honor those who have been awarded our very highest journalism awards for writing, sports section content and design.
It will, however, be a time of change this year, as a new set of officers will be installed with the departure of energetic Lynn Hoppes as president.
My confidence in Phil Kaplan as the incoming first vice president is very strong, as it is with the very capable Michael Anastasi as the incoming second vice president and Toby Carrig as the organization’s extremely competent third vice president, the voice of the small newspapers in our land.
Still, some rightfully view this period in our industry as one of despair.
As your incoming president, I want you to know that I do not share that perspective.
Not at all.
We are still very much alive and in my humble estimation, indispensable to our newspapers, which are still breathing sans a
 |
machine. Sports sections have not only stood strong during this period of cutbacks, layoffs, furloughs, rampant nervousness and outright panic in some parts of the country, but they have flourished.
Because since I last checked, our charges still have managed to put sports in perspective for our readership, which has more than doubled since our 1,000-foot cliff dive into the wide world Web more than a decade ago.
Locally, television and cable cannot compete with our ability to bring our respective constituents the insightful sports coverage they want to devour. We know their habits, know their likes and dislikes and thus can better offer them the things they desire: fresh perspective from a local viewpoint on local teams from the high school, college and the professional sports world.
The combination of the print product, which in most cases is still bringing in the neighborhood of 85% to 90% of the revenue at most daily newspapers, with our flourishing Web sites gives us the platform to outperform national forces on a daily basis when it comes to our regional news.
And that’s what we still have, along with a chance to remain viable in an ever-changing news-gathering world.
The new board faces challenges previous administrations have not, what with the economy being in its certifiable make-it-or-break-it state.
But together, with your help, we can still make APSE what is was and what we all hope it will always be: A place where we can get better at what we do while helping our newspapers remain in households across this great nation.
Is it pie in the sky? No way, my friends.
Over the past few months, I have talked to more sports editors than ever before, and I have been a sports editor since 1990, and I must report that their collective spirit is up, not down.
Yes, we have to make tough decisions about our future but one has already been made, forming an alliance with Indiana University to establish our national headquarters at the school’s new National Sports Journalism Center.
Tim Franklin, a former editor at three major dailies, is working with us on many levels. This partnership will help us economically in a huge way and, more important, help us reach the youth of this nation, a group still very much interested in the craft of sportswriting and editing.
Before the year is out, we will have a permanent APSE Hall of Fame in the new Student Media Center on the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis campus and no less than Dave Smith, the heralded founder of APSE in addition to a past president and a Red Smith Award winner, is thrilled at the prospect of a grand reunion featuring all of our distinguished greats in that city.
Celebrating your past is a wonderful way to recharge your batteries for the future.
Yes, we will have to make tough decisions about future conventions, among other issues, since this one is shaping up to be the smallest in our 36-year history.
There are ways to bring back the forces, but we cannot do it alone.
This new board will need each and every sports editor’s help and input and passion to keep this standout organization in its spot at the forefront of sports journalism.
Can we do this?
Yes, we can.
