Calling the Pen: A major loss for sports fans

When I was in high school, my daily reading habits improved because of the newspaper or, to be honest, because of the sports section. I liked the way Neal Eskridge wrote about the Orioles’ game I had seen the night before, how N.P. Clark would be critical of the Colts after a loss or lackluster performance, how John Steadman always took a stance with his column and how Art Janney would let us know what the out-of-town newspapers thought of the Colts and Orioles with his “As Others See Us” pieces.

The paper that was delivered to our home was The News American, and it covered high schools, colleges, horse racing and the pros, augmenting its coverage with a lot of statistics that helped me learn how to compile batting and earned run averages.

It was my daily escape and a path to engage in adult conversations. My dad wasn’t a sport fan but his best friend, Mr. Rich, was. Our discussions about sports helped me form a connection that didn’t exist. It also strengthened my relationship with my grandfather, who listened to every Orioles game on the radio, with the sports section spread out on the kitchen table.

I didn’t realize at the time the impact sports would have on my life and what a galvanizing force it was. I’m reminded of what the newspaper meant to me after learning this week that among the 300 newsroom cuts The Washington Post made was the elimination of its great sports section. It, too, would play a significant role in my life and its shutdown makes me sad for young and old readers who’ve grown attached to making it a daily part of their lives to follow the Nationals, Commanders, Capitals, Wizards, Maryland football and basketball, and so many other sports.

I was fortunate to not only realize my passion for sports by reading The News American but by getting to work there when Steadman opened the door to a career in sports journalism. It started with covering high schools and progressed to covering Maryland football and basketball, where I got to know Jerry Claiborne and Lefty Driesell, and even got to cover the 1974 classic between Maryland and N.C. State, a 103-100 overtime win by the Wolfpack that is considered one of the greatest college basketball games of all time.

It’s also where I met my new competitors from The Washington Post. The Post, the Washington Star, the Sun, the Evening Sun and The News American each covered Maryland football and basketball. The Post was the leader of that strong group and competing against their beat writers was like a master class, with a lot of failing grades on my part. Although the sports department was often called the toy department in an effort to diminish its importance and quality of reporting, the Post set the tone for keeping our standards at the highest level.

I competed against Paul Attner and Mark Asher, who were exceptional, as were Shirley Povich, Dave Kindred, Ken Denlinger, Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon, Sally Jenkins, John Feinstein, Thomas Boswell, Christine Brennan and so many others on the who’s-who list of sportswriting greats.

It was a heavyweight team I had a chance to join in 1984. By then I had left writing for editing and was the night sports editor for the Philadelphia Daily News, which, like the Post, was an Associated Press Top 10 sports section. But when George Solomon, the architect of the sports section, called to see if I’d be interested in joining the copy desk, I was flattered.

We set up a lunch meeting in D.C. to discuss the position, but I got hopelessly lost and finally called George to apologize for missing our lunch date. He was understanding and gracious, leaving the door open before I decided that I wanted to stay in Philly.

I have regrets about getting lost that day because there were so many questions I had for George. I don’t regret the decision to stay in Philadelphia because I loved it, and it led to a move back to Baltimore, where I became sports editor of The Sun, a position I never would have imagined when I started reading The News American’s sports section so many years before.

When I came to The Sun, the Post was covering the Orioles as thoroughly as we were before the Nationals arrived in Washington in 2005. Richard Justice, who had covered the Orioles for The Sun, was the Post beat writer, and Tim Kurkjian was covering for The Sun. We had the expert analysis of Jim Henneman and added Ken Rosenthal. Boswell also wrote a lot about the Orioles, giving fans an unparalleled depth and range of coverage that was driven by competition.

The News American closed its doors in 1986, the staffs of The Sun and Evening Sun eventually merged, as did those of the Philly Daily News and the Inquirer. The Sun’s sports staff is much smaller, but it still exists.

That one of the titans of sports journalism, The Post, has been terminated is an unfathomable blow to a shrinking industry. Sports teams help give a city, or a town, its identity — they’re part of the community fabric that knits people together no matter their age or background. It’s a loss for sports fans, and readers, and one the Post will regret.