My friend and former boss, Chuck McGill, addressed the human element of sports and sports writing in his sterling farewell column that was published last Saturday.
That philosophy, shared by myself and former Charleston Daily Mail sports editor Jack Bogaczyk - who hired both Chuck and myself - has been at the front of my mind this week, my last at the Gazette-Mail. I am joining the history department at the University at Buffalo in August in order to complete my Ph.D., and will be moving to New York at the start of next week.
I will not be around this fall to cover the 2016 prep football season, which is highlighted in today's special section. For the record, my last prediction here will be that Martinsburg, Point Pleasant and St. Marys will win state championships in their respective classes. I will keep a regular eye on the developments in the Kanawha Valley and across the state, but I would be fooling only myself if I believed that will be able to keep me as close as I've been able to feel in 20 years of work in this field.
I'll remember the titles won by what schools and when because I'm a list junkie. I'll remember less the scores, the statistics and I'll surely never be able to explain a blocking scheme because, frankly, I've never been interested in the Xs and Os of the game of football nearly as much as I've been interested in the people who play the game. It's those people - the players - who I believe readers want to know about.
Longtime sports editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer and secretary/treasurer of the West Virginia Sports Writers Association, Doug Huff, told me when I was in high school that an interview isn't simply a series of questions and answers. An interview, he said, was a conversation. Much of the content of these conversations never sees print. What they did, however, was build rapport and trust between writer and player. The direct result was better information, better quotes and better stories to offer readers.
The side effect was being granted an opportunity to get to know today's game winners and tomorrow's leaders. I wholeheartedly reject the common assessment of them as lazy and self-absorbed. West Virginia's greatest natural resource isn't coal, but rather its young people. I have always believed that treating student-athletes as people - rather than as fragile and overly emotional princes and princesses - not only served them better, but also earned their respect in a more genuine way than telling everyone who had a good game that they were the best thing since sliced bread and peanut butter.
As I look back, I'm glad that I took that route. It helped foster positive relationships with so many people I worked with.
The results showed themselves repeatedly in my time in Charleston, and during the 11 years I worked in the business before arriving here.
It showed in a 2011 picture of George Washington's Ryan Switzer and I laughing hysterically mid-interview.
It showed in spur-of-the-moment picture of Parkersburg South's Taryn McCutcheon and I during the 2015 Shootout at the Big House taken to jokingly proclaim a ginger takeover of the Charleston Civic Center.
It showed all through the 2010 Victory Awards Dinner in Morgantown, where South Charleston's Blake Brooks kept teammate Tyler Harris and myself rolling with laughter throughout the four-hour affair.
My Super Six interview with 2014 Kennedy Award winner Kashuan Haley of Capital took place on the sideline, under the bleachers as we avoided the rain during the fourth quarter of the Cougars' blowout of SC. Never shy to talk to anyone, Kashuan was more than willing to step back from the sidelines and chat it up with me, his playing time in the game well past coming to an end.
These moments weren't the exclusive area of prep superstars. Some of the best moments were associated with student-athletes who never played a minute after picking up their high school diplomas. While the talent of standouts led to more instances in which we conversed, sometimes the rarest of interviews produced the most impactful exchanges.
These included a player explaining to me how she dealt with near-crippling back pain to return to the softball field the next year. Another opened up to me about her experience overcoming a brain tumor to play again.
One, seeing an oncoming rainstorm in the distance at the end of our conversation simply said, "Be careful getting home, Derek."
These kinds of things stay with you a long time. Far longer than the final score of any of hundreds of games. As most who know me are aware, I'm not from the Kanawha Valley. The above-mentioned people, and many more made me feel at home here. I'll remain thankful for and never forget them. Even if home is a long way away.