Started from the bottom. No, literally — my first article was at the bottom of the back page, probably around 200 words about track and field, and, most importantly, was just absolutely dominated by the first football game’s preview above it. The irony of all this is that Ole Miss lost to Jacksonville State 49-48 in double overtime that game.
At that point I was a wee freshman with no idea what I wanted to do, except write sports. Now I must say goodbye to Ole Miss sports writing, hopefully just for a little while, and take on the “real world.” Trust me, it is as scary as it seems.
I have to make sure to thank a few people who guided me along the way and have also become some good friends of mine.
Paul Katool, the guy who gave the nervous little freshman a shot and sat on the phone with me while I tried to figure out how sports writing worked.
Austin Miller, the once rather intimidating boss, who gave me some middle-of-the-road sports. Austin actually made me grind out some stories and figure out how to make a story out of almost nothing.
Then, of course, David Collier, the one whom I had seemingly been competing with for big sports and also space, now was my boss. Sucks, right? Not at all. David tossed me the big boys, football and baseball, for two years, and now my resume clips consist mainly of those stories. These three guys I owe a whole lot to, and I just had to say thanks for everything.
It has been a fun ride writing for The DM. I was able to cover Hugh Freeze’s first season, two bowl victories, a win on the road at Texas (fun trip), some of the top tennis teams in the country and a top-five football recruiting class. The list just goes on and on for me. I’m not going to lie, I bragged about my job, and it really is one of the coolest things I think a college journalist can do.
Also, I want to thank all of you who manage to make it to the back page of the paper every day and check out what is happening in the sports world. You all are the reason I have some sort of following on Twitter, a few likes on Facebook and hopefully the reason I will get a job in the near future. Thank you for all your support and kind words.
Finally, a few words of wisdom for upcoming staff and writers. Enjoy yourself. Take in the experience. I know there are days when I wish I could go back to that first football game I covered. Also be sure that you soak up as much information as you can. Not only will you be surrounded by other DM people, but other professionals will be there as well. Learn from them and make connections. Best of luck to you all.
