A letter from the sports editor

Everyone always says that time flies by before you know it, but nobody ever seems to believe it until it happens to them. One year ago, I was taking over as the new sports editor of The Colonnade. Two blinks of an eye later, I’m wrapping up my tenure here at Georgia College.

When I took over this post last year, I entered the job wide eyed but ambitious, looking to help improve our already award-winning sports section by expanding our coverage to more club teams and subjects that had not yet been tapped into.

Along the way, I’ve gotten to know people who have forever changed my life. At least three to four times a week, I was on the phone with Sports Information Director Al Weston. Nobody works harder than Al, and I’ve been honored to work with him the past year. Athletic Director Wendell Staton is the sharpest dressed man with the biggest smile on campus. If you’re a member of the Bobcat Nation, thank Wendell because he has helped elevate the image of Georgia College athletics.

And I couldn’t have asked for more from the great coaches and players I’ve interviewed in the past year. I’ll miss everything from Terry Sellers pacing up and down the bench, to Chandler Lee and Scott MacLeod giving us the play-by-play of Bobcat sports.

Along with winning Best Sports Coverage at the Georgia College Press Association awards for the fourth consecutive year, The Colonnade won General Excellence for the sixth consecutive year, and that couldn’t have been done without our talented staff. I’ve enjoyed working with all of them, particularly my fellow seniors, who have helped make this the best year of my life.

Editor-in-Chief Matt Chambers showed as much confidence as anyone in me and has given me all the tools and leeway necessary to keep producing an award-winning section. In short, I couldn’t ask for a better boss than Matt. At some point, News Editor Katelyn Hebert and Features Editor Mandy Boddy have given me help or inspiration that I needed. I’ll miss helping Katelyn generate headlines and listening to Mandy talk dreamily about Harry Potter. Photo Editor Drake Simons provided me with great sports photos all year long that gave the section a great visual element. Rebecca Burns was a lifesaver, as I called on her for several design ideas and concepts that helped tell the sports stories in an alternative way, and Claire Childs always provided me with an emergency ad if I needed one. With these people, we’ve made The Colonnade even better, and I’ll miss all of them.

A year ago, Preston Sellers wrote in his last column that he was passing the torch along to me. And now I pass the torch to Sam Hunt, who undoubtedly will continue to do this section justice and hopefully improve it even more.

For the last time as Sports Editor, I’m signing out.

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Apr 28 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.