It was a late afternoon in May of 1976. I was hanging out in the journalism department of Snyder High School because it was my go-to place of acceptance and serenity—a place where what I had to offer the world was welcomed with open arms. That afternoon, my newspaper adviser got a phone call from the Snyder Daily News editor. He asked her to send “the best boy she had who could write sports.” To which the teacher replied, “The best boy I have who can write sports is a girl.” And thus began my four decades–plus career in the newspaper industry. After growing up playing football, basketball, baseball, you name it, with my two brothers and all the neighborhood kids—and then watching all those sports on TV or listening to them on the radio—and then reading about them in the Abilene Reporter-News, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and Snyder Daily News—I knew sports. I rode the bus to school, which meant I would arrive early and have to wait in the library for the first bell. While the other young females were flipping through Nancy Drew mysteries. I was reading Sports Illustrated from cover to cover.
WhenIwasinthe6thgrade, the first year that the Dallas Cowboys were in the Super Bowl, my class had a contest to see how many Cowboys players could be named on the starting lineups—the defense, the offense and the specialty teams. The premise of the game was that whoever named the most would win a prize. My hand shot up to go first, and I was rewarded with the chance to lead things off. No one else ever got a turn. Okay, so I might not have been the most popular kid in my class.
Todaythosememoriesseem especially fitting. This week’s editions of all three of our newspapers feature our annual high school football guides, and the writing, images and gathering include the work of both genders.
With the 10 school districts we cover in eight counties for three weeklies, it takes a village to make sure all the teams get their stories in the newspapers.
It’s funny how sports, especially football, is no longer the male bastion it once was.
If you pick up this week’s Hesperian-Beacon, on the Floydada Whirlwinds football story you’ll see the byline of Sue Jane Sullivan, another alum of the Snyder High School journalism departmentoftheseventies.Another girl who knows her sports.
Readersmayormaynotrealize how many of the top-notch sports photographs that appear week in, week out in our pages are taken by women. Johnna Reynolds, Amanda McGee, C. J. Boales, Bobbie Brown, Gracie Cervantes, Christy Coulter, Tori Edwards,DanaConrad,Brandee Hamilton, Courtney Mendolla and Robin Sanders are regulars for us. New to our credits this weekareSummerMcCowenand the A-J’s Annie Rice.
Speaking of girls who know their sports . . . one of my favorite sports journalists is Sally Jenkins, a sports columnist and feature writer for the Washington Post. Previously a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Jenkins has been named the nation’s top sports columnist by the AP sports editors four times and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2019. She’s the daughter of Texas sportswriter/ novelist Dan Jenkins, author of “Semi-Tough,” the novel that was later turned into a movie. Jenkins was a longtime Fort Worth Star-Telegram sports reporter.
Sounds like Jenkins has found her go-to place of acceptance, where what she has to offer the world was welcomed with open arms.
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