New leg of journey is about to begin

I knew replacing Chris Schanz would be difficult. I just didn’t realize it would take so long.

Chris’ last day with us was Dec. 10, 2021. The former sports editor had been with us for about 8.5 years. He and his wife Chrissy were thinking about starting a family and wanted to be close to one of their families when they did so. With hers from the Cincinnati area and his from Saginaw, Michigan, Jay County was not in the mix.

We started looking for his replacement as soon as he told us he and Chrissy would be moving to Michigan. We knew we wouldn’t find another Chris right away — he had developed into an all-star as both a writer and photographer — but we needed someone.

The plan was for me to fill in for a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months, until we found the right fit.

Fifteen months later, here we are.

Chris worked remotely for us for a few months last winter and spring until he found a permanent job in Michigan.

He stepped in with an assist from a distance in December when my duties with Jay County Civic Theatre pulled me away. And he gave a helping hand last month when I was in Indianapolis for the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals.

We’ve made it work.

Next week, we start working in a new direction.

Our new sports reporter is slated to start Monday. I’ll let him introduce himself in this space next week. (A handful of you already met him when he came to visit. He attended the Jay County High School boys basketball game against Heritage and helped me with coverage of the boys wrestling semi-state the following day.)

His hiring brings with it some changes to the structure of the sports job, which has been traditionally known as “sports editor.”

It’s pretty typical for sports editors at small-town newspapers to work 50 to 60 hours a week, every week, from mid-August through early June. The games, matches and meets just keep on coming, and the breaks between seasons aren’t long.

That’s unsustainable over a career, especially when, like Chris did, you start thinking about having a family.

The new vision here will be that our “sports reporter” and I will work together on coordinating and implementing sports coverage. The goal is to have the new guy at a more reasonable 35 to 40 hours per week, with me filling in the gaps. There will likely be spikes during tournament time, but overall, the idea is to make the job more attractive and a bit easier to handle.

It will take some time to figure out the details of exactly how the new format will work, but having a sports reporter back in the building will allow us to do some things that just haven’t been possible in the last 15 months.

We’ll be able to cover multiple events when schedules collide. (I missed about a third of the boys basketball games this year because of various conflicts.)

We’ll be able to give our Fort Recovery readers better coverage. (I saw a grand total of two FRHS boys basketball games this year — both in the tournament.)

We’ll be able to get to some of the sports feature stories that have not been written simply because there has been no time to get to them. (I have a list of ideas ready for the new guy when he walks in the door.)

Though the hours have been long, it’s been fun filling the sports job for the last year-plus. Sports, after all, are my first love and the reason I got into the journalism business.

In my years covering sports in this community, one of the major lessons I’ve learned is to appreciate everything along the way. Sports, and life in general, are far more about the journey than the destination.

Over the last 15 months, I’ve added some special memories that will be with me always. I am grateful for them.

But I’m also excited to start the next portion of this journey.