Sep 18, 2011 6 min read

Forty-three years ago, as a new college grad, I was looking for a job as a newspaper reporter.

After interviewing with a short list of prospective employers, I accepted an offer to become the Morning Herald sports reporter and layout editor.

Little did I expect back then that I would retire from that job.

Last Friday I officially retired from my duties as a sports copy editor and the HeraldStandard.com outdoors editor, an additional post I have happily filled for the past 30 years.

I began my career in Uniontown at a time when sports was king.

I eventually found my way to all the schools in our coverage area and many out of the area, where our teams traveled for conference games.

Memories of the players and coaches still bring smiles to my face, as I think back to the many future stars I was fortunate to write about.

Most of my time out of the office involved reporting football and basketball games on a regular basis, and an occasional wrestling match or baseball game, plus the annual charity golf outing at Uniontown Country Club.

As a two-man staff, Tod Trent and myself couldn’t cover many of the games firsthand, but through the diligence of the coaches and their scorekeepers we were able to keep our readers abreast of all the local activity.

Many of the players I wrote about went on to storied carriers after their college days as professionals in their chosen field and some as professional athletes.

The coaches I was acquainted with throughout the years had many varied personalities from the Caspar Milquetoast type to the more boisterous, hand-biting, put-the-fear-of-God-in-you type.

I loved that ride and would buy the ticket again if I had to.

The job enabled me to meet and talk in depth with an American Olympic gold-medal legend, pick the brain of a Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher who pitched against the best the game ever offered, including the legendary Babe Ruth. I also sat down with “The King,” who is tied for the most NASCAR Cup titles and holds the record for the most wins (200).

Gradually, as the sports staff expanded, my duties became more in-house, and I spent the majority of my time behind a desk, taking incoming calls, but mostly putting together the daily sports pages at least four days a week, something I have actually been responsible for since Day 1.

Since I was an avid outdoorsman, 30 years ago I was approached and asked if I would take over the job of producing a local outdoors page for the Sunday edition.

It was another task I came to love; even though producing a weekly article with limited prep time was stressful at times.

Over that span many changes came about in the outdoor theater.

Rivers and streams became cleaner, for the most part, and hunting opportunities came and went.

Pheasant hunting all but disappeared, and deer hunting has its ups and downs, but the explosions in the turkey and bear populations are phenomenal.

Turkey populations appear to be on the rise again, while bears are the greatest story ever. Fayette County went from a place where, when a bear was killed it was an illegal activity, to being the leading bear harvest county in the Game Commission’s Southwest Region with a harvest of 100 last November.

The move is afoot to replace older hunters with a youth movement, so a host of special programs have been created for young hunters, well under the traditional starting age of 12.

Over the years I prided myself on noting the exploits of youthful sportsmen, as they participated in hunting, fishing and the shooting sports.

I always felt that hunting and fishing, especially hunting, was more of a personal thing, and I chose not to write about the kill as such but to delve into the out of the ordinary and try to put the reader in the boots of the story teller.

Some of my favorites were of an Arctic caribou hunt, an African hunt, a Texas deer hunt by an 85-year-old woman, the story of a quadriplegic who killed a deer with the help of his longtime hunting buddy, a trio of local bowhunters who all bagged elk on the same western hunt, a Canadian hare hunt, and the successes of local sportsmen during recently-initiated Pennsylvania elk hunts, just to mention few.

Over the years I have been fortunate to write about some exceptional hunts in which local youngsters participated, plus their achievements on the national level as world class turkey callers and shooters.

The guard has changed at the Fish and Game commissions since I started writing outdoors, but I want to thank each and every field officer for their support, and hope that it continues, as I plan to write in a limited capacity in my retirement.

It was their fresh take on what was happening afield that kept the outdoor news interesting.

I will always remember one person in particular – Wildlife Conservation Officer David L. Grove.

Grove did part of his cadet training in Fayette County and called me on more than one occasion with his field notes, during Pennsylvania’s first archery bear season.

I will never forget his enthusiasm for the job.

Sadly, WCO Grove was killed in the line of duty last Nov. 11, 2010 while serving in Adams County.

To all the local fish and wildlife officers, and especially WCO Grove and all the others who have passed on, I want to thank them from all the sportsmen for a job well done.

I also want to thank the proprietors of the area sports, and bait and tackle shops, which provided me with up-to-date column notes and urge all sportsmen to support these local businesses.

Continue to email your outdoor news to HeraldStandard.com Sports Editor Mike Ciarochi at mciarochi@heraldstandard.com; hssports@heraldstandard.com; and sportsnuts@hotmail.com.

By sending your news to all three sites, it will be assured that all staff members who require it can obtain it.

The saying goes “A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.”

I’m going to find out.

 

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