Publisher’s Perspective
As I sat down at the keyboard with intentions of writing a column about Hamilton County Reporter Sports Editor Richie Hall, I thought to myself, “How do I describe a man that for nearly 20 years covered local county sports, a man that tutored under the guru of high school sports Don Jellison, a man that has done it all during his journalism career?”
Hall graduated from Brebeuf High School and then attended Butler University. His first newspaper job was working at the Zionsville Times Sentinel. Hall landed in Hamilton County after being offered a job by then Times Sports Editor Don Jellison.
Hall left the Times and came to the Reporter when Don joined the Reporter staff as Editor. Hall was given the title of Sports Editor.
In the beginning Richie was more than just a sports editor; Richie was the backbone of the Reporter. Hall wrote news articles, took pictures and did layout – all in addition to covering sports at nine county high schools.
Hall
As the Reporter grew, additional people were hired, and Richie is now able to focus on his duties as Sports Editor.
While traveling from high school to high school personally covering events, Richie manages three stringers and three photographers.
Richie recently told me, “I sit in the gyms and watch other sportswriters posting on social media and tweeting about the game. I often think to myself that would be fun, then I realize they’ve only got one story to write and I have nine high schools with as many as 10 athletic events a night during the winter and nearly 20 per night during the spring. I don’t have time for that.”
No school takes a priority with Richie. No sport is too big or too small. It doesn’t matter to Richie how many state championships a school has won. Richie covers them all with the same passion.
Richie truly cares about the people of Hamilton County. He has a quiet demeanor and doesn’t need to be in the spotlight; however, Richie has become a bit of a Rockstar in Hamilton County sports with a huge following of sports fans, coaches and athletes, along with a group of older ladies that are die-hard Hamilton County sports fans.
Week after week I get told how great the Reporter’s sports coverage is, and one thing is for sure: On a day when the newspaper is late reaching subscribers, my phone rings off the hook. Most of those phone calls are usually from the group of older ladies that are upset they’re not able to read about the big game.
Wednesday evening Richie called me to discuss this weekend’s sports coverage. A ton of sports with a snow storm predicted. Richie already had a plan; that is what a good sports editor does. Richie ended our phone call with, “If you need someone to write a news article about how much snow we get, just let me know.”
Richie, we’ve got the snow covered. You just keep those little old ladies happy.