Columbus Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason and GM Don Waddell on their philosophy
Don Waddell, general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, introduces new head coach Dean Evason during a press conference at Nationwide Arena.
(Editor’s note: This article is part of a new weekly series highlighting Columbus Dispatch journalists and their work in our community.)
I was hired by the Dispatch in September 1999 to cover the Blue Jackets and the NHL. I was drawn to Columbus for several reasons: I was eager to return to professional sports and have the chance to cover an expansion team, a rare and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; the city was on the rise and you (or I) could feel it; and our oldest child was in second grade, which meant that if we wanted to move, 1999 was the right time.
We left our hometown and never looked back. We raised our children here. What better place to do that?
We are like so many others in Columbus, where the metropolitan population has doubled since 1980 (to about 2 million). We are newcomers, and from an athletic perspective, we have had backgrounds on teams far away, some of which were not staffed with “student athletes.” Some of us spend our football Saturday afternoons shopping for groceries in deserted supermarkets.
I have a friend who is from Staten Island by way of Philadelphia. He used to sit behind the visitors’ bench at Nationwide Arena and, well, he cheered. Although he gave up those seats years ago out of frustration, he is still an ardent Blue Jackets fan. I have another friend, a former neighbor, who grew up in Colorado and is more of an outdoor sports enthusiast. But when he moved to Columbus as a professional trumpet player, he wanted to join a professional team. He chose the Crew and had an incredible time.
There are hundreds of thousands of people just like them in Columbus. Although my journalistic antennas must be sensitive to a hundred frequencies, it’s their voices that I hear most clearly. They represent the other half of the city that isn’t directly connected to the great state university. They say things like, “If the Buckeyes win, it’s good for the local economy.”
I covered the Blue Jackets as a sportswriter from their inception until 2004-05, when the entire NHL season was suspended by the owners’ lockout. At that point, I was starting to focus more on the big picture, and my replacement – city treasure Aaron Portzline – took over. And I was given the privilege of writing a general sports column. That task was filled by some truly talented individuals, from Dick Fenlon to Bob Hunter to Todd Jones to Rob Oller. Fenlon (RIP) and former Metro columnist Mike Harden (RIP) were lyrical masters of their craft. It’s an honor to be hoisted onto their shoulders.
In September 1982, I got my first job at the Hartford Courant, America’s oldest continuously published newspaper. It was a chance job. A guy I played baseball with, Mark Chudy, worked as a bank teller. One of the bank’s customers was Bo Kolinsky, the Courant’s high school sports editor. Kolinsky knew Chudy because Chudy was a decorated high school baseball player. Chudy mentioned my name to Kolinsky (RIP), and a week later I had a job. I started working at the high school, working nights, taking calls, taking scores, and writing summaries. Back then, you could pay your way through college as long as you had to commute. That’s so last century.
It took me five years to get my bachelor’s degree. When I finished, I was working full-time at the Courant and had covered just about everything you can imagine at every level of amateur and professional sports, from cricket in the park to Whalers alumni charity games on tiny rinks to the Yankees at the stadium. My first big story was UConn football. Then it was the Boston Celtics and the NBA. Then it was the Hartford Whalers and the NHL — and I learned about an owner who wanted to relocate a franchise and the ugliness of the process. (Twenty years later, I was shocked and disgusted when I rewatched it. Viva yo, Save The Crew.)
After the Whale moved to Raleigh in 1997, I was put in charge of the UConn basketball team. It was a huge job. Those Huskies went 66-6 and won their first national title while I was in charge. But the college game was characterized by a controlling attitude from the coaches that I never liked, and I missed the professional game. I missed people like Larry Bird, who, when asked why he didn’t mind the four-hour bus ride to and from the game at the Hartford Civic Center, replied, “Good light, good hoops.”
So, with Mrs. Arace’s blessing, we arrived in Columbus a quarter century ago. What a great city. What a great sports city it was, is and will be. Like you, I’m still waiting for the Blue Jackets to take us all on a long journey into the summer. If I don’t live to see it, I hope you do.
Everyone should have an e-bike. That’s all.
