Thursday will be the last day at the Times-Union for sports editor Dale Hubler.
I get it – things change. People change. Industries change. The world changes.
So when I got the news that Dale (D-Hubs as just about everyone calls him) was leaving the news media for a job in the private sector, it wasn’t a big surprise.
Change is inevitable and, honestly, people who learn to roll with change are more likely to enjoy life and get along with other people.
But that didn’t make it any easier to hear.
Dale grew up a Tiger. He played Tiger football and he was big Tiger fan. He didn’t have to learn the history of Tiger sports when he started working at the Times-Union in October of 1998 because he lived it.
As a matter of fact, one of the things I have appreciated most about doing Tiger sports on the radio is having him sitting next to our broadcast position or somewhere near by to swap a quick question, share a historical nugget or to remember a name or moment from Warsaw’s past.
Sometimes he would help me. Other times I could help him. And sometimes we didn’t remember things the exact same way and we would challenge each other on it. I’m glad to say it always turned out with knowledge shared and a pat on the back.
From mid-August to Memorial Day, he was gone more nights than he was home.
In the fall he’d cover a volleyball match, a tennis match, two soccer games and a football game in the same week.
In the spring, you’d see him parked in the bleachers of a baseball game on Monday, a track meet on Tuesday, softball on Wednesday, another track meet on Thursday and either baseball or softball on Friday.
Speaking of Fridays, you could find him virtually every Friday night in the office of the newspaper writing his article on the game he had just covered and then putting the sports section together for printing the morning edition.
Newspaper and radio are different in many ways – some obvious and others not as much. The common denominator is that we both work during the game. But most of us in radio do prep before the game, and then our work is done and we go home when the broadcast is over.
Writers are pretty much the opposite. When the game ends, they kick into high gear, heading out to interview coaches and players and start writing their stories.
I always respected that about my brethren on the other side of the media.
While it is true, we technically work for competing media operations, I have never looked at Dale that way for one second. I was glad to share what I knew when it was appropriate, and I knew that he would do the same. In my work with the athletic department over the last three school years, I got to share even more little tidbits with him and the other members of the news media throughout the county and the region. And those game notes led to even more questions and even better discussions.
I hope his new job will free him up to flip more jigs into the path of largemouth bass and drill more holes in the winters.
We both love fishing and loved to swap stories.
I hope he’s able to attend area football and basketball games and enjoy them from a seat of his choosing.
I hope he enjoys some Friday nights with friends and without work responsibilities.
I hope he walks out of that building on Market Street Thursday knowing how much of an impact he’s had on the community – and not just Warsaw, but all the surrounding communities as well.
Most of all, I hope he knows how much I am going to miss having him sitting next to me or somewhere nearby, swapping a quick question, sharing a historical nugget or remembering a name or moment from Warsaw’s past.
But things change … right? It’s a part of life, isn’t it?
