My first journalism mentor, Earl Gustkey, died Friday. He was a sportswriter for the L.A. Times. Over the course of a 30-plus year career, he covered the outdoors beat, USC football, and boxing. I met him while he was covering the women's basketball beat, which I remember he said he was dragged into "kicking and screaming." But he quickly fell in love with the sport and after taking a buyout and retiring to Montana in 2001, he became of fan of the Montana State women's basketball team and went to games constantly.
I had a few people who motivated me to become a journalist -- my dad, Gary Smith, Rick Reilly -- but Earl was the person who got my foot in the door when I was 15 and didn't even realize it was a door I wanted to open.
The subject line on his e-mails was always "crocodiles." Some people posting remembrances on a sports journalism Web site were talking about that, which sets the context for my post, which you can find here.
I guess I just wanted to circulate these memorials as much as possible... he deserves them.
2 comments:
Great post on the tribtue string. I didn't know him, but he sounds like a great guy.
I suppose if I have a goal in this business (other than surviving whatever growing pains/death throws it's experiencing) it's to make it to a point where someone will consider me a mentor.
Enjoy DC. Stay away from swine.
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