Brave Enough To Be Bliss

up all the ruined press packets and copy and collate new ones, all while trying to attend to the normal pre game activities. That’s what I liked best about sports information, it was always crazy busy and high stress, and that’s when I felt I could shine. No matter the challenge, the unexpected catastrophe, the unrealistic amount of work to do, I showed up and stayed up as long as needed to get the job done. If someone thought it was impossible, I would do my best to prove them wrong. I remember sitting next to Mitch Holthus in the baseball press box for many games. He was best known around K- State as the Voice of the Wildcats for football and men’s basketball. But on those often cold and rainy spring days during the long baseball seasons, I remember being impressed with how he never stopped honing his craft, always working to be better. And he was kind and encouraging. In 1994, he went on to become the play by-play announcer for the Kansas City Chiefs, a position he still holds today. There were a number of newspaper writers who I remember quite fondly. Blair Kerkhoff of The Kansas City Star ® , Gary Bedore of the Lawrence Journal World (now he writes for The Kansas City Star ), and Harold Bechard of the Salina Journal are just a few who touched my life with their kindness. As a sports information employee, I wasn’t allowed to show any emotion while working at events. That was absolutely no problem for me, as showing emotion was something I tried never to do. The phrase “ never let them see you sweat ” was my motto. No sweating, no fear, no sadness, no anger, no boredom, no disgust, no joy, no anticipation. I just tried to keep all those feelings that could get me into trouble inside. The only one I had difficulty hiding was surprise. I didn’t like that feeling at all. I was easily startled, so it was tougher to hide. I did my very best to prevent it by constantly thinking ahead, planning, being aware of the slightest details, being as prepared as possible for all potential situations and outcomes and expecting the worst. I took my first commercial flight as a senior in college to the NCAA ® Track & Field Championships in Provo, Utah. As an elementary school student, I have a vague recollection of taking a ride in a small private plane while living in western Kansas, but for all intents and purposes, this was my first “real” flight. I was ner vous, and I was excited.

I had worked at the Big Eight Conference tournaments and gotten to know the sports information director at KU. When it came time to interview for intern positions after I graduated, he told me he didn’t have a position for me but before I accepted anything else to let him know. My second commercial flight was a one-day interview at Purdue University, which turned into about a two-hour interview in the car as spring thunderstorms had delayed my flight by five hours. I was offered the opportunity to stay overnight and fly home the next day, but that wasn’t a possibility for me because the thought of interviewing the next day in the same clothes without all the things I would need to get ready and be “perfect” simply wasn’t something I could comprehend. And, of course, I didn’t have any money to buy anything. I would take my chances of getting the job offer based on those two hours I had available.

As luck would have it, I did get the job offer from Purdue, so I called the KU sports information director. I didn’t really expect he would

have anything for me, but I always did what I said I would do. Surprisingly, he said to give him a day and he would call me back. He did and said he had found a place for me after all. I weighed the options and decided I would stay closer to home, where I knew people. Knowing I would only be making $12,000/year and working long hours, I wouldn’t have been able to come b ack to Kansas except maybe once in the summer. Remembering

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