Sports editor -- Hereford (Texas) Brand

Immediate opening for a hard-working, take-charge sports editor for a semi-weekly Texas Panhandle newspaper. Must be willing to work some nights as well as full work week. Must be able to relocated quickly. Gas allowance, paid vacation and health insurance coverage provided. Annual salary range from $25,000 to $27,000. Must have reliable transportation and must be able to work well with other employees and the public.

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1551369

 

You can cover the Whitefaces!

 

That place stinks to high heaven, literally.

 

They call themselves the Herd now.

 

This was my first newspaper job out of college. In 1989. The Brand had one of the first two fax machines in town.

Back then, it was a five-day-a-week gig. If it's twice weekly now, it's got to be all local, all the time.

The official nickname for the high school teams is still Whitefaces, but Herd fits so much better when writing a two-column head. In 36-point type, Lady Whitefaces used up one line.

Way back when, I covered pretty much everything from seventh grade through varsity and had to shoot my own art for everything but varsity football. I can only hope they have digital cameras now. I also hope they've adopted some kind of pagination software as opposed to the cut-and-paste format I used.

There was a Catholic school in town that went through sixth grade and played some basketball. Summer was taken up with golf and youth baseball/softball.

This is definitely an entry-level gig. There will be stuff going on at least three days a week during the school year, more once spring sports start.

The town was about 16,000 people when I was there and the high school had about 1,200 kids. Looking at the recent realignment numbers, the population has remained steady. Because of the area is so dependent on agriculture, the population has become increasingly Hispanic over the last three or four decades.

The main industry is cattle feeding and feed lots (and the attendant odor) surround the town. Vegetarians need not apply.

 

Just to be clear, we all realize the Whiteface name references the white face/head of a the Hereford breed, right?

 

Oh yeah. Years ago I was in a van somewhere in West Texas after running cross country outside Lubbock. Coach turned on the radio and a play by play guy goes "Whitefaces ball on their own 37." Everyone was like what the fuck until he said the name of the school. Then about half of us got it.