Rusty Hampton

Seems like this should be a topic here, but somebody has to start it.

Rusty Hampton, sports editor at the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion Ledger, is leaving to join an engineering firm (!) as a writer. Day job!

Rusty and I go back to my very first day as a loaner at USA Today, in 1984. I was delighted to find that he was in Mississippi when I landed here in 2001. One of the real good guys in the business, his influence will be greatly missed in this state and this profession.

There are two sports editors it the entire universe I would get out of bed in the middle of the night to help, without asking why. Rusty is one of those.

 

I see that this initially emerged on the Jobs thread. I don't care. Rusty deserves his own thread.

 

Dang it. I was gonna start a Russell Hampton tribute thread.

Rusty remains my favorite boss of all time, and I thought he'd be in the business forever.

Jackson's gonna miss you!

 

I met him when he was covering UK for the C-J.

Great guy. Friends who worked for him said he was a great boss.

Congrats to him.

 

I have a great deal of respect for Rusty and wish him the best in his new endeavor.

A lot of people have decided to leave the newspaper business in recent years for various reasons. Perhaps Rusty will share some insights into his thoughts.

 

I'm always happy when someone leaves the business on their own, rather than being pushed out the door as so many of us have been...

I think one of the things we're seeing a bit of over the last couple years, is as these major chains are letting people go by the truckload, people start looking for other options. When those options work out, even the people who survive a few rounds of layoffs aren't willing to pass those options up.

 

Very true. Lot of people looking for lifeboats off a sinking ship.

 

Fair winds and following seas, Rusty. Good luck in the next step.

 

I don't think Rusty would have been pushed out the door. I think that most newsrooms -- especially Gannett places -- are pretty much pared to the bone and that job security is as solid as it has been in years.

Problem is, to put out a section Rusty could be proud of with what's left, he had to work tons of hours and put in stints at night on the desk.

So the siren call of a 9-5 gig can sound pretty sweet.

 

I don't think Rusty was being pushed out either... I didn't think I was implying that, apologies if someone read it that way...

 

Mark90210 was asking for Rusty's insights.

I don't think Rusty is going to come on and say that he was scraping by with a skeleton crew, so I thought I would suggest why a career change might be attractive.

 

Great guy. Loss for the business.