Mike Lopresti came and spoke to my Journalism 101 class my sophomore year in college. I'm pretty sure I decided that day I wanted his job.
Within a year, I was literally sitting in his chair. I was working at Richmond, Indiana's Gannett shop. Mike's a Richmond native and still current resident. That's where his desk/phone/computer were. Of course, Mike rarely, if ever in the time I worked there, even stepped in the newsroom in Richmond. He was obviously traversing the country, and globe in Olympic years, covering the biggest events. So, I used his computer to type bowling agate as a college kid.
Coincidentally, after leaving the business, I found myself back in Richmond, Indiana as a high school journalism/English/speech teacher. I now advise students for the very high school paper Mike started working on when he was a kid. More coincidentally, my classroom is directly above Mike's wife's office. She's worked in the school for years, spending countless hours there while Mike was out on the road.
They're good people. This story means very little than me just sharing my thoughts. I'll certainly miss Mike's style...as alluded to earlier, I've met few, if any, better on deadline.
But, I'm sure I'll still see Mike quite a bit as he's about the only person I've ever met who likes Indiana high school basketball as much as I do.
