As I walked out of the gym at Chesterton High School yesterday afternoon, it struck me that it was the last time as the Sports Editor for the Chesterton Tribune.

Sure, I knew it was coming a few weeks ago, but it didn’t really hit me until then.

I had interviewed Marc Urban after his team’s victory over Northridge. Went to see Dawn Matthys’ back-to-back-to-back State Championship Gymnastics team. And then finished with a visit to the Wrestling Room to see Chris Joll.

They are three great ones. And I’ve had the privilege of working with lots of very talented coaches that not only put in the work, but do it the right way. Everyone from St. Pat’s to CMS to CHS and everywhere in between. Long-time coaches like Jack Campbell, Kevin Kinel, LouAnn Hopson and Fred Mitchell taught me a lot of things that I used in my own career as a coach.

John Snyder, Tom Peller, Tommy Berry, Tom Bour, Mark Peterson, Dan McCoy, Nick Bamber and Tim Ray are all amongst the very best in their profession. And even more importantly, they are the type of people off the floor that I would love my own kids to play for someday.

The contact list in my phone is extensive with coaches that always responded after a game or whenever I needed a quote or result. Rarely did the phone ever go to voicemail and they were always frank, honest and “off the record” when they needed to be. I appreciated it. It allowed me to do the job and put “our” kids in the best light even when they didn’t play great.

That endless list at Chesterton, and the way they handle themselves, comes from the top. My entire career at the Tribune, Garry Nallenweg was the Athletic Director. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, bleeds maroon and gold like he does. A lion’s share of the success athletically for the Trojans has to go to him.

His one questionable hire? Bringing in an assistant from archrival Valparaiso to coach his volleyball team. It was a wonderful 13 years that I have nothing but fond memories of. He taught me things about coaching and relationships that have made me a better coach, reporter and father.

Jim Goetz wore a lot of hats in the Duneland School Corporation during my tenure and no matter what it was, his door was always open for me. We had lots of conversations about sports, but it will always be the one’s that weren’t sports-related that I’ll remember.

So, as I put stories on the page this morning for the final time, I simply say thank you. Thank you for allowing me into your home on these pages for the past 15+ years. Thank you to all those that made it possible and to all the wonderful student-athlete’s that made this my dream job.

And I’d be remiss to not thank David Canright, Margaret Willis, the late Warren and Betty Canright and the rest of the staff at the Chesterton Tribune. What a wonderful, talented bunch of people. They took a chance on me more than 15 years ago and I can’t thank them enough.

We’ll see you again at a game. Just this time, I’ll be sitting with you in the bleachers.