Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
RJ sports section is under new leadership
Eichenberger takes over editor duties
Bill Eichenberger is a trailblazer in and out of sports journalism. His path has led him to the peak of the Review-journal’s award-winning sports section.
Just weeks after fulfilling his longtime dream of hiking a large portion of the Appalachian Trail, the 68-year-old Eichenberger has accepted the position of Assistant Managing Editor, Sports.
Eichenberger has served the past three years as assistant sports editor at the Review-journal, coordinating the news organization’s coverage of the NFL when the Raiders moved into the market. He replaces Bill Bradley, who has accepted a position with The Action Network.
“(I want) to build on the solid foundation left by my predecessor, Bill Bradley,” Eichenberger said. “This sports section already is generally recognized as one of the best of its size in the country. Day by day, story by story, our challenge is to make it even better, both in print and online.
“Increasingly, we want to introduce Review-journal readers to the athletes and coaches in this market as people while continuing to provide a complete daily sports report that features aggressive beat reporting and insightful commentary.”
Under the guidance of Bradley, Eichenberger and fellow assistant sports editor Al Leiker, the Review-journal has been recognized for producing a Top 10 daily section, Sunday section, digital section and special section nationally by the Associated Press Sports Editors over the past several years.
“Bill Eichenberger is a big reason why the Review-journal’s sports section is among the very best in the nation,” Review-journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook said. “He’s widely recognized as one of the finest sports editors in the business, and we’re thrilled to put him in charge of our team.”
Eichenberger graduated from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree in 1976 and has an extensive background in the industry as an editor and teacher.
After starting his career running a 10-person staff at the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, he moved on to supervisory positions at the New Orleans Times-picayune, Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Wall Street Journal and Bleacher Report and decided to pass along that knowledge to students at Stony Brook and Adelphi universities on Long Island. He was an adjunct journalism professor at UNLV during his tenure at the Review-journal.
Eichenberger has a long commitment to service in the industry, as well. He has served since 2017 as the executive director of APSE, a 300-member national organization of the nation’s sports editors, and his time in leadership with the organization dates back to 2001.
The veteran journalist is married with two daughters, who graciously allowed him to chase a dream and spend two months this summer hiking 470 miles. He has completed nearly a quarter of the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail in all and may one day continue that journey.
For now, he’s excited to be leading the Review-journal sports staff.
“It’s simple, really,” he said of what the new role means at this point of his career. “I enjoy the work, the sports staff at the Review-journal and appreciate the incredible major-league sports city Las Vegas has become and the opportunities that creates for interesting and important sports journalism. That never gets old for me.”