Join me in welcoming Robert Magobet

It was a Friday afternoon - Oct. 27, 2000 to be exact, shortly after 3 p.m. when I wrote my very first story on my very first day as the brand-new Sports Editor of the Walker County Messenger.

It was a story on Ridgeland High School’s most recent cross country meet. I hadn’t even started at the paper yet when the meet actually took place. I had to write it all from information we got via fax from the coach.

But still, I eagerly crafted the story - my very first professional newspaper story of any kind - hoping to impress. It was my first byline, which went into the very first edition I put together a few days later.

I still remember sitting at my desk and writing that article like it was yesterday. I was about two weeks shy of my 27th birthday. I still couldn’t fully grow out my beard yet, but at least it was all the same color.

I still can’t believe that was nearly 16 and a half years ago. The beard has since grown in. It’s not all the same color.

Perhaps 16 and a half years from now, Robert Magobet will reminisce about his first assignment as a Sports Editor. Just for the record, his first was the Gordon Lee-Heritage Middle School baseball game this past Tuesday afternoon. He actually got to attend that one.

Sixteen and a half years from now, no one else who was at that game - players, coaches or parents - will likely remember any of the details, but I have a pretty good idea that Robert will.

If you haven’t heard by now, or haven’t already guessed, we have a brand new fulltime Sports Editor at the Catoosa County News. Robert, a south New Jersey native and graduate of Syracuse University, has come to our little corner of the world following a stint at the Delta Democrat Times in Greenville, Mississippi where he wrote sports, as well as covered the county and educational beat.

I got to spend a few hours with him before that baseball game last Tuesday and came away impressed. Yeah, he’s a long way from home. He’s still very unfamiliar with the area, and I haven’t had the chance to verify yet whether or not he knows what “scattered, smothered and covered” means in these parts, but I do know that he’s eager and willing to learn and excited to get started.

I’m going to be asking a lot of Robert over the next few weeks and months during this transitional period. He’s got a lot of stuff to learn about to put together a weekly sports section and do all the little things that the

job requires on a daily basis, but I have all the confidence in the world that he’ll get it done.

And now, I have something to ask of all of you out there in Readerland.

During our county tour, I told him that he’d have a hard time finding better people than those right here in the northwest Georgia area and everywhere we went that day, folks greeted him with a smile, a handshake and a friendly hello, which I appreciated just as much as he did, I’m sure.

I told him that people around here loved their sports, but if he simply was willing to work hard, make himself seen at all the schools and games and covered all the schools and sports teams in Catoosa County as equally and fairly as possible, then he wouldn’t have any problems. It’s a formula that’s worked successfully for me all these many years.

So I’m counting on all of you to continue to make Robert feel at home.

Unlike myself, he wasn’t born and raised in this area and he doesn’t have the benefit of already knowing a

bunch of folks like I did. I can’t even imagine trying to do a job like this one after moving 1,000 miles and basically starting from scratch without knowing a soul. That takes guts. But if he’s willing to do that for all of you in Catoosa County, I think it’s only fair for all of you to turn on that Southern charm and hospitality we’re all known for around here and let Robert know that you’ve got his back.

This job isn’t easy. It certainly isn’t glamorous and it’s not for everyone. Yes, it can be extremely rewarding, but it’s also a lot of hard work.

So if you see Robert

at the ballfield, or at the golf course, or at the tennis courts, or at the soccer field or maybe standing along the track in the next few weeks, take a few seconds to go over to him, shake his hand and introduce yourself. Make him feel welcome. Let him know you’re pulling for him.

On a quick personal note, I can’t thank all of you in Catoosa County enough for the kind words, compliments and encouragement you’ve shown me while I have been working with both the Catoosa and Walker papers.

Doing the sports section for both is a massive undertaking,

even more massive than I expected it to be, but the support I’ve been getting from all of you has helped tremendously and has really helped keep me going.

I’m still going to be working with both papers for a while longer as we’re not yet ready to turn Robert loose on his own. The coaches in Catoosa have really come through and the coaches in Walker have been incredibly understanding of the situation. I can’t thank all of you enough.

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