Enrietto: Time to say goodbye, but not without saying thank you to those who helped along the way
Cinncinati.
No, that is not the correct way to spell Ohio’s Queen City.
Unfortunately, that’s the way I spelled it on two separate assignments during my Basic News Reporting and Editing class at Ohio University. Spell a proper name wrong, get an F for the assignment. That’s the way it was in that weed-out course.
Fortunately, I somehow pulled a B for the overall course and moved on.
And what a ride it’s been.
I survived in sports journalism for 44 years. A year in Jeannette. Fifteen years in Steubenville, Ohio. A year in Xenia, Ohio (dangerously close to Cincinnati). Twenty-seven years here in Butler.
It’s finally time for me to get off this train and allow somebody else to guide it. That somebody is Jake Adams. He has big plans and our readers and podcast followers will reap the benefits from them.
All that’s left for me to do is hand out a whole bunch of thank yous.
Eagle general manager Ron Vodenichar gave me this opportunity in August of 1997. Then-managing editor Mark Mann trusted me enough to expand our coverage. I took to the road to cover Slippery Rock University’s football game at Youngstown State four days into being on the job.
It was at Youngstown’s Stambaugh Stadium that I met SRU football coach George Mihalik, one of the finer gentlemen I’ve ever met in or out of sports. A journalist can cover a team fairly and still become good friends with the guy in charge of the program. George and I proved that.
I decided to begin covering Friday night races at Lernerville Speedway despite knowing next to nothing about dirt track racing. Track publicist Carol Gamble and another racing reporter, Tom Zuck, educated me on the sport. I came to appreciate everything that goes into it.
Then there’s the coaches. I had to earn their trust, convince them I was here to promote their student-athletes, not tear them down. I feel like I did that. High school sports are an extra-curricular activity. No one ever runs down a member of the French Club or marching band. No one should do it to a football or basketball player, either.
The people I’ve worked with in sports at the Eagle have been numerous. Perry Myers, Bob Fetter, Mike Perry, Sam Tallarico, Mike Kilroy, Josh Rizzo, Jason Orfao, Jason Snyder, Derek Pyda and Brendan Howe are some of those folks. I’ve enjoyed them all. Mike Kilroy and Derek both worked with me here for more than 20 years.
I cherish a lot of those times.
I was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame two months ago. I didn’t walk in there myself. Many of the names listed above — and others in this community — put me there. My personal Hall of Famer, my wife Darlene, is as responsible as anyone for the longevity of my career.
Her patience over our 39 years of marriage has been incredible, her love for me unshakable — and mine for her. We’ve been through a lot of adversity together, and all that does is strengthen the bond.
I admire dedication. Dess Schnur with East Butler baseball. Scott Stoner with Butler wrestling. The list goes on. A lot of these coaches have been at it for a long time. Our community is better off for it.
Brian Minto was an amateur boxer for the Butler Cubs, turned pro at age 28, and wound up fighting for a world cruiserweight title. Covering many of his bouts — especially the ones at Pullman Park — are among my highlights here.
Fittingly, the final two live events I covered as sports editor here were the annual Butler Cubs Amateur Boxing Show and the West Penn Inter-Club Mixed Doubles Junior Team Championships.
Don Spinetti, manager of Cubs boxing, received an award for his 50 years of dedication to the program and working with youths. Many of those youths were troubled when they first walked through those doors and were productive young citizens when they last walked out.
Don Spinetti is 93. He’s still turning around kids’ lives, simply because he cares.
Whitney Snyder runs Butler Country Club’s youth tennis program. He’s spent countless years teaching kids the sport, how to enjoy it, and how to use it to build social skills and sportsmanship.
These are two selfless individuals.
That’s what I loved about being on the job in this community. People care.
Goodbye for now.
God bless, for always.
John Enrietto was sports editor of the Butler Eagle — and a proud one.
