Archive for Thursday, March 19, 2009

Fond memories abound for writer after 55-year career

By Jim Finley

March 19, 2009

This most enjoyable job I ever had — covering school sports and writing my column for the Bonner Springs Chieftain — is about to come to an end.

I had this job for 55 years and enjoyed every minute of it. I was fortunate to have worked for five good publishers starting with Marion Vaughn who got me started in writing sports. After that it was Paul Massey, who became a good friend, followed by John Carter and Clausie and Jean Smith who I will be indebted to forever for their kind treatment. And lastly, when the Simons family took over I felt very lucky to have them keep me on writing my column.

Some of those years I covered 25 to 30 teams in the school district for a school year. There were many good fringe benefits in writing for the Chieftain that included my press credentials that got me into all of the Chiefs games at Municipal Stadium and many games at Arrowhead. It got me into games for the Kansas City A’s and the World Series champion Kansas City Royals. It enabled me to watch Bonner Springs athlete David Jaynes’ four years at Kansas University. I watched him become an All-American and I had a front row seat in the press box.

I like to think I took a small part in Jaynes’ becoming a Jayhawk. The Alabama coach, Bear Bryant, came to Bonner Spring High School for the signing of intent by Jaynes. He allegedly told Jaynes he was his quarterback of the future. But, the following day he told a quarterback in Nevada the same story. A KU alumni got word of this and called Jaynes. Jaynes told me he would be interested in Kansas, so I called a good friend of mine, a former classmate at Wyandotte High School named Roy Edwards, who was a prominent KU alumni. He asked me if I could set up a meeting with Jaynes and his family. The meeting was set with Jaynes and his family, Edwards, and KU coach Don Fambrough. Jaynes became a Jayhawk.

Also, I got to see the Kansas City Kings and was able to take in the Eddie Nealy night at a Kings game. It was a privilege for me to write about my two sons, Mark and Mike, who played for Bonner Springs High School teams and also got to cover my granddaughter, Kristi Hoffine, who was the Athlete of the Year as a senior and later returned to teach and coach in our school district where she eventually became head volleyball coach at BSHS. I had the opportunity to make many friends while writing sports for the Chieftain.

One of the highlights of my career with the Chieftain was when Matt Tait, a former sports editor for the Chieftain, wrote a very complimentary column about me that I will long remember. During the course of 55 years I made five very close friends that supported me in good and bad years, namely Ken Tewell, Al Stuchlik, Gene McGraw, Cliff Brents, and Dick Burns, the only Bonner Springs coach to ever be named to the Kansas Hall of Fame.

It was always a good feeling when someone would approach me on the street and ask me, “Don’t you write for the Bonner Springs Chieftain?” I had many loyal readers who called me from time to time about my column, and this I will miss very much. I don’t want to mess up and miss the most important person of my 55-year writing career and my sweetheart of 63 years — my wife Dolores. When my eyesight started failing, I would dictate my column to her and she would type it and take it to Matt Tait. Her health started failing and coming to my rescue was my daughter-in-law, Karen, who I would dictate my column to and she would e-mail it to the paper.

I would now like to express my appreciation to the readers we had and for the many other people who supported me. I will also miss the camaraderie I enjoyed over the years with the coaches in the school district. And most of all to the athletes who provided me many enjoyable games and contests. They were all a real fine group of young people and I will miss writing about them.

Comments

  1. lovsofbal (anonymous) says…

    Jim,
    i'm 2000 miles away in California, but i want to congratulate you on the years of your explicit information that i will always remember about the local sports. It always made me feel like i was still at home. I don't know some of the kids/athletes that you talked about, but a lot i do. Most recent of the athletes i knew of was Tyler Jock who lived next door to my parents. I remember at the age of 2 he was riding a bicycle without training wheels. I would wonder how he would do in life, and because of you i know he did quite while to this point. The other is Dan Burns. Dan lives in his own shoes now, but always reminded me of Dick his father who shoes he had to fill. Dan may not have the success of Dick in champions or championships but he has touched many lives and by time he's done will touch just as many or more as Dick did. Jim, if it weren't for you i might have lost touch, but i don't think i will because you have mentored your successors to keep the torch going. I will miss your columns as many others will. If you have the time drop me a line at lovsofbal@aol.com.
    Mike Hyland

  2. hurtp (anonymous) says…

    Mr. Finley

    Thank you for the many great years of enjoyment I have had while reading your column. I left Kansas in 1973 and joined the USAF (26 years ret), and now I work for The Boeing Company so I have been away for long time. One thing I always looked forward to was your weekly sports article. As Mike said it always made me feel like I was at home in Kansas. I also wanted to thank you for being my first baseball coach. I was on the Safeway team in 1963/64 with Mike, Mark, Jimmy Krieder and Darrell Mathia. I did not get to play alot that first year, however that started me to playing a sport that I have loved my whole life. I finally stopped playing softball about five years ago(knees). Thank you for all of time you volunteered in our town of Bonner Springs... Your a good man Jim Finley...

    Paul Hurt

    Mike, are you the same Mike Hyland that pitched and your dad coached your teams... If so I played with you to I think the team name the year I played for your dad was Coleman Imp....