Geracie named sports editor
in San Jose

Compiled by TODD M. ADAMS
Sports Editor
Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer

Story posted on Jan. 23, 2009

Geracie

Wilner

When asked if he'd like to hold the title of interim sports editor at the San Jose Mercury News 18 months ago, Bud Geracie declined.

"I think working in sports, we learn to hate the word 'interim,'" Geracie said. "It sounds like you're probably not going to keep it very long."

So instead, Geracie and editor Dave Butler settled on the title "acting sports editor."

Finally, on Jan. 1, after months of prodding, Geracie agreed to drop the "acting."

"It sounds pretty bad, doesn't it?" Geracie asked. "People probably think the paper struck out and finally gave it to this guy."

That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Geracie, a 24-year veteran at the paper, took the acting sports editor job in July of 2007 when sports editor Rachel Wilner went on maternity leave. He was an assistant sports editor at the time.

But when Wilner came back to the paper, she didn't return to sports but rather to business. So Butler offered Geracie the job.

But, at that time, the Mercury News was contemplating some major changes, and it wasn't clear what role sports would play. Geracie asked to wait until after everything was decided before making a decision.

"That all got worked out quite a while ago. After it did, they wanted me to take the "acting" part off. But I'd kind of gotten to like it," Geracie said with a laugh. "Maybe I've got a fear of commitment or something. In any case, it's become kind of running joke."

Butler kept after Geracie, who "finally agreed to become the sports editor full time" at the beginning of the new year.

"It was a long, hard haul," Geracie joked. "I guess I earned it."

In other moves ...

Dyess

■ Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger: Van Dyess, the High School Stats editor for The Clarion-Ledger, took a buyout from Gannett and left the newspaper on Dec. 5. Dyess worked for the C-L for 20 years, the last 10 as coordinator of the paper's high school statistics coverage. Van was responsible for collecting rosters and schedules in all sports for more than 300 high schools in Mississippi. He supervised the crew of up to 15 part-time clerks who took the summaries and results that fed the C-L online database and added up to hundreds of inches of agate copy per week. Because of cutbacks, Van's position will not be replaced.

■ Hattiesburg (Miss.) American: Sports editor Van Arnold, 52, retired in December after 30 years at the newspaper. Arnold began as a sports writer and, through the years, also served as a college beat reporter, feature writer, city editor, copy desk chief and, for the last 10 years, sports editor. He won numerous writing awards during his stint at the American. In his final column, Arnold quoted a George Strait song and said, "This is where the cowboy rides away."

Cnockaert

■ Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier: Jim Cnockaert joined the paper in August as sports editor. He'd been sports editor at the Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle and the now-defunct King County (Wash.) Journal. Previously, he worked for 18 years as a sports reporter at the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News, including the last 13 years covering University of Michigan football. Brian T. Smith, who joined the Herald Courier as a sports writer in 2007 after working for the Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian, was promoted to assistant sports editor. Spencer Campbell, a product of Texas A&M and North Texas, joined the Herald Courier in July as a sports writer.

■ Lahontan Valley News: Steve Ranson was named editor of the Lahontan Valley News in Fallon, Nev. For four years he was sports editor, and prior to that he wrote sports on a part-time basis and served as a high school teacher and then vice principal.

■ Modesto Bee: Noel Harris has become sports editor. He replaces Bill Poindexter.

■ Sacramento Bee: Debbie Arrington has moved from sports to features, where she will be the Home & Garden writer as well as contribute to the food section.

■ Seattle Times: The Times lost two longtime staffers to retirement and two others as the newspaper reduced staff Dec. 12 through layoffs and buyouts.

Craig Smith retired after 32 years at The Times and more than 40 years as newspaper journalist. Smith, 62, covered a variety of beats at the newspaper, including the Seahawks, Washington State Cougars, golf and soccer, but was probably best known as one of the state's premier high-school sports writers and columnists. His Sideline Smitty question-and-answer column became one of the sections staples on Tuesdays. He received more than 150 e-mails in response to his final column on Dec. 23.

Here's a link to his final column:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/craigsmith/2008550753_smitty230.html

Henkel

Cathy Henkel, sports editor of The Seattle Times for 18 years, retired after 21 years at The Times and 42 years as a newspaper journalist. One of the few female sports editors in the country, Henkel was a former Northwest Regional chair, hosted the 2002 National Convention and was a founding member of AWSM. Henkel, 60, guided the Sports section through several major transitions, including its conversion to a morning publication in 1999, and was instrumental in building The Times into a perennial winner of APSE awards, including several Triple Crowns.

CLICK HERE to read the retirement story on APSE.

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Send personnel moves to Todd M. Adams by e-mail to adamst@fayobserver.com. Please put APSE On the Move in the subject line.

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