Kevin Gordon...

[threestooges]

I heard a week or so ago that Kevin Gordon had left the Sentinel Tribune. First off, I just want to say thanks to Kevin for 20-plus years of Falcon hockey coverage. Kevin, if you're reading this, best of luck in your future endeavors, and you will be missed.

I know the Sentinel-Tribune's website is currently down, but I heard that Kevin had written a farewell story or column recently. Does anyone know if it's online anywhere? I did a quick search of the Sentinel's facebook and twitter pages and didn't see anything, but I may have missed it. Thanks in advance for any help anyone is able to provide.

[pdt1081]

It was posted on the Sentinel Facebook.

[threestooges]

It was posted on the Sentinel Facebook.

Thanks. I checked their Facebook page, but maybe I didn't scroll down far enough. I'll check again. Appreciate the heads up.

EDIT: Yep, it was there and I somehow missed it the first time I checked. Here it is for others who might have missed it, or for those who are not on Facebook.



Flashes from Gordon: Kevin Gordon says farewell to the Sentinel

I've come to say good-bye.
Today ends my 27-year run at the Sentinel-Tribune.
Farewell/thank you columns are risky because it's easy to overlook someone.
So I'll keep it simple and say I've been fortunate to have worked with a great bunch of people here at the Sentinel, I've enjoyed the schools and folks I've covered, and I've appreciated all of our readers, both online and in print.
The seasons and games all seem to run together, but the relationships I've built with everyone I've come in contact with are what I'll always remember.
Covering the Bowling Green Falcon hockey program has been a lot of fun during the last two-plus decades.
The players, and coaches Chris Bergeron, Dennis Williams, Scott Paluch, Buddy Powers and Jerry York have all been great to work with, and I'll always have fond memories of those relationships.
Bergeron, the current head coach, and assistant coaches Barry Schutte and Ty Eigner have done a nice job of rebuilding the Falcons, who finally appear ready to contend for a league championship.
BG should be good this season and could be really good in the next few seasons after that.
One of my favorite Falcon hockey stories comes from a game at Kent State ages ago. A BG athletics department official asked me if several of the players who weren't playing that night could borrow my car to go to a fast-food restaurant for a pre-game meal.
Even though it was a clear but minor violation of NCAA rules, I decided to say yes as a second BG athletics official looked on in disbelief.
When former Falcon radio play-by-play voice Bartt Davis and I left the arena after the game, we quickly learned the players parked my car in a different spot and tied the seat belts in knots.
I'll miss covering Falcon baseball. Head coach Danny Schmitz has built the program into one of the best in the Mid-American Conference, doing things the right way on and off the field for 25 seasons.
His tenure is the fourth-longest in school history and he's the longest-tenured coach currently in the department.
I'll also miss his friendship and the friendship of his wife Cindy, son Spencer, and daughter Jamie.
High school sports are the same, whether it's Perrysburg, Lake or North Baltimore.
Wood County has a neat mix of small, medium and large schools. It's full of dedicated athletes, coaches and administrators and I was always made to feel at home at all of them.
High school football is one of the best sports because of the large cross-section of each community it involves with the players, cheerleaders, bands and fans.
But I've had just as much fun covering all high school sports. One of my favorite times of the year is the four-week run in the spring that consists of the league, district, regional and state track meets.
Seven head coaches still are in the same position they held when I first started full-time here in August 1987.
They are boys golf coaches Chris Dill of BG and Mike Gardner of Eastwood; baseball coaches Dave Hall of Perrysburg, Kyle Reiser of Elmwood and Greg Wilker of Lake; Eastwood football coach Jerry Rutherford; and Otsego volleyball coach Cheryl Jones.
I've had the chance to become reacquainted with high school friends whose children competed in high school sports.
I also watched Kevin Leady and Tricia Askins compete at Eastwood and Lake, respectively, and at Bowling Green State University, and then resurface as coaches.
Leady is Eastwood's baseball coach. Askins later became an assistant athletics director and softball coach at Lake, and is the mom of two Flyer football players.
It's been neat seeing coaches like Reiser and Powers in a different light.
Reiser is Elmwood's longtime baseball coach, but he became the proud dad of two All-Ohio track and field performers, Katie and Kori. It was fun talking track, not just baseball, with him.
The same is true for Powers, who I first knew as a college hockey coach. His three children, John, Barbara and Caroline, all were outstanding athletes in high school and college. Talking to Buddy as the proud dad was enjoyable.
Most of my writing has been on high school and college sports, but I've enjoyed telling stories outside of those venues.
Steve Messenger aced the eighth hole at Bowling Green Country Club twice in 17 days, using two different clubs with two different pin placements.
Local auto racer Jeff Babcock competed in the NASCAR Truck Series race on dirt at Eldora Speedway last year.
Just two days ago, we told you about Nick Snyder and his friends who have turned their yearly golf outing into a memorial for their friend, Preston Pahl, who was killed in a 2006 car accident.
The county has been home to past and present Major League Baseball players Burke Badenhop, Marty Gazarek, Chris Hoiles and Andy Tracy, and manager Jim Leyland. They've never forgotten their roots.
I'm ready for a new challenge, once I finish writing a number of football and other fall sports previews during the next several weeks.
I don't know what I'll be doing next, but I'm probably not finished writing.
For now, though, it's time for a break.
Thanks for the memories.

[poltergeist]

Here it is for others who might have missed it, or for those who are not on Facebook.

thanks, not on facebook.
good column, and best wishes to Kevin.

[apollo]

BG Hockey was lucky to have a reporter at the Sentinel that was really in tune with college hockey. He knew/knows what was happening around not only the CCHA but the other major conferences as well. Whomever the Sentinel replaces him with has got big shoes to fill in terms of quality hockey coverage. Best of luck Kevin....I'll miss your weekly column and notes section.

[toddpav]

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Can't keep Gordo down!