Former sportswriter brings Garrow back to life
Noon ball is back at the Glens Falls YMCA
The Front Page
Morning Update
Thursday, June 3, 2021
By Ken Tingley
Twenty-five or so years ago, Jim Tracy walked into our sports department and took a writing test. It was passable, nothing more.
Jim was in his 20s then and was looking for a career, I think. The job was just 9 or 10 hours a week as a sports clerk. He had to type bowling scores, recreation results and answer high school phone calls from coaches and so he could write up high school results in a succinct two or three paragraphs.
I remember taking Jim aside and editing his first few stories. Each time he got a little better. It wasn’t long before he was out covering games and eventually he earned a job as a full-time sportswriter. He had come a long way.
When I became editor I remember him pitching me a story about a serial killer in the Adirondacks in the 1970s. He told me the killer had broken into his father’s hunting camp. It was a good story and Jim was given the green light to work on it.
It culminated in a six-part series - “Blood in the Adirondacks” - published in 2000 in The Post-Star.
It was a good read and I remember getting a strong visceral reaction from our readers. The story was scaring them all over again and they didn’t like it. They wanted to know why we were glorifying this killer.
Jim later came over to the news side for a time, but eventually left to pursue training harness horses in Saratoga. I lost track of him over the years.
Recently, Will Doolittle informed me that Jim had finally finished the Garrow book he had always wanted to write. Will said it turned out well and did a blog post on www.poststar.com after reading the book.
Don Lehman also mentioned the book to me in one of our recent conversations He read it as well. So I purchased a copy as well and and put it on my summer reading list.
The Schenectady Gazette and Times-Union also did complimentary stories on the book.
What I remember most was that young guy struggling to put a couple sentences together a quarter century a go. Now he has a book out there we are all buying. Remember the reaction to Jim’s initial writing 21 years ago, I suspect this will be an even better read. That is something to be proud of.
Jim did good.
Noon ball returns
For more than 30 years, I’ve been playing noon ball at the YMCA. It’s been a healthy way to blow off steam and compete with other like-minded athletes.
Unfortunately, noon ball has been dark for the past 14 months. My last game was at the end of March 2020 - until Wednesday. For the past six months or so I’ve been reserving a court at the Y for 45 minutes three times a week. I shoot 100 jump shots, work on finishing with my left hand and running the length of the court to keep in a reasonably good shape.
But when I showed up on Wednesday and asked when noon ball might return, I was it had started that day.
When I got to the court, there were three other players. It’s a start.
Wearing masks, we played three games of two-on-two and felt a little winded at times. I’m hoping we can get at least eight for Friday and more next week.
I can’t wait.
