It’s the end of an era at Post-Star

Long-time sports editor trying to go quietly into the night

“Greg Brownell, promoted to sports editor after I became editor, continued our excellence in sports, led a mission of diversity to our newsroom and brought a parade of talented sportswriters through our doors.”

- Ken Tingley, The Last American Newspaper

By Ken Tingley

Not long after graduating from Plattsburgh State in 1982, Greg Brownell landed a job at The Post-Star.

He never left.

When Greg walks out the door at 76 Lawrence Street on Sunday, it will be the end of an era. Greg is retiring after 41 years.

All with one newspaper.

We won’t see that again.

When I arrived to succeed Greg Luckenbaugh as sports editor in 1988, Greg Brownell was already the assistant sports editor. Over the next 11 years, we made the sports section in Glens Falls one of the best its size in the nation.

He was my right-hand man and hockey beat writer, a sounding board for all my crazy ideas and was not afraid to disagree with me when needed. He was a total team player willing to do the grunt work as easily as the professional hockey games.

When I was promoted to managing editor in 1999, the easiest decision was promoting Greg to sports editor.

In the years afterward, he made the sports pages even better.

He had a knack for recruiting great talent.

He made it his mission to diversify the newsroom by giving opportunities to female sportswriters and journalists of color.

Greg made it his mission to make girls sports the equal of boys on our sports pages and succeeded. At times we were one of the few small newspapers to have as many female sportswriters as male.

He also embraced the community.

Once a year during the annual Power of Pink girls soccer game in Queensbury, Greg got in the net as goalkeeper and challenged all comers to beat him with a penalty kick. If Greg made the save, you paid $10 toward breast cancer research. If you scored, Greg paid the $10.

I looked forward to taking my turn against him every year.

When we needed a Santa Claus for our annual kids Christmas party, Greg was our choice as the skinniest Santa Claus ever, but he loved it and the kids loved him.

We got to know each other pretty well over the years, especially during the hockey playoffs when we roomed together on the road.

Greg was a reporter first and foremost. His spare prose was often lacking in adjectives or color. He wanted the coverage to be fair and accurate instead and never controversial.

When I was working the desk when Greg was covering a hockey game, I made it my mission to find at least one mistake in his copy. I usually failed. His copy was clean and exact - always.

Then after the story went to press, Greg would call back to say he wanted to “replate” the story. “Replating” was extra work for the editor, the backshop and the press room. It meant he was sending a new version of the story that had to be replaced on the printing plate on the press. Everyone hated doing it, but Greg was determined to make the story the best it could be.

And he did.

He made those around him better. He did the tough work that nobody wanted to do it. Too may times, I caught him typing bowling scores late at night.

He went on to serve in a leadership role for the Associated Press Sports Editors representing small newspapers all across the country. He set an example for them as well.

When I called Greg on Thursday to ask about his retirement, there was silence on the other end.

“Is this on the record or off the record?” he asked.

That’s Greg too.

He doesn’t want a fuss.

He was keeping his retirement a secret.

Unlike so many of us, I suspect there will be no goodbye column.

After his last shift, he will turn out the lights and be gone.

I’m sorry Greg, but I could not allow that.

What The Post-Star is losing now is more than just a dedicated professional. The newspaper and the community it served were Greg Brownell’s life for the past four decades. He was there week after week chronicling the successes and failures of thousands and thousands of local athletes without much fanfare for himself.

He made everyone around him better with his quiet leadership.

Somebody should be giving this guy a parade or naming a pressbox in his honor.

He would hate that, too. There has never been a journalist with less of an ego.

The New York News Publishers Association honored him earlier this year as part of a team of Post-Star reporters who covered a fire.

Consider that for a second. The sports editor was out covering a fire.

I never did that, but Greg did it more than once.

That wasn’t in the job description, but it was in his DNA.

In 2015, Greg was the recipient of Lee Enterprises’ prestigious “Spirit Award”for his contributions to the newspaper and the community. The citation read in part:

“As an editor, he has led the Glens Falls sports section to national recognition while helping develop the careers of many young journalists. His commitment to The Post-Star and its readers has included covering late-night breaking news, taking countless calls from customers and delivering a missed newspaper if needed.”

Those of us who made a career in newspapers often worried about how we might adjust to a world without deadlines and breaking news. I suspect Greg has some of those concerns as well, but he is not saying.

He says he doesn’t have a plan for the future other than a little travel.

For years, Greg has spent parts of his vacations riding the rails from coast to coast, visiting old ballparks, exploring subway systems. He always said he wanted to write a book on mass transit.

I suggested Thursday he might consider a job with Amtrak.

What you need to know now from someone who was fortunate to see Greg in action for more than 30 years is that he is not only a great journalist, but an even nicer person who always put the good of his staff, the newspaper and the community first.

I suspect I speak for many by thanking him for his service, for going the extra mile to making the Glens Falls community his town, his world.

He made our newsroom better.

He made this region better.

We are all the better for it.

So as Greg Brownell leaves his newspaper career in the rear view mirror, I want to assure him that his work will not be forgotten by those who worked with him.

Good luck my friend. You did good.

Sports Editor Greg Brownell has worked at The Post-Star since 1982. This will be his last week at the newspaper after a 41-year career.

Another loss

If you followed the education beat anytime over the last 10 years, Michael Goot’s name will be familiar to you.

Goot became the education writer in his second tour with the newspaper and was the driving force behind covering school budgets. Over the past few years, he did all kinds of news coverage and eventually took on more more responsibilities in production.

Michael is also leaving the newspaper for a new job in Albany with a television station.

One of the strengths over the years for The Post-Star was the institutional memory of editors like Bob Condon, Will Doolittle, Mark Mahoney, and Greg Brownell.

Losing Michael is loss for the community.

Radio interview

I sat down for a chat with Mike Morgan of Adirondack Broadcasting on Thursday.

We talked about the new collection of columns - The Last American Editor, Vol. 2 - and my other books, as well as many of the changes we have been seeing with The Post-Star.

Hope you get a chance to tune in on Sunday morning (6 a.m or 6:30 a.m.) on Froggy 100.3, Classic Hits Q 101,7, Big Country 97.9, Magic Oldies 96.9 and 107.1 The Cat.

If you are hoping to preorder the new book, it is available on the Something or Other Publishing website.