NORTH SHORE – (Radio & Column) After two years as sports editor at the Newburyport Daily News Dan Harrison will be leaving. Harrison brought a renewed level of enthusiasm and increased local sports coverage in his years at the paper. Harrison will be on the job for the remainder of this week until he begins his new career at Knighthouse Publishing / Knighthouse Media in Beverly. In a radio interview Harrison discusses a few elements of his column and shares the passion that he has displayed for covering local sports in the greater Newburyport area. Below is the farewell column he wrote almost two weeks ago in the Newburyport Daily News.
Dan Harrison – Sports Editor Newburyport Daily News with Rick Moore and Bill Newell
Farewell Column by Dan Harrison
I’ve never had much experience with writer’s block.
There’s no time to overthink things when you’re sitting courtside at a high school basketball clash, or rinkside at a hockey game, while writing on your phone in an attempt to make deadline. When you have to fill the pages six days a week, you just learn to churn and burn.
Recently, though, I’ve come to sympathize with those struggling to put pen to paper — or in my case, fingers to the keyboard.
I will be leaving The Daily News to pursue a new career. When I made that decision recently, I began writing this story in my head. Admittedly, it’s been a struggle to find the right words.
I’m not one for the overly grandiose. I’m not going to sit here and pepper you with platitudes. It was an intensely personal decision, and I consider myself to be a fairly private person.
But you’ve trusted me to tell your stories, and those of your children, so it’s only fair for me to explain things on my end.
So how do you say goodbye to an entire community of people you’ve grown to admire and appreciate, and have them understand just how much they mean to you?
You begin with a little context.
The path that led me into sports journalism is a complex one. When I was 18 and a freshman at Syracuse University, on the night before my second semester began, I suffered a knee injury while attending a basketball game at the Carrier Dome when I was pushed down a flight of stairs.
I tore all the ligaments, cartilage and the artery in my leg. I drifted in and out of consciousness for the next eight hours as the doctors tried to figure out why my leg was turning more and more purple. There was talk of amputation.
Luckily, the arterial tear was discovered, a vascular surgeon on call repaired the artery, and some very gifted orthopedic surgeons pieced my knee back together in the following months. Unfortunately, I would never play another sport (outside of golf) again, and the trauma left me with a condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, which is a disorder of the nervous system characterized by chronic and severe pain.
On a good day, there’s a dull burning sensation in my lower left leg and foot. On a bad day, it’s a challenge to wear socks and shoes.
Sports were always important to me. Probably too important. I used them as an outlet when I faced adversity in my personal life growing up. Now the avenue I used to deal with things was no longer an option — and I didn’t handle it too well.
I found myself living my life in a day-to-day manner, and when you do that, you tend to lose sight of the future.
I did find my way back to the world of athletics when Salem News executive sports editor Phil Stacey gave me an internship with his department. Six years later, I came here to the Daily News, and shortly after took over as the sports editor.
The last two years have had a profoundly positive impact on my life. I made it my mission to try and raise the standard of the sports section here, and I am very proud of the work we’ve done together.
More than anything, I feel blessed to have been able to cover such outstanding kids. The young men and women of the area continue to impress and inspire me.
People ask me, how I can cover so many games?
It’s easy. Why would I want to sit inside at my desk when I could go watch Rob Shay throw a football 50 yards with the flick of his wrist? Or Anthony Orlando stand on his head between the pipes? Or Maddie Napoli backhand grounders at shortstop?
The work never felt like work, and more than any athletic accomplishment I witnessed since coming to the area, what’s amazed me most is the character of the student-athletes I have covered. There are some subtle differences that make the kids of each school unique, but I’ve learned they share some key qualities.
You guys play for each other, and some of the team bonds I’ve witnessed have made a lasting impression on me. Whenever I’ve interviewed kids following a postseason loss, pretty much everyone just wants to tell me how much they love their teammates — and I think that’s pretty special.
The parents and coaches should be proud of what the kids in the area do every single day. It’s been my responsibility to try and give the local athletes the recognition they’ve earned. I’m not sure anyone could do so in a way that truly encapsulates that, but I’ve enjoyed trying.
Some journalists are driven by the prospect of winning awards or covering the big story. During my time here, the only motivation I’ve ever had was trying to give you all the coverage that matches the hard work you put in, and the manner in which you carry yourselves.
If you report on high school sports, and your motivation is different, I don’t think you belong in the industry.
That drive hasn’t lessened one iota over the last two years. But the job, while I still thoroughly enjoy it, is something I can no longer afford to do.
About 13 months ago I made some major changes in my life as I started to evolve out of the day-to-day mentality and think more about the long term. I was lucky enough to have people in my life who have supported me when I probably didn’t deserve it, and I’ve met new people who helped me come to terms with what I needed to do to get what I really want out of life.
This community, and the people in it, played a major role in this revelation, and for that I will be forever grateful.
So with very mixed emotions, I realized it’s time to move on.
With my future in mind, I accepted a sales position with a publishing company in Beverly, and will be leaving The Daily News after the week of May 7. I’ve realized just how important it is for me to try and start a family and raise kids of my own, and I have to do what is best for me in that regard.
I’m going to miss this job, and this area, a great deal.
If I’m lucky enough to have kids of my own one day, I hope to raise them to be like the ones I’ve covered at Newburyport, Triton, Amesbury, Pentucket and Georgetown. That, more than anything, is what I will take with me as I head off into the next chapter of my life.
Thanks for reading.
