'I want them reading my words and hearing your story'

Thirty five years ago I set out to be the next rising star at the Denver Post. I never did make that jump to the major metropolitan market, but somewhere along the way I picked up on a motto to live by: “I want them reading my words and hearing your story. Everybody's 15 minutes of fame means something.”

I do this for the love of the game and love of the written word.

Every state has its newspaper association and every year we get together and take a look at each other's stuff to see what stands a grade above. Mostly it's a chance to say nice job in a world gone wrong where negativity is all you ever hear about.

This year, I ventured out of the norm of submitting to individual categories and presented a body of work. Since it's your story read, I had to give some thought as to which one I wanted them to hear.

First was the Thomas Hamm story where the headline that read: “Moses Lake senior is gone, but not forgotten.”

Last summer, Thomas went to a dark place and never came out, making a permanent decision to a temporary problem. The Moses Lake wrestler was no longer with us, so I listened to his friends and peers, walked in the candlelight vigil. I listened to team captain Hunter Cruz say he had to stay strong for his teammates, the pain in Chiefs head coach Jaime Garza voice.

I think it was best explained to me by then-senior Anna Fair. Anna's dad and Thomas' mom used to date, so she knew him a little better than others. It upset her how someone so close was hurting, and she didn't see the signs, or was able to help. Anna dedicated her senior year as class president to making sure everyone at Moses Lake High School felt like they had a voice.

I think that's what Thomas Hamm's legacy is, “It's OK not to be OK. Talk to someone, anyone. Shout out from the rooftops where you are in trying times.”

Saying it out loud takes away the power, allowing God to lead you from the darkness.

My body of work included, “The town they helped put on the map is still home to Garbe, Doumit and Cooper.”

It's about how three good friends from Moses Lake High School chased the dream all the way to professional baseball, how all three from a town of then 12,000 people were drafted in the first or second round of the 1999 Major League Draft.

The story had been covered, discovered and re-covered by better writers from Seattle to Olympia. So I had to find another hook. When I asked BJ Garbe for the cell phone numbers of Ryan Doumit and Jason Cooper, he scrolled through his contacts and they all started with that familiar 509 area code.

“These the same numbers you all had in high school?” I asked. BJ nodded.

BJ and Ryan went from high school to the minor leagues. Jason got a Stanford education, then joined his running mates in the farm system where all three were in Double A ball at the same time. I listened to how they would burn the minutes calling these same phone numbers from the road or the hotel to see how they were doing and compare notes.

I'm not privy to BJ's private thoughts, but I suspect when the Twins organization wanted to change that sweet swing that took him from Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year to No. 5 in the MLB Draft, he called these numbers to talk it over with a familiar voice from back home.

All I had to do was shape these stories from the Columbia Basin, they told themselves.

“Royal adds one more 1A state championship to the list with victory over Meridian.” Knights football is so much more than the love of the game on the Royal Slope.

It crosses all boundaries in bringing a community together: The Mormons, the Catholics, the Hispanics, the Anglos, the pickers, the farmers, the businessmen, the truck drivers, the school teachers all come together as one.

The Knights' 48-game winning streak is currently the third longest in the nation, according to MaxPreps. Don't bother trying to find a diner open on Friday night, because the whole town is down at David Nielsen Stadium. We are Royal.

Wisconsin judges also heard the tale of local fishing guide Rick Graser's fishing trip with Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. and the timeline of Big Bend women's basketball.

I promise you this, Columbia Basin. As long as I am upright and breathing, they will read my words and hear your story.

Everybody's 15 minutes of fame means something, and I thank the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for mine: 2018 Sports Writer of the Year.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer at the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com