Randy Dickson, Sports Editor

I guess the easy part is saying who I am and what I do at the News Bulletin.

I am Randy Dickson and I'm the Sports Editor. Really the title is a lot more impressive than the job itself, but hey, it sounds good. In a nutshell my job is anything sports. Yes, I'm the poor slob that gets paid to attend baseball, basketball and football games and just about every other sport at one time or another.

And while I wish we (I) had the manpower to cover a broader level of sports, my primary focus is on high school sports.

You might say that I've been preparing for this job all my life. I was the guy reading sports biography in the algebra class I was about to flunk at Gulf Breeze High School my sophomore year. And I could name the starting offensive line at the University of Tennessee my freshman year, but I might not have been able to tell you who all my professors were.

I'm also one of those kids that had more heart than talent on the playing fields of my youth. It was during those years I learned that I could impress people with my knowledge of sports and starting thinking about a career in sports writing. During those years I tried to read all the great sports writers of the day. I loved reading Jim Murray out of Los Angeles or Dick Young from the New York Times in the Pensacola paper. Murray and Young are two of the writers that helped shape my dream.

In my journey to today I have taken the road less traveled, and as the poet Robert Frost wrote, "It has made all the difference."

How many people do you know that managed to squeeze a four-year college degree into 23 _ years? But hey, I did manage to graduate in the same millennium I started…I made it by 14 days. I graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Speech Communications. At UT, that's also known as the Peyton Manning degree.

I believe every job I've worked, both in and out of the newspaper business has prepared me for what I do here at the Bulletin. The benefits of the newspaper jobs are obvious in that they have helped me grow as a writer and develop the skills needed to handle this job. But the construction and other labor jobs have given me an appreciation for the opportunity to fulfill my dream and teach me the values of hard work. I can look back on my worst day as a sports writer/editor and know that it's usually much less physically demanding, and much more rewarding than the times I spent digging ditches or cleaning carpets.

I've also spent some time in fast food and retail management. Those experiences helped learn what little organizational skills I've developed and the ability to multitask. During those years I also developed people skills that, in this business, many times, are as important as some sort of writing ability.

My newspaper background started with the old Gulf Breeze Sentinel where I did some stringing, or in layman terms, freelance coverage of high school football in the fall of 1985. I've worked for the Sports Information Departments of Liberty University and the University of Tennessee. I've been sports editor at the Monroe County Advocate Democrat in Sweetwater, Tenn. and the Loudon County News Herald in Lenoir City, Tenn. During my final tour of duty at UT I was sports editor and photo editor at the student paper.

After graduation I accepted a job at the Times-Georgian in Carrollton, Ga. I was there for about nine months before getting the accepting an offer at the Northwest Florida Daily News. My first day at the Daily News was Dec. 28, 2000. If you've been a faithful reader of the Daily News for the last seven plus years (and I hope you have), you probably know I've done a little bit of everything from high school and college sports to handling the outdoors features. I doubt if I'm the best writer to come through the doors of the Daily News, but I'd dare say not too many others in sports have done as great a variety of stories.

While at the Daily News, I helped launch the Hub. It was during the two-year run of the Hub that I developed many of the relationships in this end of the county I treasure the most. Those relationships played a key role in my decision to take this job in late February.

I'd be lying if I didn't say at one time I dreamed of covering Super Bowls and the World Series. Somewhere along the way I realized the stories we do at the Bulletin or Daily News are much more important than those written about the superstars of sports. Peyton Manning or Chipper Jones have probably had thousands of stories written about them, but the story I do on a local athlete might be the first, and sometimes the only, done on him or her. When I look at it from that perspective my job is much more important than the guy writing for the Atlanta Journal Constitution or  the New York Times.

As for the about me stuff, I'd love to introduce you to my wife. Actually, I'd love for somebody to introduce me to my wife. It's been said that I'm half-married, I just haven't found the other half yet. I prefer to think of it as being happily single and looking. I decided a long time ago that it's better to be single and deal with some of the issues that go with it than being married and miserable.

Some of the other things, I did grow up in Gulf Breeze. I am a proud member of the GBHS Class of 76. Come to think of it, we were the class of any year.

I'm the second oldest, and only son of four children. Yes, I grew up in a girls dormitory, and those who know my sisters might understand why I'm still single. I'm only joking girls. My parents and two of my sisters and their families live in DeLand, near Daytona Beach. The other sister lives in Milton, near Pea Ridge.

Being a bachelor, I have no children, but I do  have a dog. I hate calling any dog a mutt, so I refer to his breed as a "Common American Hole Digger." The dog's name is "Rocky Top" as in Rocky Top, Tennessee.

Away from work I enjoy fishing, playing golf, watching Tennessee win on TV (if you say you enjoy watching your team lose you are either insane or a liar) and hanging out with my friends from the singles Sunday School at First Baptist Church of Fort Walton Beach.

My Christian faith is the foundation of my life. It is my breath, my joy and my strength. Everything I am, or ever hope to be, is because of Jesus Christ. 

And that's about all I have to say.