EDITOR’S NOTE: When Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor Courtney Oakes was nominated for Colorado Outstanding Media Member of the Year, they asked for a letter supporting his nomination. I’ve never had any assignment easier to write in my life. On Feb. 28, 2016, the Colorado Association of Athletic Directors, encompassing about 700 schools, tabbed Oakes as the state’s top sportswriter in a field of hundreds of photographers, reporters and editors working for about 200 newspapers, radio and television stations. I’ve known two sportswriters in my career who’ve contributed so much talent, passion, grace and integrity to a field filled with people who generally offer more personality than insight: Former Denver Post columnist Dick Connor and Courtney Oakes, Colorado’s two sportswriting deans.
It’s very late here in the newsroom, as is often the case when a few key employees wrap up the day’s news or fight chronic and acute exhaustion to try and make headway into tomorrow’s uphill battle.
Sports Editor Courtney Oakes had left several hours ago. He’d spent the day working phones, chats, texts, emails and Facebook messages with coaches and kids, putting together a seemingly endless pool of stats and quotes. When everyone else was ready to call it a day, he headed out for a gamer. While there, he tweeted out nearly play-by- play action, shot features and award-quality game pics. In between all that, he combed through his army of faithful sources at similar games across the metro area, retweeting plays and scores from other games. In the rare moments he was’t onto that, he takes an occasional phone call from a coach he hadn’t been able to reach for a while, knowing it was going to be now or too late for deadline.
The game ends. He works to get quotes from the kids and coaches as they dash in a several directions. Everyone knows him, and if he signals them with a glance or a finger, they’ll wait.
Finally, as the parking lot empties out, he throws his 50 pounds or so of cameras, notebooks and coats into his car and makes his way home. He almost immediately catches up on a few more tweets and posts. Somehow, he spends some time with his wife and baby girl, and then he starts the night shift.
From the newsroom, I can see his remote access into the editorial system, opening first one, then two, then three stories as the clock moves well past midnight. I often think he’s fallen asleep at the keyboard at home, but after a few minutes, a story or sidebar about a wrestler’s foibles or a basketball player’s breathless narrative wraps up, gets published, and and he begins another story or a gallery of gamer shots.
Courtney never seeks out controversy, he just seeks out the story. It’s the stories of young lives, young dreams, young ideals and the roller coaster of victory and defeat. Courtney borrows from coaches and kids the sweetest and most bitter moments of their lives, and serves those moments up to tens of thousands of readers every day. Every day. Every night. When it’s late. When it’s early. When he ’s on vacation. When he’s trying to eat. When he should be sleeping.
Whether the story is about the world’s greatest swimmer, professional football’s greatest player, an Aurora high school’s nascent runner or a coach who’s helped thousands of students over the finish line, the quest to tell their story fairly, accurately, passionately and completely is always the same. He’s consummate in getting it all and getting it right. Even though it’s very, very late. Again.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com