Interview: Editor/Author Mike Harris

Nothing is as inspiring as a good sports story. Countless movies and books have been based on lovable underdogs overcoming adversity on their way to victory. 

No matter how moving the victory lap is, perhaps what is even more moving is the way the story is told.

Mike Harris has learned how to tell these tales through his years of sports reporting, covering a variety of sporting events ranging from the Olympics to the Final Four. 

Harris, sports editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the author of Game of My Life: Memorable Stories of Hokie Football and Basketball, admits to experimenting with all kinds of media but his heart has always been with newspaper writing.

What follows is a selection of questions and answers from an interview with Harris.

Q: You have reported on such a wide variety of sports reporting, what made you choose sports writing?
Harris: I grew up in the D.C. area.  Remember, this was back before the Internet and cable TV and all that.  Newspapers were our primary source of information.  We got three newspapers every day at our house - the Washington Post, the Washington Star and the Washington Daily News.  I'd read them all, every day.  I'd listen to Senators games on the radio and fall asleep, then wake up and get the papers to see who won.  I just thought it was so cool that it was someone's job to write about the games. Many years later, it is so cool but not always!

Q: What would you say are the best and worst things about sports reporting?
Harris: (Best) I saw the world, literally.  I went to Hawaii, Toronto, Montreal, London, Sydney and virtually every major city in the continental U.S. on someone else's money.  I saw a lot of cool things, covering everything from the Olympics to the World Series to the Final Four to the Daytona 500.
(Worst) Being away so much.  Working nights.  Working weekends.

Q: What makes the difference between really good sports reporter and an average
one?
Harris: I call it "the extra call."   The average/mail it in types take the information they're given and go with that.  The really good ones pick up the phone and make an extra call, to try and get more or different information.
I did a story years ago on Grant Noel trying to return to football and play with a torn ACL.  A fine story in and of itself.  Tech also had a wrestler who had done the same thing, can't remember his name now. So I picked up the phone and called him, got his input.  Many people told me that extra information made the difference.

Q: How did you first get into reporting?
Harris: I started as an intern with The Richmond News Leader in 1976.   I did it again in 1977 and was lucky enough to get hired full-time two weeks before I graduated from VCU in 1978.   I've also been lucky in that I've been able to move up the career ladder without having to move.  It's not always that way in the media business.

Q: Have you done any other kind of media work?
Harris: Considerable.  I was host of a weekly radio show for four years.  I've done some TV appearances but not enough to count.  I do freelance writing for magazines and have done some for the Internet.   I have written a book and am working on another.

Q: You recently switched from reporting to editing, why did you change?
Harris: I'm too old to be on the road all the time!   I say that tongue in cheek but it is part of it.  Plus, I've always wanted to have a chance to lead my own section, shape some coverage. It is a different world, with the Internet being part of our product now. I miss some things about the old days but am enjoying the new challenges.

Q: Based on your experience as a sports reporter and now a sports editor, what advice would you give to someone aspiring to write for a newspaper?
Harris: Write.  It sounds simple but that's what it takes.  Write articles, write journals, write whatever you want.  Just write.  You'll figure out quickly what works for you and what doesn't. I would also advise learning the ways of the Internet because a newspaper these days - one that is any good anyway - has an Internet component and no newspaper will hire anyone who isn't comfortable with the Internet.

Q: What inspired you to write Game of my Life: Memorable Stories of Hokie Football and Basketball?
Harris: They actually called me.  The timing was interesting.  A friend of mine is an award winning writer for Esquire who had just finished a book.  He put me in touch with his agent and I spent an hour laying out all my ideas to this agent.  And he basically blew me off, said I had some good thoughts for magazine pieces but nothing book worthy.
I was feeling down, like I didn't have it in me to write a book, when Sports Publishing called.  They offered an idea that was right up my alley so to speak and I jumped at the chance.

Q: Was writing a book a lot different from writing for the Richmond Times-Dispatch?
Harris: Oh my goodness yes.  The longest story I write for the paper is about one chapter in the book.  I've always been a gather-then-write guy.  Get all my material, organize it, write it. That works for a regular newspaper article and even a longer one and many magazine pieces.  For a 60,000 word book?  No way.   I had gobs and gobs of material (I talked to about 200 people) and it took a while to get it organized, sorted and written.   I'm proud to say I did make deadline.

Q: You have been so successful through out your career, but if you had it all to do over again, would you choose the same career path, and what would you do differently?
Harris: Yes, I would.  It's been a lot of fun. I've been blessed working for a good company and covering some good people who have helped make it easy.  I wish I was home more but without the job my family wouldn't have been able to do some really cool things.  So, no, I don't think I'd change much - except maybe be there when [daughter] Courtney scored her first [field hockey] goal!