The “inside baseball” column is one of my specialties. It’s where I offer readers a peek behind the curtain, letting them know how things work around here.
As we celebrate the eighth class of Johnston Now Honors award winners, this seems like a good time for a grab bag of some of my favorite moments with our winners that didn’t make it into the stories.
Captain Grady, Jamie and I had a good discussion about 80s and 90s music, covering acts like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Europe and Def Leppard.
Chris Ellington and I shared stories about fathers and sons working together, since we both do that. For the record, Ethan working here is going far better than my attempts to work with my Dad.
Dr. Blue is amazing. I could have written a 2,000-word story about her. She was excited to meet Ethan, a fellow Wake Tech graduate, and lit up our entire office while she was here. And considering that was before 9 a.m., that’s quite the achievement.
Coach Webb is always generous with his time, and he let me interview him for this story, and the football preview coming up next month. That’s a lot of talking to me, and he bore it well.
If there was a dictionary entry for Spirit of the County, it would probably have Craig Olive’s photo next to it. He brought us all gifts, including a back scratcher and some excellent lip balm. Always love chatting with him.
Shaun Braswell and I talked about being theatre kids, and I shared my own high school drama audition story about having to pretend to be a flower. We also shared our experiences working the sound and light board for shows, which is how I spent my freshman year at Gardner-Webb.
It’s always rewarding and fun for me to tell the stories of our honorees. This year was no exception.
We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we do, and hats off to our winners!
