Talking sports: Kevin Van Valkenburg
- Senior Writer at ESPN teaching in Missoula this fall
- Recent stories by Kevin Valkenburg include pieces about Tom Brady, Peyton Manning
- University of Montana graduate worked as intern in Tribune Sports Department in 1999
Editor’s Note:Missoula native Kevin Van Valkenburg is arguably one of the top sports writers ever produced in the Treasure State and must be considered the top wordsmith to ever contribute to the Great Falls Tribune sports pages. The former Hellgate football standout and University of Montana graduate, who served as a sports intern at the Trib in 1999, worked several years for the Baltimore Sun before joining ESPN as a Senior Writer. Van Valkenburg has won several major awards and written about many famous sports personalities and this fall is giving back to his alma mater, teaching classes via UM’s Anthony Pollner Professorship. Van Valkenburg, who is married with two young children, visited with Tribune Sports Columnist Scott Mansch this week for our Sunday Conversation.
Q: Are you enjoying the semester back in Missoula, Kevin?
A: I’m really enjoying it. It’s so fun to be back and teach at the school where not only I went to school but where my mom (Carol, former UM journalism professor) taught for 30 years. It’s a little bit surreal. I’ve been living in Baltimore for almost 15 years now … but I’m still a Montana kid at heart. It defines so much of who I am and what I love and so it’s neat to be back and talk to kids from little towns who have dreams of being a magazine writer, or being on television, and desire to produce great journalism.
Q: Anthony Pollner, for whom the fellowship is named, was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?
A: Yes. He was a kid who grew up in New York and wanted something really different for college. So he came here. He didn’t really think he’d want to do journalism for a living but he thought it would be a great general education. He was an ambitious person who joined the Kaimin (UM student newspaper) when I was on staff there and threw himself into every story.
Q: Any stories about him?
A: We had this enrollment story that broke and we were trying to get some sort of quote from (then-UM president) George Dennison. He was away in Japan, and Anthony sweet-talked his secretary into telling him what hotel Dennison was at. So Anthony called him in the middle of the night and got a comment from him, which we thought was such great ruthless, ambitious journalism (laughs). He was a fun, energetic, smart person, a really good soul. Shortly after graduation he died in a motorcycle accident in London. His family knew how much the University of Montana had meant to him, so they set up this trust where there could be a visiting professional (writer) every year come to the school.
Q: I know you’re still working for ESPN this fall. I saw the recent piece about Tom Brady (which recalls that a year ago some were ready to call his career about over).
A: Yes. I did a Peyton Manning piece, too. It’s a lot to juggle, but I’ve learned a little bit over the years how to budget time. (laughs) We have two little girls (Molly, 5, Keegan, 3) and my wife (Jennifer McMenamin, a photographer) still works full-time. It’s quite the circus in our house in the mornings to get the kids to school, talk to the editors at ESPN and get ready for class.
Q: Are your parents (Fred and Carol) still in Missoula?
A: Yes. They’re both retired now, and they’re thrilled to see their granddaughters. My parents love having them around.
Q: Are you enjoying the ESPN gig?
A: Yes, I am. I feel like I have so many smart people that I work with. The journalism that we do is ambitious. I think some of the best investigative reporters and feature reporters work at the magazine and work for our enterprise team.
Q: Is there anything about the newspaper business you miss?
A: I miss the daily interaction with people … I miss the day-to-day connection with the community that you have.
Q: I certainly know that after being here in Great Falls for 30 years. There is a connection to the community that I feel. There is satisfaction to be derived every day from putting out a newspaper, would you agree?
A: Totally. Most of my friends in journalism work for the Washington Post. I never worked there but I feel a kinship with their sports staff. I miss that team environment, like when a big story breaks and everyone is jumping on it. Where it’s all hands on deck and you feel like, hey, this is our team and we’ve got to do the best job we can with what resources we have. That buzz of newspapers will always be in my gut.
Q: Our industry has struggled somewhat of late, but I firmly believe there’s always going to be room for intelligent reporting in our society. What do you think?
A: I think the appetite for stories and news is greater than it’s ever been. The medium matters less than the quality of work. We’re going to figure out how to distribute information that makes it possible … There’s more people who read, say, the Great Falls Tribune, if we combine the newspaper and on the web, than there ever was before. It isn’t like that appetite is going away. It’s just figuring out how people get it. That Brady column I wrote, like a million people read it. That’s a huge number of clicks for potential advertisers.
Q: That was a nice column. And a good job, Kev, for calling him washed up last year at this time!
A: (laughs) No. I was one of the few people who did not say that.
Q: Here in Great Falls we’re a long way from ESPN, but we like to think your internship here sent you in the right direction. (laughs) Would you agree?
A: Absolutely, absolutely. No joke. When I got that job from the Baltimore Sun, they talked to (Tribune Publisher) Jim Strauss and George Geise (former Tribune sports editor).
Q: Well, knowing George he probably didn’t say you were the BEST sports writer on the staff that summer. But I’m pretty sure you were, Kevin.
A: (laughs) You guys let me do a little bit of everything and that was helpful. Whether I was irritating the minor league baseball coach there by writing snarky, Rick Reilly-type lines or covering car accidents or whatever. I remember that summer quite well.
Q: I’m glad you have fond memories of us here in Great Falls, Kevin.
A: For sure. My mom grew up there in Great Falls and we’d go there all the time to visit my grandparents. The city will always have a lot of meaning for me.
Q: Tell me about your recent story with Peyton Manning. Are you a fan, or can’t you allow yourself to become that?
A: You can admire and appreciate people. I really admire Peyton and what he’s done. I love athletes when they’re late in their career and sort of trying to hang on. For a lot of people that makes them uncomfortable. For I admire that moment when your body can’t do quite what it used to and so your mind has to fill the gaps. Watching him in the locker room (and the pain he’s in) made me think ‘Wow, this is a tough person who still loves football.' Because I love football, I want to make people understand how taxing it is on the body. I’m not really a fan of teams anymore, but I just like stories. All kinds of great stories.
Q: What is it about being a storyteller that warms your soul? And what do think there is about this craft that attracts you and people like myself?
A: For me, it’s like you’re swimming in an ocean of stories. There are stories all around you, and by sharing them with people you realize that we’re not that different. All of us. Whether you’re from Baltimore, or Montana, or south Florida, or whatever. We have a shared humanity, and by telling stories you share the world a little bit and make people understand the world a little bit better. I love that aspect of it, and I love striving to find something beautiful in things that are true. I like fiction and read it a lot, but I love nonfiction because there’s a magic in finding the right way to explain to people what the world is like.
Q: Listening is a very, very important skill as a writer. Would you agree?
A: It sure is.
Q: Who are a few of the most memorable personalities you’ve met in your career?
A: Certainly Ray Lewis and Ed Reed during my time with the Sun. They were loud and quirky and interesting in their own ways. I spent a lot of time around Michael Phelps, because he’s from Baltimore. I spent a lot of time with him before the (2008) Games in Beijing. We’re not friends or anything, but I think we have a mutual respect for each other.
Q: What are you working on these days?
A: I’m working on a Rory McIlroy piece that hopefully will run in November or December. I’m pretty excited about that. I'm also working on a piece about Julio Jones, the Falcons’ wide receiver who’s been tearing it up.
Q: What have your folks meant to your life and career?
A: My parents were very important in establishing this: be humble, be curious and be kind to people. They were really encouraging to me to go off to Baltimore and find my own way. They really wanted me to maximize my chance at doing what I love. I think my dad and mom always tried their best to do things the right way. I really admire the both of them. My mom was a teacher and my dad was a prosecutor and they maybe could have done things that were more lucrative financially, but they wanted to do something to give back to people. To do something that was bigger than themselves. I always try to keep that in mind. And that’s what I’m trying to do by teaching this fall: pass on something that’s in more than just your own interests.
Q: It’s a pleasure to talk to you, Kevin. I’m proud of you, too.
A: Thanks, Scott. That means a lot. I appreciate it very much.
Scott Mansch is Tribune Sports Columnist and his Sunday Conversations appear frequently in these pages. Contact him at 791-1481 or smansch@greatfallstribune.com. Follow Mansch on Twitter @GFTrib_SMansch