In August 2022 I was appointed the publisher of a group of three community newspapers, collectively known in Forum Communications Co. as the "Lakes Group." I hadn't been a full-time publisher in a number of years, but I saw an opportunity to return to working in the community newspaper space. And while the gig only lasted 10 months before an eventual company restructuring, it was one of the most rewarding professional stints I've ever had. Hats off the the staffs at the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Perham Focus and Wadena Pioneer Journal for welcoming this old newspaper hack for a great run!
Dec. 14, 2022
By Devlyn Brooks
This week, a new special section called the “2022-23 Highway 10 Hoops Preview” will be inserted into all three of our publications, on Wednesday in the Detroit Lakes Tribune, and on Thursday in the Perham Focus and Wadena Pioneer Journal.
This ambitious project is a departure from past winter sports sections that highlighted previews of various teams in only the Detroit Lakes, Frazee and Lake Park-Audubon schools. Rather, this special project instead showcases the boys and girls high school basketball teams on or near Highway 10, “featuring longtime rivalries in conference and section play,” as Sport Editor Jared Rubado writes in an opening piece to the publication.
This new initiative allows us to feature basketball teams from as far west as Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, to as far east as Wadena-Deer Creek, with Hawley, Lake Park-Audubon, Mahnomen-Waubun, Detroit Lakes, Frazee, Perham, Pelican Rapids, and New York Mills in between.
This project tells the story of some very good basketball teams from our Highway 10 region, that not only will fight competitively for post season honors here in regional play, but also could make their mark on the state level come next March. Our area is home to some historically excellent basketball programs, and to some current talented athletes, which should make this basketball season one to remember.
With this project we wanted to capitalize on this moment, showcasing our young area basketball players, their dedicated coaches and some teams that you could be reading about on the statewide level at the end of the season.
That being said, I also want to assure our readers that just because this special section features only the high school basketball teams in the region, it does not mean that our commitment to covering the other area high school sports teams is diminished.
Our talented sports team in Rubado and Nick Leonardelli also has been writing our usual team previews of all the other sports teams in our communities as well. Those features have been publishing in our newspapers and on our three community websites on a regular basis.
We’re not going to forget about the other talented high school athletes in the region just because we wanted to tell a unique story in this one special section.
If you’ve had the opportunity to read the paper and/or our websites in recent weeks, you’ll have noticed that we are just as committed to the high level of coverage you’ve come to expect from our sports team.They are piling on the miles to get out to as many local live sporting events as we can manage, and still finding time to write a feature story or two along the way too.
I am biased, of course, but we are lucky to have the talents of Rubado and Leonardelli on our news team. Not every community paper has two sports writers of such talent. And I want to thank them for their commitment to featuring our area’s young athletes in print and online. If you ever get the chance to talk about local sports with these guys, you’ll be struck by how passionate they are about their jobs. Thank you Jared and Nick!
Finally, I need to also thank all of the advertisers who helped to sponsor this new “Highway 10 Hoops Preview” section. I say it a lot, but I do so because it’s true. We couldn’t publish such a unique special section without the support of the advertisers. And so from our team to you, thank you for allowing us to tell such a compelling local high school sports story this winter in our first-ever “Highway 10 Hoops!”
Devlyn Brooks is the publisher of the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Perham Focus and Wadena Pioneer Journal, and their associated websites. He can be reached at dbrooks@dlnewspapers.com or at 218-844-1451.
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