No. 153: RON HUNGERFORD / In a "Sweetness and Light Edition" of How to Succeed in Sportswriting, the story of a high-school coach who dedicated his career to helping others to succeed

After a deeply troubling doubleheader last week, your humble servant strains to introduce some emotional uplift in the SubStack

“YOU’RE writing about some pretty dark stuff,” said a valued subscriber to How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying). No denying that.

Yeah, last week I wrote about my conversations with Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach, and John Roby, for a couple of decades an usher at Maple Leaf Gardens. I interviewed the former when I was down at the Nittany Lions’ intrasquad game for a profile of Hamilton’s own Pete Giftopoulos in the spring of ’87; the latter I talked to casually dozens of times when I was waiting to get into the visiting team’s dressing room after morning skates in the mid-90s.

Both wound up jailed for sex crimes with young people. So, “dark” understates it.