Living the dream - for this month, anyway

By RANDY CAPPS

In the spring of 1993, I wanted to be Tom Cruise. Or, more specifically, his character from “Top Gun.”

But that all changed in a high school English class on the morning after Chris Webber’s infamous time out call in a national title game between Michigan and North Carolina. My teacher started the class with a freestyle writing assignment, during which we could write about anything we liked.

So, I wrote about Webber and the game I watched the night before. My teacher picked up my notebook, skimmed what I had written and said something like, “You should do this for a living.”

That fall, I started taking his advice. I covered my high school football team for the local paper, learning how to keep stats, conduct interviews and write copy. My classmates and teachers in the program became interview subjects, and I learned the basic skills that I’ve since spent almost 30 years sharpening.

It’s a long way from flying a F-14 Tomcat, but I still enjoyed the ride.

That’s why this month’s issue is special for me. I got to relive my formative years and cover high school football. Writing football previews in July is tough, and it wouldn’t have been possible with our area coaches and the folks at Johnston County Public Schools who put up with me pestering them about football in the middle of the summer.

I hope you enjoy reading about the Johnston County football teams as much as I enjoyed writing about them.