Meet Mike Purdy

Hey everybody. In a career that began at age 16 as a sports freelancer at the Daily Standard in Celina, the path has led to The Blade.

While earning Bachelor of Science degrees in journalism and political science at Ball State University, experience was gained as a women’s volleyball, men’s golf and basketball and football reporter, as well as sports editor. There was a dalliance in public relations that only reinforced the desire to work in newspapers. Senior year was spent as the captain of the fraternity bicycling team. This brought with it an understanding of the effort needed to be a student-athlete.

The first real stop after graduation was at the Greensburg Daily News in Indiana as a one-person sports editor. The job provided the chance to write, edit, design pages, take and develop photos, and cover everything from area high schools to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Next was the Logansport Pharos-Tribune, also in Indiana, as the assistant sports editor, which meant getting to work on a Sunday section.

In 1987, a life-changing call led to heading to The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., as a sports designer/copy editor. Another major shift occurred a few months later when being on loan to the news desk led to a full-time position as a wire editor and stints in business, metro, and lifestyles, designing pages and editing copy.

A period was spent in charge of special sections, which was an education in how each department functions, from those selling ads and laying out the section to getting to know the crew running the presses. Thanks to the Gannett loaner program, there was a four-month span spent working for GNS (Gannett News Service) sports and living in Washington.

Another career shift occurred as an online producer, covering elections on Tuesday and the start of the high school football season on Friday during the same week. Unfortunately, staff cuts led to being dismissed after more than 20 years at The News-Press.

A trip back to the Midwest resulted in being hired as The Lima News sports content editor in 2013. Through the years, responsibilities grew, including supervising sports clerks and assigning freelance reporters and photographers which grew to a pool of around 20.

Today starts what hopefully will be the final stop of a newspaper career spanning six decades.

Outside of newspapers, interests include movies, finding cool mom-and-pop diners, and a love for University of Florida athletics. Go Gators!

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Mike’s email address is mpurdy@theblade.com, and he can reached on the City Desk line at 6050.