Jun. 25—For many years, when I was on assignment for Bangor Daily News Sports and was asked how I was doing, my response was simple.
"It beats working," I would often say.
Looking back, it was truly a gift being able to enjoy my job as a sports reporter that much.
Sure, there were difficult assignments involving sensitive or controversial subject matter. There were some challenging times: baking in the sun at an all-day high school outdoor track championship meet, the wonderful grind of basketball tourney week and grueling days covering the Oxford 250.
There were pressure-packed deadlines where there wasn't time to do a story justice, like the night the leaking Bangor Auditorium roof delayed the basketball tournament games. I think I left the Dexter-Rockland boys game at Bangor Auditorium at 12:24 a.m. and I don't even remember what I wrote. But I had about 25 minutes to do it.
The job was nights — 4 p.m. to midnight, give or take — and lots of weekends spent in the gym, at the stadium, around the diamond, near the pool, at the track and numerous other places.
I have been privileged as a sportswriter and editor at the BDN to meet some wonderful people. Some were amazing athletes, others dedicated coaches. There have been impactful athletics directors, selfless game officials and exuberant fans.
It has been an amazing ride.
After more than 40 years highlighting the accomplishments of the myriad people involved in Maine sports, it's time to turn out the arena lights and head outdoors.
Recently, I was blessed to be named the BDN's Outdoors Editor. I am a lifelong fisherman and an avid hunter who never feels more alive than when out enjoying God's wondrous creation.
Working outdoors gives me the chance to immerse myself in those activities and to share the experiences of other enthusiasts who live, work and play in the woods and on the waters of Maine.
Perhaps most importantly, I will have the honor and opportunity to share their stories and my experiences with you.
Rather than sitting at a desk (or for the last 14 months, on my couch) and editing other writers' work, I'll be telling some tales of my own.
As a BDN sportswriter, I have seen and written about some incredible moments in Maine sports history:
— The emergence of Cindy Blodgett as the state's most influential sports figure of the 20th century.
— The UMaine women's basketball team's NCAA tournament victory over Stanford.
— The UMaine football team's win at Mississippi State.
— Joe Campbell's buzzer-beating putback to lift Bangor past Deering in the Class A boys basketball state title game at the Bangor Auditorium.
— The "Miracle Minute" turned in by Ellsworth's Tim Scott in the Eastern Maine Class B basketball tournament.
— The five-overtime Bangor-South Portland boys basketball championship game.
— UMaine's triple-overtime national semifinal victory over Michigan in the Frozen Four in Providence.
— John Cornett's game-winning kickoff return in a playoff game against Messalonskee.
The events are memorable, but it's the people who make the experience special. It is impossible to try listing all of the folks with whom I have interacted. Just know that I appreciate each and every one of you for your help, cooperation and candor.
I am indebted to all of the coaches and athletes who, win or lose, took the time for an interview and shared your thoughts. And our job would be impossible without the efforts of the college sports information directors, who tirelessly served as the conduit to student-athletes and coaches.
It is bittersweet to cut ties with BDN Sports after all this time. I got my foot in the door during the 1977-78 basketball season. My dad, Bill Warner, was an assistant sports editor at the time and asked if I wanted to make a few bucks answering phones on busy basketball nights.
I returned in December 1979, my senior year at Bangor High, and never looked back. Not that I intended to make a career of it initially. I gradually earned my ups, going from clerk, to part-time reporter, to full-time reporter, then assistant editor and, finally, digital sports editor.
This week, for the first time since 1958, there isn't someone named Warner in the department. My dad, who died in 1994, was there for 36 years, and my sons Will and Paul both did stints as clerks before heading off to college.
It would not have been such a fun and fulfilling experience without sharing it with so many incredible friends and talented journalists. We were united by our love of sports and our desire to make a difference with our work and we are forever inextricably linked.
The ageless Larry Mahoney and I worked together the entire time. He also served as my fifth-grade flag football coach. My editing mentor, Joe McLaughlin, came on board in 1984 at about the same time I was hired full time.
Over the years, the staff has included Ernie Clark, the late Michelle Pelletier, Jim Goodness, Ryan McLaughlin, Dave Barber and John Holyoke. Reaching back a bit further, Alex Barber, Jessica Bloch, Andrew Neff, Don Perryman, Joni Averill, Bob Haskell, Katrina Veeder, John Nash, Deirdre Fleming, Mike Dowd, Bruce Hunter and the late George Cushman were among the mainstays.
I also owe a debt of gratitude to former BDN editors Owen Osborne and Bud Leavitt, who were among my earliest supporters all those years ago.
Thanks, too, to all the hardworking high school and college students who made their way through the department, handling the heavy load of scores, game reports and agate submissions that made all of our jobs so much easier.
We all share an unbreakable bond and the memories of our time working together help me appreciate how fortunate I have been to share such great company.
Kudos also to the entire BDN newsroom staff and administration over the years for helping maintain a culture of journalistic excellence and a supportive work environment. That includes the current print crew made up of Joe McLaughlin, Jim Emple, Becky Bowden, Linda Kamp-Davis and Travis Gass, who are integral parts of the operation.
And I would be remiss not to acknowledge publisher Rick Warren, a kind, quiet, caring man whose family has helped make the BDN Maine's definitive media source.
Above all, thank you to my wife Annia, who has supported me throughout the journey, in spite of its many challenges, and endured her share of inconveniences so I could do the job I loved.
I know, this sounds a bit like a retirement farewell. Fortunately, that is not the case (perhaps we can repurpose this piece when that day arrives).
Stepping away from sports reminds me somehow of walking out of the storied Bangor Auditorium after the final high school basketball championship game. I know I'm not going back, and things will never be the same, but I realize that the games, the athletes, the coaches, the officials and the fans will be out there, somewhere, doing what they have always done.
I look forward to following Maine and UMaine sports as a fan, rather than as a journalist. But I'll miss some of the perks.
For the last 40 years, I usually had the best seat in the house and got into the games for free. Even so, I'm sure the view from the stands is going to be equally compelling and worth the price of admission.