One of Alaska's best sportswriters, longtime Fairbanks Daily-News editor, calls it a career

One of Alaska’s best sportswriters has checked in his notebook in favor of a deadline night-free future. After more than 33 years at his desk, longtime Fairbanks Daily News-Miner sports editor Bob Eley has proofed his final page, typed his last grueling load of agate and penned his final words for the Interior daily.

Bob stood at the top of the class in our fraternity of Alaska sportswriters, a legend in this state known for his wit, or his place in the Fairbanks Hockey Hall of Fame or his spot in his favorite watering hole, the infamous Big I in Fairbanks.

Alaska offers sportswriters an unparalleled experience. Where else can you cover everything from high school sports to Division I athletics to world-class dog mushing and Eskimo games to curling?

I’ve known Bob since my freshman year at UAF. As I graduated from games assistant grunt to UAF Sports Information director, I formed great friendships with Bob and his staffers. And when I decided to leave that world and take a stab at the full-time newspaper biz, Bob was more than happy to hook me up with freelance gigs here and there.

In recent years, Bob has helped me — and the Frontiersman — out tremendously, throwing us stories about our local teams’ playing in Fairbanks or urging one of the News–Miner photographers to hook us up with art.

I owe Bob more than a few beverages at the Big I.

Alaska is not rich with newspapers, but can boast a wealth of sportswriters that I’ve looked up to and Bob is at the top of the list.

I’ve always admired Bob’s drive to cram as much local news into his section as humanly possible. With Division I and Division II sports at UAF, Fairbanks Ice Dogs Junior A hockey and about a half-dozen high schools, Bob and his crew had more than enough to cover. But they did it.

I’ve always strived to meet those standards.

And Bob managed to do all of that without actually driving. Bob never drives. Vision problems prevent that, tut that never kept Bob from covering games. He’d catch a ride to and from games or he’d put on his parka and hoof it.

The newspaper business is changing by the minute. We’re trapped between eras as new ways to deliver information to readers continues to evolve.

There’s also been great change in those delivering the news. Alaska’s list of longtime sportswriters has quickly dwindled in recent years. There aren’t many of us left.

This month marks the start of my 12th year as Frontiersman sports editor. Sometimes I can’t believe it’s been 12 years.

But that’s just more than a third of the time Bob spent at his News-Miner desk.

Although the News-Miner is a daily paper that includes national wire coverage, Bob’s focus was always on the local. Even when his staff shrank, the sports pages of the News-Miner were still loaded with local sports — everything from youth scores to dog mushing to UAF hockey.

The Frontiersman is not here to provide our readers with the latest about the Yankees, Heat or Patriots. We’re not a national paper. It’s here to give our readers as much as we can about local schools, sports, teams and athletes.

That, I’ve learned from the best.

Cheers, Bob.