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Longtime sportswriter, editor Ernie Salvatore honored at benefit
Ernie Salvatore is applauded as he enters the cocktail party during a special tribute to the longtime sportswriter and editor on Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, in the Memorial Student Center at Marshall University.
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HUNTINGTON -- After almost 60 years of covering sports in the Tri-State, Ernie Salvatore, retired sports editor of The Herald-Dispatch, was honored Friday night at the Marshall Memorial Student Center, the proceeds of which will benefit future sports journalists.
It will be primarily used to provide for a permanently endowed scholarship for sports journalists in Salvatore's name at Marshall University. But a portion will also be donated to the Comfort House at Salvatore's request.
Gov. Joe Manchin, friends and former colleagues spoke at the event and shared stories about the legendary sports writer. Manchin, a former high school and West Virginia University football player, said when traveling south for games it was important to "catch Ernie's eye" so you could be featured in one of his stories.
Over time, Manchin said, Salvatore became a staple for West Virginia sports fans.
"Ernie raised a generation of sports readers," Manchin said. "You would go to the paper and look for Ernie."
Following his speech, Manchin awarded Salvatore, 86, the Distinguished West Virginian Award, the highest award from the state a resident can receive. The award is given to West Virginians who have contributed significantly to the state or other West Virginians. Manchin's tribute was followed by a series of speakers who noted the many ways Salvatore had touched their lives.
Former Marshall football coach Jack Lenygel sent his well wishes through a video recording that was played for the audience of about 350. Lenygel, who coached the "Young Thundering Herd" in the wake the tragic 1970 plane crash, thanked Salvatore for his support in rebuilding the foundation of the school football program.
Huntington golfing great Bill Campbell, who is currently traveling in Scotland, also congratulated Salvatore in a video message taped before his trip, thanking him for his hard work and friendship.
Sports author Lou Sahadi, who worked at Huntington newspapers early in his career, thanked Salvatore for helping to give him his start in a career that today includes more than 20 books. Cabell County Assessor Ottie Adkins noted how Salvatore had championed the Golden Gloves boxing competition in Huntington that provided great opportunities for him as a young man.
Theresa Salvatore Stephens, one Salvatore's five children who attended the dinner, gave a heartfelt look into the sportswriters family life and his appreciation of his Italian heritage. Don Hatfield, retired newspaper editor and publisher, described Salvatore's passion for writing and getting behind the news by telling the stories of the people involved.
"I'm overwhelmed," Salvatore said as he thanked all the speakers and audience for the praise. "I wish I was 20 years younger, so I could start all over."
He noted that an eye condition had made the last year a difficult one, because he could not write for the newspaper, but said that he hoped he would soon be able to produce "a few more columns."
Tom Miller, a protege of Salvatore's, said the scholarship not only recognizes Salvatore's work to further sports coverage in the Tri-State but is also preparing a new crop of reporters for a career in sports journalism. Hopefully, Miller said, scholarship recipients will have many of the characteristics that Salvatore had during his almost 60 years writing for the newspaper.
One of the most important, Miller said, is the ability to work well with people in the sports community and form professional relationships but still write objectively.
"Ernie was not a cheerleader," he said. "Cheerleaders would never write anything bad about a team. But if a team played bad, he wrote that they played poorly."
Salvatore shared some of the wisdom he picked up during his long career as a sports reporter and editor in Huntington. Many of the things he learned will hopefully be embraced by the scholarship recipients, he said.
"You have to be responsible for knowing what's going on in the coverage area," Salvatore said. "You have to know what makes news and you can't be timid."
Rick McCann, current sports editor for The Herald-Dispatch, said he's learned plenty of things from Salvatore during his tenure at the newspaper. His door, McCann said, was always open.
"Many, many times I went in (to his office) for some advice or just to talk sports," McCann said. "Ernie was always a great mentor."
