Robin Short
‘… This was a career that found me. I did not find it and I am very fortunate for that.’
Sports journalism was the career that found Robin Short, but he quickly made it his own, becoming one of the most respected and talented of his field in Canada.
“It’s a career I absolutely love — a career I still enjoy. I love writing. I love out talking to sports people,” said Short, the longtime Telegram sports editor and columnist.
“I love telling good stories. And I really, truly feel fortunate and blessed to have had this career. I take a certain amount of pride in that the three greatest events in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador sports — Alex Faulkner of Bishop’s Falls being the first Newfoundlander to play in the NHL during the 1961-62 hockey season; Brad Gushue’s team winning the gold medal at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics and Daniel Cleary , the first Newfoundlander and Labradorean winning the Stanley Cup — I feel quite blessed, privileged and honoured to be there for two of them.”
Short was only five months past his 16th birthday when he graduated high school and joined a friend going to trade school to study as a millwright. When he realized that career wasn’t for him, he went to Memorial University.
But his old softball coach Fred Jackson — then sports editor at The Evening Telegram as it was known back then — offered him a part-time job.
A voracious reader, Short had devoured sports magazines and tabloids, but wasn’t into writing growing up, although he excelled in English and spelling.
“Sometimes I speak to school groups various career days and I often tell the kids this was a career that found me. I did not find it and I am very fortunate for that,” Short said.
The job involved compiling sports scores for a daily roundup.
When a full-time position came up, Short said he was nervous but decided to give it a chance.
“And Freddy talked it over with the publisher at the time — Steve Herder — and they elected to give me a chance and that was way back in 1985,” he said.
His first writing assignment was to go down and cover the high school hockey championship at the old Memorial Stadium — back in an era when the Catholic-protestant rivalry was huge and the stands were packed.
In very early days, Short dug through the archives for clippings written by Telegram sports reporters such as Joe Walsh and Bernie Bennett and emulated the sports journalism format before coming into his own unique style.
Early years at The Telegram also gave Short another gift — it’s where he met his future wife, Kim, now a teacher and then a student working in the front office part-time while she attended Memorial University.
In 1991, Jackson moved over to news and then Telegram publisher Steve Herder called Short into his office and offered him the sports editor position.
Short said he was floored and flattered because he’d only been on the job five or six years and after some thought decided to take on the challenge.
Sports writing has changed over the years from the onetime habit of reporting on goals scored, and the play-by-play of the game.
But with technology making that information instantly available to all, journalists are on the hunt for the back stories and other fascinating tales.
The Telegram is the only mainstream media outlet in Newfoundland and Labrador with a full-time sports department.
“We receive a lot of feedback on our coverage. Some of it good. A lot of it not so good. When people complain I look at it as this: No. 1, I want to hear what people are saying. If they are complaining, the fact they take the time to pick up the phone or send me an email to complain about something that is not in the paper, it shows they care.”
He was tempted to leave when the Montreal Gazette was looking for someone to report on the Montreal Expos.
Short said he was encouraged by then publisher Miller Ayre and was to have been flown to Montreal for a face-to-face interview after his initial phone interview, but they went with someone whose work they had already been using.
“And looking back on it now, thankfully I didn’t get it because the Expos only lasted a couple years after that,” Short said.