By Mandy Feder
We sit with our backs to each other day after day. Once in awhile we talk or share a laugh. He hides my keys or my purse and shoots rubber bands at me regularly.
It”s an odd relationship to have five days a week for eight, 10, sometimes even 12 hours a day.
But he”s one of my favorite people.
We understand each other and I scarcely recall a time when I didn”t know him or his beautiful family. Our children know and adore each other and his wife sends homemade dinner for us to share.
His craft appears on people”s walls, scrapbooks and photo albums, as it has for the last 26 years in Lake County.
Record-Bee Sports Editor Brian Sumpter knows every coach and every athlete he has written about or dealt with in more than a quarter of a century.
He checks and double-checks names and stats. I haven”t seen a sports section focused on local athletics this comprehensive anywhere else.
He created the Lake County Hoop Classic for Lake County”s high school basketball program along with Middletown”s Bill Foltmer.
He helped start the Record-Bee/Brunos Bass Tournament in 1987 with Record-Bee Outdoors Writer Terry Knight.
I am reasonably confident, any Lake County youth who was named “Athlete of the Year,” by Sumpter, was honored and remembers the feeling of pride.
The amount of time, energy and creativity he spends behind the scenes is phenomenal.
He was telling me the other day, the first project he did 26 years ago this week, was to create the Fall Sports section.
Having worked with him for a few years, I know not to talk to him during this time of year, unless, of course he talks to me first. He writes more than 20 articles, talks to new coaches, takes photos, gathers rosters and designs pages.
When Brian”s on vacation or ill, I make a feeble attempt to fill his shoes. It”s nearly impossible. His phone rings all the time and coaches know, Brian knows exactly what he”s doing.
He”s got it down to an art. Some of my most challenging days in the newspaper industry have been Brian”s vacation days.
Some people know him only as a sports guy. He”s a real history buff also. He was a history major in college.
When the Vietnam Moving Wall came to Lake County, I joined Brian at the Lakeport Library and we found all the archived articles about Lake County service people who might be on the wall.
Sumpter ran with it and created a special edition keepsake paper. It was amazing.
He did all of this without being asked or told and the finished product was respectful, accurate and beautiful. He asked for nothing in return for all of his extra work.
As I gush forth with these compliments, I can almost see his eyes roll back in his head and provide a sarcastic reply.
He does not take compliments well. Too bad B, you”re getting some anyway.
Today Brian celebrates his 26th year at the paper.
Congratulations Brian. You are one-of-kind, an MVP and a pleasure to work with.
Mandy Feder is the Record-Bee managing editor. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or 263-5636 Ext. 32.
