In 1990, I was a young reporter who was looking forward a new job at the Radford News Journal. I had never set foot in the Grove Avenue building, but when I walked in two ladies greeted me with open arms. One of those was Bonne Hedge, a woman who controlled what appeared in the paper more than any of us writers.
Hedge was what we called a “composing person.” She would typically run our copy off and then wax it on a hot glue machine. She would then masterly place it onto the paper and do the same with photographs that came from the dark room.
One of the biggest things she would do is read the stories to make sure they made sense and yes, she would catch the most un-common spelling mistakes. I would call her a lifesaver for reporters back then who didn’t have spell check like now-a-days.
She passed away earlier this week at the age of 70. So, I would like to take a moment to step away from the sports world to remember Bonnie.
Heaven gained another great composing person. Thanks for all your help in those early years.
Congratulations to Christiansburg Late Model Stock car driver Derrick Lancaster who took the checkered flag last week at the Kingsport Speedway.
The United Soccer League’s newest edition in El Paso, Texas, has a NRV connection as Andrew Forest has been hired as general manager of the new team. He is the brother of Cumulus Media in Radford’s Jamie Forest, who I have had the opportunity to work with over the past two years as the voice of the Christiansburg High School football team.
Forrest comes to El Paso from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he was most recently employed as general manager for Learfield Sports. Prior to that, he worked for the San Antonio Scorpions Professional Soccer Team as Director of Sponsorship and then as Vice President and Assistant General Manager.
He held previous positions with Playbook Management International, as Senior Account Executive with the San Antonio Scorpions and as Consultant with FC Edmonton and in the cities of Baltimore and Dallas. He is a graduate of Roanoke College and earned an M.S. in Kinesiology – Sport Leadership from James Madison.
