Up until about a month ago, Lawton wasn't even on my radar.
I applied far (geographically) and wide (based on my skillset) for work, even posting my résumé on job boards in hopes someone would notice me. Luckily, my ingenuity and experience fielded me many offers, but none of them quite tickled my fancy.
However, with college graduation quickly approaching, I narrowed my choices and felt close to making arguably the biggest decision of my life (other than proposing to my fiancée, of course).
I was covering an Oklahoma State University baseball game in Stillwater in mid-April when I received an email from Joey Goodman, the sports editor at The Lawton Constitution.
He'd come across my credentials on the Oklahoma Press Association website and wanted to gage my interest in an opening on the sports staff.
I didn't know anything about The Constitution. Heck, I barely knew anything about the city itself. I was prepared to settle on an offer from another newspaper in the state, but something told me to wait a little longer before deciding my destiny.
Two days after that email, I spoke with Goodman on the phone for 45 minutes, but it took him less than five to sell me on everything the city and the newspaper had to offer. I guess the best things in life are the unexpected surprises.
I was ecstatic about the opportunity, and I accepted the offer less than two weeks later after a lunch outing with Goodman and Tyler Palmateer.
Now that you know how I got here, allow me to introduce myself.
I am fresh out of OSU, where I graduated with a degree in sports media earlier this month. During my time there, I gained experience working for several media outlets, which allowed me to cover everything from high school cross-country meets to the NBA playoffs.
Before I became a "loyal and true" Cowboy, I grew up in Oklahoma City as a kid who loved to play and consume sports by any means necessary. I could spout off scores and statistics on a whim.
I played football from the age of 8 until my sophomore year at Carl Albert High School before deciding to switch my focus to cross-country in preparation for track season.
I was on the sideline during the Titans' 51-19 massacre of Lawton MacArthur in the 2009 playoffs, but I was only a wide-eyed freshman benchwarmer back then. Coincidentally, I'll be covering the Highlanders this season, so I hope those of you who support the team don't hold that history nugget against me.
Like many young sports fans, skipping to the sports section of the newspaper was a daily routine for me, but I didn't always strive to become a sports writer. My first job aspiration was to be a criminal profiler, thanks in large part to the show Criminal Minds. I didn't discover my true calling until high school.
Naturally, the track and field teams at Carl Albert rarely received coverage from the school or city media. Feeling undervalued, I decided to join the newspaper staff to give the "minor" sports the recognition I felt they deserved.
Little did I know it would turn into my life's passion.
I entered the professional newspaper business my senior year of high school with EastWord News in Midwest City in November 2012. My first assignment was detailing my experience in the Ultimate Mud Warrior 5K run in Oklahoma City, and shortly thereafter, I became the Oklahoma City Thunder beat writer for the online magazine ionOklahoma.
VYPE High School Sports Magazine and OklahomaSports.Net are other notable outlets I've had the privilege to work with since then. My most recent gig was with the Stillwater News Press, covering mainly high school sports and occasionally OSU athletics.
My goal with The Constitution is to provide complete and fair coverage of the Lawton sports scene, as well as the neighboring communities. One thing you'll surely learn about me is my dedication; it doesn't take much to get me excited for work every day.
I once voluntarily made an eight-hour roundtrip journey to cover only one runner in the Oklahoma–Arkansas Cross-Country Duel, a race that lasted less than 19 minutes.
Remember that heartbreaking 20-19 loss Hollis suffered against Morrison in the quarterfinals last football season? I made the 241-mile trek from Stillwater to cover that game for the News Press (an elk ran alongside my car down State Highway 30, which was terrifying). I didn't get home until 4 the next morning.
If you're an athlete or a coach reading this, your accomplishments won't go unnoticed. You have a story to tell, and I'll be there with a recorder and a camera to capture it all.
If you're a parent, I hope to provide many newspaper clippings of your youngster(s) for the refrigerator or scrapbook that you can look back on years from now.
The fall sports season is nearing, so if you see me in the press box on a Friday night or camped out in the stands for a softball doubleheader, don't hesitate to say hi.
I might be live-tweeting or writing a quick recap to make deadline, but it'd be a pleasure to meet the friendly people of my new home.