2009.07.16
Doug Doughty: 35 years at The Roanoke Times
We honored Doug Doughty, one of the top college sports beat writers in the country, on Wednesday to mark his 35th anniversary at The Roanoke Times.
Stats guy that he is, Doughty has to be thrilled to rank at the top of the newsroom's full-time tenure list. We gathered to share our favorite Doughty stories and to watch this video produced by Jordan Fifer.
Hired in 1974 to cover hockey, Doughty has covered University of Virginia athletics since 1978. Over the years, though, he's written about nearly every sport around and many other offbeat topics, including ferrets (watch the video to learn more).
He's won too many state and national awards to list and this year marked the 17th time he's taken either first or second place in our newsroom's annual Landmark Awards sports writing contest.
Doughty noted in a recent online column that he still has the same phone number as the day he started but that his desk has moved three times.
Doughty also pointed out that our Virginia Tech beat writer Randy King was working part-time as a high school senior when he was hired. King joined the paper full-time seven years later after graduating from Radford University and working for the Lynchburg newspaper.
-- Michael Stowe
Congratulations Doug! 35 years! That's quite an accomplishment. That says a lot about you and about the newspaper as well. I have always enjoyed reading your reporting and opinion. To your continued excellent success!!
Comment by doug robison — July 17, 2009 @ 8:58 am
you forgot to mention Doug's multi year fued with U Va coach Groh. To the distinct benefit to Hokie fans, Doug's resukting negative articles about his alma mater has cost U Va dearly in turning off potential football recruits.
Comment by Norm24 — November 4, 2009 @ 7:51 am