Editor’s note: This is the first part of Meet the Tribune, a series of columns designed to help you get to know our staff better. The series will run on Sunday and Wednesday until we are fully edited.
As sports TV cameraman Jim Nanz says, “Hello, friends.”
Although, if you get acquainted with our sports section, there is a very good chance that you know who I am.
It is an anniversary since I moved to Colombia, and I have grown up in so many ways since I moved from the West.
I can barely recognize what I first put on paper as a sophomore at Bradley University in 2013, who went through so many trials and tests with a degree from Northwestern University, covering the Olympics, moving to Mississippi and Utah, and finally coming to Missouri.
Here’s a little more about me:
Why did you do journalism?
Initially, I wanted to be a sports operator. The idea of talking about sports for fans on a large scale attracted me because I grew up listening to the Chicago Bears on WBBM radio on Sunday with my father.
When I went to college, that desire faded. Not because of a lack of ambition, but because a friend from Bradley made me write for the student newspaper The Bradley Scout. I found it more enjoyable to write about sports than to talk about them. I liked choosing my words instead of making them up on the go.
This led me to a career that took me from one end of the country to the other and abroad.
Favorite thing about Colombia?
I love a good walk. This is part of my writing process when I have a good story that I want to organize in my head.
Colombia is the perfect place for that.
I can go in any direction and get coffee, which is the second most important part of my writing process. There’s a good chance the baristas around town came from me.
Favorite moment at work?
I woke up at 6 am on March 22 hoping for the best, but I was expecting the worst.
Dennis Gates was rumored to be the next head coach for men’s basketball in Missouri, and the curators’ UM System Board meeting was scheduled for 7 p.m. He had to be approved by 8 a.m. or my Zoom interview with Florida head coach Leonard Hamilton (former Gates boss) couldn’t happen.
Everything worked. Gates became the next head coach at MU. Our staff covered it from every corner just as I had planned. I started my day at 6 am and finished it at 6 pm, ending the day with dinner with a visiting father who was in town.
This was my favorite day. So far so good. This is the second year.
Favorite story you’ve ever written?
This goes back to my last stop.
As a sports reporter for The Spectrum & Daily News in St. George, Utah, I would cover the all-day IRONMAN Triathlon. In 2021, the race ended in a fatal outcome. There were almost two.
I wrote about how Bruce Paddy died at the triathlon bike race, only to be revived by his fellow racers. I talked to these athletes and told Paddy’s story on the phone about how these athletes applied CPR and found his pulse in a few minutes.
I will never forget the stunned silence. “What are you going to say?” he asked me.
This story was honored by sports editors at the Associated Press last spring.
Favorite hobby outside the office?
In another life I am a chef.
Seriously, I told my mother that I would become a chef when I was 10 years old.
I still spend time all week planning specific meals. I start on Tuesday, find inspiration and buy the necessary ingredients by Sunday. It’s a hobby that takes my focus away from everything else that happens and puts it on dinner. After all, there’s nothing worse than confusing Sunday dinner.
Chris Quietzinsky is the sports editor of the Columbia Daily Tribune, overseeing the sports coverage of the University of Missouri and Boone County. Follow him on Twitter @OchoK_ and contact him at [email protected] or 573-815-1857.