I wrote my first story for The Capital Times on Dec. 7, 1980, my freshman year at UW-Madison. It was a bowling column as that was what I was hired to do, but it wasn’t long before I was covering high school sports and anything else offered to me.

By my sophomore year at UW-Madison, I was in the journalism school, earning my degree in 1985. I spent the 1980s working part time for The Capital Times, even some in off times when I was on the PBA Tour full time in 1987 and 1988.

After having reconstructive wrist surgery in 1989, and realizing my wrist would never handle the rigors of the Tour again, I returned to working part time at The Capital Times and ultimately was hired as full-time news reporter in 1990. Working in news instead of sports enabled me to spend most weekends bowling.

I worked through the advent of digital journalism, The Capital Times moving from daily to weekly publication, switched to the Lee Enterprises digital team, and then the Wisconsin State Journal as an online reporter/producer in 2019.

On Friday, after 45-plus years of working for the companies of Madison Newspapers/Capital Newspapers/Madison Media Matters, I am taking a buyout and turning in my laptop.

I turned 64 about a month ago and more than a year ago told WSJ editor Kelly Lecker that if we had any layoffs as I got closer to 65, I would take a buyout instead of seeing a younger colleague lose a job they needed.

The good news is new Lee owner David Hoffmann has been investing in the company and my departure is coinciding with the hiring of a new business reporter, something WSJ readers will benefit from.

It’s been a helluva ride, and I’ll miss being a small cog in one of the most important entities in Wisconsin, but it's time: My daily 3 a.m. alarm won't be missed!  

My 11thFrame.com subscribers don’t care much about most of that, but they should care about what it means for them: 11thFrame.com now becomes my priority, instead of No. 2 behind what I always called my “real” job.” And I intend to keep going full time with it until I turn 70 — health willing, of course.

My long-time girlfriend Susie and I coincidentally had scheduled a vacation to Vegas next week, and after Labor Day, I have a colonoscopy Sept. 8 and skin cancer surgery Sept. 9.

I’ll keep up with the news between now and Sept. 9 and will be doing some preparation work for some of the long list of feature stories I plan to then begin tackling.

Some will be quick turnarounds, while others are more involved. A couple will require extensive work that likely will amount to dozens of hours, but result in breaking huge news. 

Having just one job also will enable me to sub in a league or two this season and step up my gym time.

Susie and I have been through a lot in the past couple of years, but we’re slowly getting our lives and house in order, and my retirement from the paper will enable me to do more in that area.

Looking ahead to 2027, I’m hoping the PBA Tour schedule will fit with my schedule so that I can travel to a stop or two for in-person coverage. And I’m aiming to get to Ashwaubenon for at least part of the 2027 PWBA Tour Summer Series in June.