Charley Walters decided it’s time to stop going to bed every night with three telephones nearby.
The Pioneer Press sports columnist will end his full-time career of almost 39 years with the newspaper at the end of May. The demands of a 24-hour news cycle and desire to have more time for family and personal interests convinced Walters to step away from a career he thought about even as a kid growing up in Minneapolis.
“I just turned 67 and there are a lot of things Paula and I want to do,” he told Sports Headliners recently. “I love my career, and the St. Paul paper has been terrific to me. But I want to ride bicycles, go for hikes, read the 10 books I am only 20 to 30 pages into (and) visit my kids.
“We want to see all the national parks. We’ve done a lot of travel and want to do a lot more of that. I don’t have time with this column.”
Walters’ wife Paula is a Twin Cities pediatrician and is also retiring soon. The couple has three grown children, with two of them living out of state. The children are a priority for Walters and so too is 92-year-old mother Bertha Walters. “Paramount (to having more time) is being able to see mom in eldercare,” he said.
Walters has extensive contacts and his newsy notes column has been a must-read for Minnesota sports fans. Admirers will be happy to know the column won’t be completely disappearing. After he told newspaper bosses a couple of weeks ago he was retiring, they asked him to become a part-time employee and write Sunday columns. He agreed and that means continuing to make good use of 3,500 phone numbers accumulated during nearly four decades of journalism.
A journalism graduate from the University of Minnesota, Walters said his “proudest moment at the newspaper” came when he played a role in the Pioneer Press investigative reporting of the academic fraud scandal in the Gophers men’s basketball program. The newspaper’s lead reporter on the story, George Dorhmann, won a Pulitzer Prize but Walters got things started, although he still won’t say how he did it.
Knowing what’s going on in Minnesota sports has interested Walters since he was a kid delivering the Minneapolis Tribune at 5:30 a.m. His enthusiasm for news and competitiveness to find scoops is evident when he talks about his career. “Sometimes I will make a dozen phone calls just to get a one sentence item in the newspaper,” he said. “The best part (of the job) is people seem to enjoy it. It’s a lot of work but I have no problem filling space.”
Walters began his newspaper career after a few years of professional baseball. Included were several big league games pitching for the Twins in 1969. “There were only two things in my whole life I wanted to do,” Walters said. “One was to play major league baseball and the other was to be in the newspaper business. I’ve been able to do those things.”
Among his peers, Walters will be missed for more than newsy columns. He has never become caught up in self-importance. He greets friends with a secret handshake and is ready to tell or hear a good story. His humble personality is what you might expect from a guy who grew up in working class northeast Minneapolis.
“I don’t care for self-promoters,” Walters said. “I don’t think that gets you anywhere. I think your work gets it done.”
Worth Noting
Shattuck-St. Mary’s hockey coach Tom Ward has been following the Faribault prep school’s many alumni participating in the NHL playoffs. Among them are Wild forwards Erik Haula (2008-2009) and Zach Parise (2000-2002).
Ward is particularly close to Parise with the two talking and texting regularly. “We talk about hockey a lot,” Ward told Sports Headliners.
The Wild play the Avalanche tonight in Denver with their best of seven series tied at three games each. The Wild have struggled trying to shut down Nathan MacKinnon, the 18-year-old forward who is also a Shattuck-St. Mary’s alum. He has 10 points on eight assists and two goals in the series.
MacKinnon left Shattuck after his sophomore year so he never played for Ward, the varsity head coach. “He was always a fast, energetic player,” Ward said. “He’s really rounded out his game since he left here.”
Ward is proud of all his Shattuck-St. Mary’s alums who are in the playoffs. “They’re all humble, hard working guys. Team first guys,” Ward said.
Former North Stars general manager Lou Nanne said on KFAN Radio with Dan Barreiro last night if Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper has his best game of the series Minnesota will win.
Minnesota defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman will be drafted No. 16 in the first round by the Cowboys, according to Chris Burke’s NFL Mock Draft in the May 5 issue of Sports Illustrated. “His motor ran hot and cold for the Gophers,” Burke wrote. “When he’s on, though, few can disrupt the pocket like this 6’6” monster.”
Former Gophers linebacker Mike Rallis has signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and is training for his wrestling career in Florida.
Ex-Gophers defensive back and Jim Thorpe Award winner Tyrone Carter is promoting a football camp on Saturday and Sunday at Woodbury High School where scheduled instructors include former Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss. The Tyrone Carter Elite Training Schools Camp is for participants who are in the 8th thru 12th grades this school year.
Position-specific training is offered, and scheduled coaches include ex-Vikings David Dixon and Everett Lindsay, and former Gophers Phil Archer, Duane Bennett, Michael Carter, Ukee Dozier, Ron Johnson, Tellis Redmon and Darrell Reid. There is a registration discount code, “Elite.” More camp information at Tcelitetraining.com.
Congratulations to Mark Sheffert, former Gophers football walk-on, who is part of the 2014 Minnesota Business Hall of Fame class that will be honored by Twin Cities Business Magazine on July 23 at the Hilton Minneapolis. Sheffert is chairman and chief executive officer of Manchester Companies. He has over 40 years of business experience and was president at First Bank System (now US Bancorp).
It wouldn’t be surprising if former Timberwolves assistant coach Eric Musselman, who has also been an NBA head coach with two teams, has been in contact with Flip Saunders. Musselman resigned this spring as an assistant at Arizona State. His connection with Saunders, the Wolves president of basketball operations, dates back to when Eric’s father Bill Musselman was Gophers head coach and Flip was a Minnesota player. The Wolves are reviewing candidates to succeed Rick Adelman who resigned earlier this month.
Saint John’s head baseball coach Jerry Haugen increased his career win total to 702 last week with four victories. His record is 702-589-5 record (.543) in 37 seasons at Saint John’s.
The National Senior Games website says Minneapolis has been described as the “healthiest city in America” and refers to 22 city lakes and 6,000 acres of park land. The Games will be hosted by Bloomington, Minneapolis and St. Paul July 3-16 of next year. There are 19 sports involved and past competitors have been in their 90s and older.