Rookie of the Year

When Washington Post sports reporter Brad Parks'96 received his acceptance letter from Dartmouth in 1992, he was sure his high school hobby of sports writing would cease. After all, Parks recalls thinking,"Why would anyone want to waste an Ivy League education on becoming a sportswriter?"

By the end of his sophomore year, however, Parks had.changed his mind. Known throughout campus for his witty sports columns in TheDartmouth, Parks was also beginning to string sports stories for The NewYork Times and The Boston Globe. In 1994 he left The D to launch a popular new campus paper devoted entirely to.sports, The Sports Weekly.

Upon graduating Parks had only two days free before reporting to his new job as sports intern at The WashingtPost. There his writing impressed the editors so much that by the end of the summer Parks was flying around the country, alone, to cover national events and icons such as World Series playoffs and Tiger Woods. That is also when the Post decided to expand its coverage of local high school sports and to hire Parks, age 22, as their youngest fall-time reporter.

As a newwriter om a newly created position, Parks has been paving his own way with each assignment." In some ways it is the toughes job in the entire sports section because you have no one else helping you,"he says of his high school beat. "There's no instant replay, no press helpers, and I have to keep my own stats."

But the job's rewards have come in various ways. "It's really a community experience," Parks says. "You know not only the players, but also their parents, the principal, and their math teacher." Plus, working as the sole high-school sports reporter has given Parks an inside lead to articles no one else has written, like his feature on the 285-pound wrestler who has a passion for playing the piccolo, flute, and six other instruments.

The job has also given Parks something he never had at college: free time. He's picked up running and is training for his first marathon this spring at Big Sur, California. The question is, who will be covering him?

BradParks'96