Thank you, Tom Gaffney

Miscellaneous

Tom Gaffney will retire on Nov. 30 after 26 years at the Akron Beacon Journal.

Gaffney has covered the Zips for the past seven years, and he "loved every minute of it."

Gaffney began his career at his hometown paper, the Buffalo Courier-Express, which closed down after being in business than 130 years. That brought the St. Bonaventure graduate to Ohio, where he spent a large portion of his career on the golf beat (20 years), high school beat (nine years), Ohio State beat (three years), writing on general assignment (five years) and serving on the copy desk (two years).

I don't think you'll find a more professional person than Tom. He's been a pleasure to work beside for seven years, as we have both covered the Zips for the same news organization. He has talked about retirement for several years, but now that it's actually going to happen, it will be hard to adjust to reading about the Zips without his voice in the paper.

You have probably noticed that Tom writes from a style that incorporates fans' opinion. It has served the newspaper well, as more fans can identify with the Beacon Journal's sports page.

If you get a chance, shoot Tom an e-mail (tgaffney@thebeaconjournal.com) and thank him for his coverage of the Zips.