E. Joe Brown

Apr 29, 2025 by E. Joe Brown

     I've used this blog primarily to discuss my Kelly Can Saga Series. But this time, I thought it would be good for me to share with everyone that I was a writer many years ago. I wrote about this experience in a short story/memoir called "Being Adrift." This blog is not the whole story, but you get an edited version. Some of you may have already picked this story off my website, but for those who haven't, here goes.
       It was January 1968, in Cushing, Oklahoma, and I had decided not to return to Oklahoma State University for the spring semester. I had returned my scholarship, knowing I wasn't going to complete a degree in petroleum engineering, but I also knew I didn't have a clue about what major I would select to work toward. You could say I was adrift.

     My father came home at the end of his workday and found me watching television in the living room, and said, "Joe, do you remember Terry Hoggatt? He worked for me a few years ago and has been in the Army for the last two years. He's been back now for several months and has become the managing editor at the newspaper. Mrs. Lauchenmeyer, the longtime publisher, is backing away from running the Citizen (Cushing Daily Citizen), and Terry is moving into that
role. He was the main person working on sports for the paper. I told him you're not returning to OSU this semester, and he wants to talk to you about coming to work for the newspaper on the sports desk for him.”

     “Are you kiddin’ me, Dad?”

     “No, he knows you love and played sports, and that you know many of the coaches and players at the high schools around here. Do you want to work for the paper, or not?”

     "Terry said to come to his office in the morning at 9:00, and you'll talk then."

     That's just about how it all started. I know I'm a published writer of short stories, memoirs, and several novels now, but I was paid to be a full-time journalist for a year. 

     I mainly covered elementary through high school sports in Cushing, Drumright, Yale, Perkins, and Ripley in Payne County, Oklahoma. Terry taught me to use a Yashica D camera and to develop and print my pictures.

     My byline was Joe Brown, Sports Editor, Cushing Daily Citizen. I loved that job. I went back to college in January 1969, following a very tough decision to leave Cushing and that job at the newspaper. Here’s a little of what happened that year and how it impacts me today:

     - Butch Owens – All-State in football from Cushing
     - Jon and Don Tuttle – All-State in basketball from Cushing
     - Covered Sports Car Club of America Trans Am race series – Warbonnet Raceway
     - Built relationships with coaches, which led to my wanting to become a coach
     - Built relationships with the auto racing community, and I raced MG sports cars
     - I learned how to make hard decisions and follow through with focus and effort
Happy Trails,
Joe

You can read more about the memoir, "Being Adrift: My Year as a Sports Writer," here.

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