Covering the Spurs was a dream former journalism student Johnny Ludden made come true through his studies at San Antonio College.
"I knew I wanted to be a sports writer ever since I was a sophomore in high school," San Antonio Express-News reporter Johnny Ludden said Sept. 8, offering words of motivation to a group of journalism students at a Brown Bag lunch in Room 209 of Loftin Student Center.
Ludden is now in his ninth year covering the San Antonio Spurs for the Express-News, and he writes about 300 bylined stories each year.
"I've written for these guys so long that it becomes difficult," Ludden said. He occasionally finds himself plagiarizing from his own previous stories because of the number of Spurs articles he has written.
"This was my dream job as a kid. I grew up in San Antonio and always wanted to cover the Spurs," Ludden said. "I'm covering the most successful period in the Spurs franchise history."
After graduating from John Marshall High School, Ludden enrolled here from 1989 to 1991, earning first the sports editor position and then editor of The Ranger.
"Professors here helped me get my first job at the Express," Ludden said.
In 1991, he transferred to the University of Texas in Austin where he began writing for the student newspaper, The Daily Texan. He served as sports editor and managing editor there. In 1995, he won an internship at the Washington Post.
"When you start out, you always get these horrible assignments," Ludden said, telling the students about a feature story on synchronized diving that he had been assigned.
Ludden was eventually offered a newspaper design job at the St. Petersburg Times, but instead decided to work the design desk at the Washington Post.
Four or five months later, Ludden received a call from the Express-News and was asked to return to San Antonio to cover college football. Having prior knowledge that he would be assigned to cover the San Antonio Spurs after a couple of years, he accepted the position.
"I started covering the Spurs in the lockout season," Ludden said. He recalled his earlier meetings with Gregg Popovich, the head coach of the Spurs. "Pop could be pretty intimidating at first when I started covering the team."
Students were excited to hear about some of the many perks that a journalism career can offer, such as travel and celebrity acquaintances.
Because the Spurs have so many players from other countries, Ludden has had the chance to travel to Argentina, France and Italy.
Ludden notes there is a downside to so much travel.
"I spend about a third to half of my year in a hotel room."
Needless to say, a telephone conversation with Tony Parker is not at all uncommon for Ludden.
"When I'm on the road I can sit through everything," Ludden said, explaining how he gets more one-on-one time with Spurs team members during travel.
"If you cover an NFL team, you're probably only going to talk to the quarterback once a week," Ludden said.
After nine years, Ludden has had the opportunity to gain the team's trust, learning more about the team than is written in his stories. When asked to impart any juicy, off-the-record stories concerning the Spurs, he responded with humor.
"I always joke that I'm saving them for the book," Ludden said.
Story by Jonathan Munson, Newsgathering and writing 1 student
Susan A. Merkner has joined the journalism faculty.Merkner will teach Introduction to Mass Communications, Principles of Public Relations and Principles of Advertising as well as advise advertising for The Ranger.
A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a master's degree in journalism, Merkner has a solid background in reporting, editing and managing publications.
She worked with Prime Time Newspapers Inc. as executive editor where she supervised editorial functions for 10 weekly and monthly community newspapers and magazines, including staff employees and freelancers.
As editor/southern regional editor for United Parenting Publications, she planned and supervised all editorial functions for seven monthly parenting magazines in four states, including Our Kids San Antonio. She managed staff and freelancers; directed financial budget and helped plan national content.
She also worked at the San Antonio Express-News in various capacities.
Two former Ranger staffers are working on The Shorthorn, the newspaper at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Larissa Robinson (left), who served in several capacities on The Ranger, is a staff reporter for the third semester.
Alyssa Fry (right), who also served in a number of positions on The Ranger, is Scene editor. Scene is the arts and entertainment section of The Shorthorn.
Both students are journalism majors.
