Rich McGowan
My name is Rich McGowan and I’ve spent a decade as a sports reporter covering prep athletics for various newspapers, including a two-year stretch at Fremont’s own News-Messenger. I have come to believe there is a better way to provide readers with what they crave: In-depth sports journalism about the school and teams they care most about. That is what the RSR is. A home for all things Fremont Ross athletics delivered by an experienced, award-winning sports journalist. A professional.
My career began as a student at Grand Valley State University just as the Lakers were becoming a Division II powerhouse in football. I covered national championship games for the GVSU student newspaper in football and women’s basketball. I interned nearby at The Holland Sentinel and from there covered Hope College men’s basketball for The Grand Rapids Press. I got my first full-time job as the sports editor of The Hillsdale Daily News, in Hillsdale, Michigan where I spent 18 months before heading to the deep south. I was the high school sports reporter for the Savannah Morning News in Savannah, Georgia for three years.
After moving back up north, I started at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot/mlive.com in Jackson, Michigan where I remained until arriving at The News-Messenger in July, 2014. I left the N-M in March of 2016, realizing that the newspaper industry was no longer one I wanted to work in, having seen too many friends let go and too many resources stripped away.
Through all of my stops, I have prided myself by the fact I left my sports department better than I found it. I believe in objectivity. I do not, and will not, root for or against a team, an athlete or a school. If I root for anything, it’s for the best possible story because, at my core, I am a storyteller. That’s what I like to do best and what I’ve had the most success doing. That is what I intend to do here at the RSR. Tell the stories of Fremont Ross. It’s athletes, its teams, its coaches – maybe even its fans.
My family, daughter, Natalie, wife, Kat, and son, Jack.
Personally, I am a native of Cadillac, Michigan and have lived in Ohio since relocating here from Georgia in Aug., 2010. I love hockey, am a long-suffering Detroit Lions fan and consider myself something of a fantasy football guru. I am married to a wonderful woman, Kat, and have two very active kids, Jack and Natalie, who you will probably see with me at some games, and an English bulldog, Daphne, who will stay home.
I am excited to begin this venture and sincerely hope you’ll join me.