Lehigh Valley coaches organized a tribute to Morning Call sportswriters Paul Reinhard and Keith Groller at DeSales University on Sunday, as reported in the Morning Call (link).
The tribute is fitting; it’s occurred to this writer recently that Reinhard, who’s semi-retired, and 39-year veteran Groller are the last two links to the glory days of three-newspaper, all-out sports coverage.
The three daily papers have become two, and the Easton Express-Times doesn’t even cover the Division 1 program in its own town.
To be fair, that’s probably a smart business decision. Lafayette College may have the worst sports program in D1 and is showing no signs of trying to be better, but it’s an odd move all the same. Yet if the Lafayette community doesn’t care, there’s no reason to think anybody else does. A Division 3 program pretending to be D1 doesn’t deserve attention.
Reinhard does keep Lafayette coverage alive, while Groller focuses on high school sports but can cover just about anything.
The Bethlehem paper is long gone, leaving Allentown’s Morning Call to carry the weight for the region. Unlike the Express, it’s not burdened by any need to cover local New Jersey sports that nobody west of Easton cares about.
Local television and radio have some sports stalwarts too (Mike Zambelli, Matt Kerr, Gary Laubach and others), but on the print side, it’s Groller and Reinhard. Best wishes, gentlemen, and thank you.
