3 days Ago By Jamey Malcomb
DULUTH — He didn’t mean to make me cry — he really didn’t — but there I was softly sobbing on a bench alone in the Denfeld coaches' office at the Heritage Center. I had just finished talking with Hunters coach Dale Jago after a disappointing loss to Duluth East in the Section 7AA quarterfinal . I was still writing something in my notebook and Jago needed to get going, so he asked me to pull the office door closed when I was done.
ADVERTISEMENT Then — almost as an afterthought — he reached up and tossed me a Denfeld hockey hat. “Hey, give that to your dad and tell him we’re thinking about him,” he said. I was overwhelmed and for a few minutes I just couldn’t stop the tears.
The year 2023 was difficult for my family and me. My dad’s been in poor health for a long time, but last year it really turned into something different. After a biopsy in June to confirm the prostate cancer that continues to grow inside him, he never bounced back.
He was already suffering from some dementia and mobility issues related to diabetes, but since the procedure that summer, he’s been confined to a hospital bed in my parents’ living room. With a little modern technology and some flexibility on the part of my editor, I’ve been able to spend some time with him while also doing some work, especially last fall while getting our hockey preview ready. I ended up chatting with Jago about the Hunters’ upcoming season — their first competing at the Class AA level — and during the conversation it came up that I was working from my parents’ house in North Carolina.
ADVERTISEMENT He asked why and I told him that my dad was struggling with his health and I just wanted to be able to spend as much time as I could with them before hockey season got going. During the hockey season, I see most of the local coaches every couple of weeks, and regularly Jago asked how Dad was doing. Unfortunately, I always had to respond with some version of “Hey, coach, thanks for asking.
He’s about the same.” I don’t make it a secret, I love my job. I enjoy being around the competition of sports, I like working with kids and — for the most part — I get to tell fun, positive stories.
Honestly, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but I’ve always told good stories. I think part of the reason why I tell good stories is that my daddy could spin a good story. He wasn’t a writer, but he knew the notes to hit to make it funny, make it dramatic or just plain exciting.
I didn’t really start writing seriously until I was in my late 30s and I was 44 when I started writing sports full-time. While I feel like I’ve improved over the years, Dad’s probably only read a handful of my earliest stories. The things I’m most proud of, my dad hasn’t even looked at — nor would he understand if he did.
That’s one of the reasons the tears started. ADVERTISEMENT Probably the single reason I love sports like I do is my dad. When I was a kid, four or five Saturdays a fall we’d pack up and drive down to Clemson to watch the Tigers play.
It’s certainly why I wear so much orange and purple and I don’t think Dad has left the house without wearing orange in the 21st century. It’s also difficult being 1,500 miles away. I can’t help Mom like I want and it seems like I’m not shouldering my share of the burden sometimes, but my wife and I have made a choice to live here.
I guess some of the tears were because we made that choice. But here’s the thing, that wasn’t the only reason I cried. My wife and I have built a really extraordinary life for ourselves here.
We’ve made some great friends, have one terribly behaved dog and we get to eat all the tasty things. I also, for maybe the first time in my life, have a job that I enjoy and feel like I do well. I feel like I’m thriving, personally and professionally, and that’s important to me.
As I look back on 2024, I think about all the incredible things I saw. Last-second goals — literally — in the state tournament and a title run by the best basketball player from the Iron Range since Kevin McHale are just a few of the things I got to write about this year, but I keep thinking about that moment and how touched I was. I don’t think Jago thought I was going to spend 10 minutes crying in his office when he walked out, but it was a kind moment that was unexpected.
ADVERTISEMENT It wasn’t the first kind thing someone has done for me in this job and it certainly wasn’t the last, but it and countless other kindnesses have made me feel like — to quote the late philosopher Jimmy Buffett — “I have found me a home.”.
