The life and times of the newspaper business has been a rocky road over the past few years both from the inside and outside.

As a newspaper guy it has been both fun and at times disconcerting.

This week I received the news that our sports reporter, Erick Walker, is leaving to become a teacher for the Kent School District.

As the editor of this newspaper, Erick leaving is a loss for us and a loss to sports reporting in this state.

He is the best sports writer I have ever worked with and I have worked with many.

However, this loss to the newspaper industry is a gain for the school district.

I spend a considerable amount of time squinting at financial numbers and trying to discern the twists and turns of the economy.

I can’t say it improves my mood or makes people more inclined to call me Mr. Sunshine, which always surprises me.

I may not be any better at figuring out the economic future than Standard & Poor’s was in predicting the fall of Enron, but I am sure of one thing.

The road out of our mess runs through our education system.

Our schools need the best and brightest we can offer, and the Kent School District got one with Erick.

Sports writers are their own breed. Anyone who has been around the news business knows a born and bred sports writer is unlike any other beast with a pen and paper.

Some are stats geeks and their stories are like reading a seventh-grade math problem.

I always tell those type of writers to try throwing a couple of words between the numbers. It will do wonders for the read.

Some look for the latest tragedy of the week, and then there are the sleepers — he throws, he catches, he scores, see ya.

All of them work in their own way and at certain times.

The best are the ones who tell the story. It is the story that matters and the story that compels us to read.

The one thing that Erick always understood was the arc of the story and how to tell it.

Many great writers have written sports at one time during their careers.

Norman Mailer was at his height when he wrote “The Fight” describing the title bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire.

I recently found an early journalism piece by Richard Wright, best known for “Native Son.”

Wright was covering the 1938 Joe Louis rematch against Max Schmeling. Wright published his classic two years later, but the writer was there in 1938.

Sports writers and sports writing is a world of its own.

It has its own language, rhythm and it is not as easy as it sometimes looks.

It takes an understanding of the sport, numbers and human behavior.

Another trick is getting between the canned talk to find the story that is resting beneath. It takes some doing.

Erick understood story, sports and young athletes, which makes him a perfect fit for the schools.

I hate to lose him, but where he is going is a gain for this community and the schools.