Jill's Journal: BV Lynx, you’re all Hall of Famers to me
There’s something different about this year’s Brandon Valley Hall of Fame induction banquet.
It’s not that the honor means any more or any less than it has in years past. Every name that finds its way onto that list has earned its place, and every story deserves to be told and remembered. But for me, this year carries a weight that’s a little more personal. Because this time, I’m not just attending as an observer. I’m attending as someone who was on the sidelines with camera in hand and notepad in my back pocket.
For 21 years, I’ve had the privilege of covering BV athletics, of standing along the sidelines, sitting cross-legged on gym floors, braving cold October nights trying to find the right words to capture moments that often felt bigger than words could say.
And this year’s class? They’re not just names on a program or plaques on a wall. They’re athletes I watched grow from wide-eyed underclassmen into confident leaders. Teams I followed through the ups and downs of a season – the early doubts, the midseason adjustments, the late-season surges that turned possibility into reality. They’re the subjects of decades of stories, of photos frozen in time, of headlines that tried to do justice to what they accomplished.
I can still see so many of those moments as clearly as if they happened yesterday. The roar of a home crowd at just the right time. The quiet focus before a championship moment. The embraces afterward, some filled with joy, others marked by tears.
As a weekly newspaper editor, you learn quickly that your work is both fleeting and permanent. The paper hits mailboxes, gets read, some stories and pictures are clipped and saved by memory book-making moms.
But every once in a while, you’re reminded that what you do matters. That the stories you tell help preserve something important, ahis year’s Hall of Fame class is a reminder of that.
It’s also a reminder of why covering BV has meant so much to me all these years. Because it’s never just been about wins and losses. It’s been about people.
It’s been about the kid who stayed after practice to get a little better. The senior who became a leader when their team needed it most. The group that came together at just the right time to do something special. It’s been about Lynx pride.
And yes, it’s been about being a fan, too.
That’s probably the part journalists and photographers don’t always talk about in this business. We’re supposed to be objective, to keep a professional distance. I try, but I fail more often than I should confess.
But when you spend two decades in one place, covering something special season after season and year after year, somehow, you become a part of it all. And I wouldn’t want it any other way, but The Lynx Way.
