Lead sports designer, Dothan (Ala.) Eagle

The Dothan Eagle, a 34,000 daily circulation newspaper located in southeast Alabama, is looking for a lead page designer for its sports department. The designer will be in charge of coordinating the layout of the section five days a week. Will be responsible for the layout of the sports front, along with a number of inside pages. Will be encouraged to be creative with layouts and oversee various design projects in working closely with the sports editor and design editor. Will work closely with the sports editor to develop stories ideas and special projects. Will be expected to edit copy along with the layout duties. Will be expected to move pages effectively on deadline. Some writing duties may also be required. Those interested can contact sports editor Jon Johnson by phone at (334) 712-7965 or by email at jjohnson@dothaneagle.com. Resumes and examples of layouts may be sent to: Dothan Eagle, Jon Johnson, P.O. Box 1968, Dothan, AL., 36302.

****************Jan. 20 update***** this is back being advertised again, with the hopes that a candidate will be selected and presented to the head honchos at MG headquarters in Richmond, then approved. We've got a couple candidates from when this was first advertised, but there's always room for more. E-mail or call Jon at the address/phone number listed above.

 

Re: Lead sports designer, Dothan Eagle

Should they be questions pertaining to this job, or any question I might have?

 

Re: Lead sports designer, Dothan Eagle

Let's make them Dothan-related questions.

1. How did Bobby Goldsboro ever have a hit record?

 

Re: Lead sports designer, Dothan Eagle

By Watchin' Scotty Grow? (Which, oddly enough, I stumbled across on the radio the other day. Ghastly.)

 

The Alabama job threads on here are hilarious, they all turn into inside jokes. Good stuff.

How many members of the Alabama sports media are on this site, do we think?

60%? More?

 

I worked in Dothan many, many years ago. It was my first real newspaper job out of university. Not a bad town, but it is a drive to Montgomery, Atlanta, Mobile. It's also not too much of a drive to the beaches of Northwest Florida.

Town itself was -- and is -- surrounded by agriculture and peanuts are the biggest crop. There's a great, annual Peanut Festival, which is a lot of fun and there's an incredible bar (at least there was) called Poplar Head, that I loved going to.

Sports editor when I was there was Jon Johnson. He was pretty sharp, easy to get along with and excellent human being. I knew three of the sports writers there left for bigger jobs in Georgia -- to Albany and Columbus -- and are holding their own quite capably.

Not sure about Division I coverage, but I remember them covering both Auburn and Alabama as well as Troy, which at the time was not Division I. Lots of preps in Houston, Geneva and other counties, too.

Oh, Dothan is the birthplace of Donna D'Errico and Johnny Mack Brown.

 

I can attest to Jon Johnson's integrity and attitude. I think dothan, like the rest of the similar size papers, does the best it can with what it has to work with.
There are worse places than dothan -- the Robert Trent Jones golf trail has a facility there.
And, of course, there is plenty of Future bastards -- uh,make that Future Masters -- coverage each summer.

 

Also of note: When people from Dothan die and go to hell, they ask the devil to turn off the AC. :-[

Having once worked on one of the Eagle's neighboring rags, I will second JJ as good people.

 

Sadly, Poplar Head is no longer there. Also, Mrs. Boomers is no longer there. A great watering hole that's turned into a gay bar - not that there's anything wrong with that.

Nice town to live in. If you can't work for Jon Johnson than you can't work for anybody.

 

Ah, the Dothan Eagle. "The paper that soars above the rest."

First job I had in the business, making $300/week and loving it. Paper was owned by Thomson at the time, and being my first gig, I had no idea how stingy those bastards were.

But I was less than 90 minutes from the beach, became friends with a guy who got us onto what's now Dothan National for free, had a weekly match at Dothan Country Club, met great people like Lowell Eudy, Johnny Oppert, Henry Hart, Jim and Marian Loftin and their daughter, Courtney, the list goes on and on ...

Oh yeah, I also met the current Mrs. PD while working there. First date was at the Old Mill Restaurant off 231 North... anyone know if it's still there?

You won't find anyone easier to work for than Jon Johnson. He's a solid guy both professionally and personally. He brought me in for an interview sight unseen - I still to this day don't know how he got my phone number - and hired me a couple of days later. I owe him a lot and never have had the opportunity to tell him so.

City-owned Westgate Park was magnificent for a city Dothan's size. RTJ facility is OK, and there are a few good courses in Florida Panhandle and across the Georgia line, both just a few minutes away. Country Club has a tennis facility that has hosted pro satellite tournaments in the past.

Drank many, many beers and ate many, many burgers at Mrs. Boomer's. Drank many, many beers at Poplar Head. Spent several late nights/early mornings at Cowboy's south of town after everything else had closed. Sunday afternoons in Panama City at Club La Villa (sp?). Watched a 10-year-old from Augusta, Ga., shoot a 39 from the members tees during the Future Bastards. Kid's name was Howell, or something like that. Saw a lanky kid named Cink shoot back-to-back 66s on the same course and never take driver out of his bag. Whatever became of that guy, anyway?

I have no idea about their pay range is, but I would imagine there are much worse places to work at than Dothan. I enjoyed every minute there - even the evenings at Westgate Park collecting softball scores to run in the nightly agate roundup.

 

If I was still in the biz ... and still in Alabama, I'd jump all over this.

They wouldn't jumb at me, but that's another story.

Dothan's a pretty good place.

 

pencil dick should have stayed in L.A. His golf game would probably be better and his wallet fatter because there are some people in N.A. he can't beat on the golf course with six shots a side.
but he is right on about Jon Johnson.