Eleven taking early retirement from Des Moines Register

It had been rumored for a week, but today marks the official word from the DM Register that 11 employees are taking early buyouts, including longtime sports columnist Marc Hansen.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120405/NEWS/120405015/11-Register-employees-accept-retirement-offers

 

Tom Witosky spent a lot of time in sports.

 

Witosky is an expert in law and open records. He had every athletics official in Iowa looking over their shoulder when he walked in the room.

 

Witosky's nickname was "The Shovel". Looking over their shoulders doesn't do it justice.

They pissed in their pants when he strolled into the athletic offices.

Former Register sports guy Ron Maly gave him that nickname.

 

It hasn't even been that long since Hansen reclaimed the columnist position after they let Sean Keeler go. Hansen and Witosky are both good dudes, they'll be missed.

 

Marc Hansen? Oh for the glory days when Marc was hired as the cherry on top of a delightful ice cream sundae of a sports department that included Maury White, Buck Turnbull, Ron Maly, Chuck Burdick, Val Monson, Randy Peterson and Rick Brown. And who can forget the irascible but lovable slotman John Sotak, the only person I've ever heard deliver a 10-word compliment that had five swear words in it, as in, "That (#%^&) story wasn't bad, you (@^%) (&%) (@$%) (*&%% )!" And god rest his soul, sports editor Gene Raffensperger was an equally wonderful man with a crusty exterior and a papa bear heart of gold. Think Lou Grant. This visit to memory lane means, I must add, that we're all a tad gray around the temple, if we even have any locks around the temple. Time passes, but history doesn't forget. You were excellent, Des Moines Register sports department. And Marc, you were as good as any columnist in the country.

 

Didn't Marc start out with the Des Moines Tribune?

 

Peterson and Brown are still around.

 

Marc Hansen did indeed begin at the long-defunct Des Moines Tribune, working for sports editor Gary Hickok, one of the nicest men to ever run a sports department. Gary went on to the St. Pete Times. And, yes, speaking of two nice men, I believe Randy Peterson and Rick Brown are still writing for the Register sports department. Rick's roots are in Fort Dodge and Randy's are in avoiding the 7-10 split (he once was an excellent bowler and I'm certain he still is). Randy is a sportswriting anomaly. He's a kegler; many sportswriters, especially from Buck's and Burdick's days, were keg men.

 

Randy covered us when I was in high school.

And, no, he didn't cost me a scholarship. I did that myself.

 

You know, since you mentioned Rick and Randy, their dad Bob passed away not too long ago. Bob was the Ft. Dodge Messenger's sports department.

Kirk Hardcastle, now at the Mason City Globe Gazette, wrote a wonderful tribute to Bob when he died.

Raff's daughter, Nancy, is still the editor at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, and his brother John retired a few years ago at track coach at Iowa City High.