Long time News and Sentinel sports editor, writer Steve Hemmelgarn dies

Steve Hemmelgarn, the longtime sports editor and writer for The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, works at this desk on his last day of work in 2018. Hemmelgarn died Saturday. He was 75. (File Photo)

PARKERSBURG — A longtime sportswriter and editor for The Parkersburg News and Sentinel who was a manager for the Ohio State football team in his college days passed away Saturday.

Steve Hemmelgarn, 75, retired from The News and Sentinel in 2018 after 46 years with the paper. He joined the newspaper in 1972 after working 18 months at The Marietta Times.

Hemmelgarn graduated from Ohio State University in 1970. He was a manager for the football team from 1968 to 1970 and was one of only two senior managers when Woody Hayes was head coach. Hemmelgarn also worked with Lou Holtz, who later became head coach at Notre Dame, when he was a defensive coach at Ohio State.

Football was Hemmelgarn’s favorite sport. In a 2018 interview, Hemmelgarn said players got bigger, stronger and faster in the 46 years he covered local sports.

“He really loved the game,” said Dan Reeves, who coached the Parkersburg High School football team from 2008-2013.

Steve Hemmelgarn, right, the long time sports editor and writer for The Parkersburg News and Sentinel passed away on Saturday. Standing at his left is Jeff Baughan, former photographer and reporter for The News and Sentinel, at Hemmelgarn’s retirement party. (Photo by Terry L. Estep)

From talking with Hemmelgarn, Reeves said he could tell Hemmelgarn had a knowledge of football and all other sports.

“I thought he was a good sportswriter,” Reeves said.

Hemmelgarn always tried to get into the details of the game and look for things to connect with the readers, Buddy James, who coached the Big Reds for more than 20 years from 1968 to 1990, said.

“I liked Steve a lot,” James said. “He was a good sportswriter.”

Hemmelgarn was always fair for both the winners and the losers in his articles, James said.

The late Steve Hemmelgarn at his retirement party in 2018. (Photo by Terry L. Estep)

“And they were always good and interesting,” he said.

Another Hemmelgarn contemporary was Jim Wharton, the long-time sportscaster at WTAP television. Hemmelgarn would help with a score and the stats from a game, said Wharton, who is retired.

“We were competitors, but he also helped me out if I needed help,” Wharton said. “He was always willing to help.”

Wharton said his favorite lead to a story Hemmelgarn wrote was “it was a ding dong dilly of a donnybrook.”

“Just a joy to read,” he said.

Hemmelgarn was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia Ann “Jenny” Hemmelgarn in 2013. Visitation is from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday at Lambert-Tatman Funeral Home, Pike Street in south Parkersburg, where the funeral will be at 1 p.m.

Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com