Thanks to this photographer’s vision, we cover every H.S. sport in N.J.

For Chris Faytok, a career in journalism began in high school sports.

As a junior at Woodbridge High, a young Faytok began snapping photos at football, basketball, baseball games as well as wrestling matches just for kicks.

It was 1992 and film still was printed on paper. After using the school’s darkroom, he’d then sell his prints to the athletes he covered to help pay for this expensive hobby.

“It gave me experience and helped fund my photography,” said Faytok, who with his wife Kristen is raising their daughter Addison (now in high school) in Middlesex County close to where he grew up.

After a storied career as a sports photojournalist at The Star-Ledger covering multiple World Series, Stanley Cups, Super Bowls and Olympics, today he runs NJ Advance Media’s High School Sports Department, provider of the most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state — and possibly with no peer in any other state in America.

The son of a newspaperman, George Faytok Jr., bowling columnist for the old News Tribune, the teenage Faytok absorbed the bustle of the paper’s sports department. When no one was around, a reporter would sneak him into the darkroom.

If you want to use these photos, go ahead!, he’d shout on his way out. “I wasn’t getting paid, but it was a lot of fun,” he told me.

Years later, Faytok would hire that reporter, John Haley, considered a legend among high school sports journalists in New Jersey.

In 2010, two years after covering his fourth Olympics while he was still at The Star-Ledger, Faytok moved into management to build the foundations of today’s NJ Advance Media high school sports report.

Under his leadership, The Star-Ledger previewed wrestling’s all 14 weight classes (150 athletes) with video, something unheard of for most conventional newspapers at the time.

Take note of this: In New Jersey, there are over 400 schools and more than 30 sports.

“The crazy thing about us is that we’re doing something that I don’t think exists anywhere else in the country,” Faytok said about NJAM’s reporting. “Our coverage area is the entire state, and we cover every sport.”

Every single sport.

NJAM’s high school sports team is comprised of more than two dozen reporters, three editors, and a host of freelance writers and photographers under the direction of Faytok.

In addition, every coach in the state has access to report their school’s team scores and player statistics into NJAM’s data-collection system.

It shouldn’t be a surprise the high school sports team throws its heaviest resources at the most popular sports, such as football, wrestling, basketball and baseball.

“However, we’ve learned there’s a significant audience for most of the other sports, too — from soccer to bowling to volleyball,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the sport, parents love to read about their kids.”

NJ.com analytics show that readers crave this coverage, he said. Our high school sports team offers rankings in every sport and all-state teams for the Garden State.

Not all coverage fits in print, of course. If you haven’t seen NJAM’s all-encompassing coverage, visit highschoolsports.nj.com. (Subscriber exclusives are part of your Ledger subscription.)

In recent years, Faytok hired several leading sports journalists, including Mike Kinney, a journalist for more than 40 years and a cornerstone of the high school football staff. Other high school sports institutions who joined the NJAM team, are:

• Bill Evans, one of the state’s top wrestling reporters, started with the South Jersey Times and recently celebrated a 30-year milestone in journalism.
• Joe Zedalis, the staff’s Shore area expert, came over from the Times of Trenton and has a long history with the Asbury Park Press.
• Kevin Minnick, who after decades of high school sports covering South Jersey, including stints at the Gloucester County Times and Camden Courier Post, joined the staff in 2017.
• John Haley, the Middlesex County sports legend Faytok recruited from the Home News-Tribune, retired after 40 years in the business in 2022.

“These reporters possess encyclopedic knowledge of New Jersey high school sports, which is invaluable,” Faytok said, adding the more experienced reporters mentor newer reporters, fostering a collaborative environment where experience meets fresh perspectives.

For instance, Faytok paired Jake Aferiat, a recent Penn State graduate who joined the team last year, with Evans and Zedalis on the wrestling beat. Aferiat brings energy and tech-savvy skills while learning from the veterans’ extensive journalism experience.

The Friday night lights of high school football is just about over. This weekend, we’ll know the results of 20 sectional championships among the state’s public schools, for instance.

Soccer ends around the same time. NJ Advance Media is the exclusive broadcaster for all of the boys and girls soccer championship games and the football state finals.

Finals doesn’t mean Faytok’s team can soon take a break. It only means fall sports is ending and winter sports begin: basketball, swimming, wrestling and indoor track and field, among others.

“We rest in July,” Faytok said with a chuckle.

Nearly 15 years after he transformed our high school sports coverage, his team not only covers every sport, reporters produce a football analysis podcast, “The Jersey Blitz,” and over the past two years have hosted a celebratory event, the NJ.com High School Game Changers Sports Awards.

The most recent one took place this past June at the Union County Art Center in Rahway, featuring 20 award categories, 14 of which are nominated and voted on by the public. NJAM sports reporters pick six award winners for Breakthrough Athlete, Overall Athlete and Team of the Year for each gender.

Public awards recognize, among others, Coaching Leadership, Band and Cheer team of the year, as well as Academic and Unsung Hero awards.

“I can definitely say what we do puts us over the top of any other news organization,” Faytok beamed, as he summarized what his team does for New Jersey’s high school athletes.

“The fact that we’re the only site in the state that gets every single game reporting to our system is something I’m confident that no one else can say,” he said. “I’m proud we have the opportunity to honor what all of these kids are doing on the fields every day.”

Reach Chris Faytok, director of High School Sports, at cfaytok@njadvancemedia.com.

Find me at elavin@njadvancemedia.com. Star-Ledger subscribers should also look for my weekly newsletter every Sunday in your email inbox. For customer support, email custserv@starledger.com or call 888-782-7533.

Enrique Lavín is editor of the online newspaper.