hey, wait a sec....
Very true! Amazingly enough, he and I both went to Ohio Wesleyan University, but as far as I know, he was not a college athlete. I have been away from The Dispatch for over 10 years now, and many people have risen from very low level writing jobs to more prestigious ones since then. Steve is one of those. Craig Merz is another. He covers The Crew and does some hockey writing and is considered one of the best soccer writers in the country. He was also another Division III guy (Otterbein) but when I worked with him, he was working for the weekly now defuncg Neighbor News and covered stories limited to the West Side of Columbus. I don't know if Steve Blackledge turned into a marathon runner after I left The Dispatch or what, and I don't know what level of runner he is. Certainly many people who post here would not be impressed if he runs in 4+ hours (I'm not one of those to look down my nose at that however). I just know what the situation was in 1988 and shortly after when I was there.