By Sarah Opdahl

It was August of 1974 when a young Bill Merritt began covering sports for the Citizen News, now the Town Tribune, and he has happily attended and written about thousands of competitions over the past five decades. Though bittersweet, Bill shared that a number of physical challenges have made the job more difficult in a variety of ways in recent years, which has compelled him to hang up his hat. Ready to step in for sports coverage is Christine Gillespie, who is thrilled to write for the hometown newspaper that her mother worked for over an eighteen-year period.

Bill still plans to make it to as many games as he can, both as a sports enthusiast and as a friend to the generations of coaches and players that he has covered. Working hand in hand with coaches over the years, he would attend home games in New Fairfield to cover the goings on and essentially crowd source  information and photos for away games. For example, he explained that he would ask “a friend or coach to help me, especially with basketball where one team (the boys and/or girls) is home while the other is away at the same time. They usually play two games per week so I’d get to one of each during the week.” Multiply that by numerous sports and the time and effort involved rapidly and impressively escalates.

An athlete, as well as a writer, Bill played football in high school and college, baseball in high school, and Men’s Softball in the early 1970s. He coached football, basketball, wrestling, and baseball at New Fairfield High School (NFHS). In addition, he spent a large amount of time officiating for games, including football, basketball, softball, and lacrosse. Astonishingly, Bill has umpired baseball for over sixty years.

Christine also has a rich history of involvement in New Fairfield sports, sharing, “My sister and I were cheerleaders from grade school through high school. We cheered for the New Fairfield Falcons and the NFHS Rebels. My family is still very involved in the New Fairfield Falcons (NFF).” She went on, “My mom, sister, and I coach cheerleading—I have been coaching for almost 20 years—and my sister is the Cheer Coordinator. My dad has held positions on the NFF board since 1997 including President, Past President, and Treasurer. He was also a football coach for the first time this past season and he had a ton of fun.”

Enthused about the marriage of two passions: sports and writing, Christine is eager to follow in her mother’s footsteps at the paper, “Back then they did layouts by hand. I would come in at times (I was maybe 8 or 9 years old) and watch her work and I always thought it was the coolest thing. Now I have my chance to do it.” Taking a page from Bill’s crowd-sourcing skills, she said, “Our plan for gathering information on sporting events is for coaches, team managers, or parents to send in pictures and information they want to see in the paper, and I will write it up to be printed. Also, you might see my face at some sporting events.”

Christine explained that she is “most excited about being even more involved in the community and spotlighting sports teams or players that deserve recognition for their achievements….I would like to give all sports a chance to be covered and seen. Kids work hard and deserve to have their accomplishments celebrated.” She said, “In general I think sports teaches important lessons about life. Things like teamwork, dedication, discipline, etc. Local sports are the best way to get kids involved in teams, organizations, and programs that teach these life lessons.” She encouraged everyone to send her information and pictures they want to see in the Sports section. Feel free to email Christine at sports@thetowntribune.com.

As for Bill, he joked about shocking former residents who come back to town and see him at games, which he will be happy to continue doing, “I love seeing old friends who come and say hello to me at games, especially old players who now have their own children playing for ours and other schools.” In all, he hopes, with over fifty years of sports coverage, “that I have brought some joy to the people of New Fairfield with my reporting and photos.”