Sportswriter, broadcaster, soldier, hero.

[Dr. Whiplash]

Ohio writer knew about courage
Friday, August 3, 2007
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports columnist

Have you ever wondered if it takes courage to interview an athlete whose miscue or failing just lost his team's game? Or to ask a tough question of a fiery coach? Have you ever wondered if it takes courage to be a go-to athlete in a late-game, hero-or-goat situation? Or a coach who has to come up with a make-or-break decision?

Balderdash.

Those scenarios are just part of the job -- some with great pay, others not so much -- for thousands of us. You want to talk about courage and conviction, you can turn to someone like Chris Rutherford.

He has one of those names that sounds familiar. Wasn't he the guy who played for ...? Or didn't he coach ...? In all likelihood, you've never heard of Rutherford.

Until a couple of years ago, his life closely revolved around Washington County, Ohio, specifically the Ohio Valley towns of Newport and Marietta, across the river from Parkersburg, W.Va., about a two-hour drive from Pittsburgh.

Rutherford was an athlete, not famous but well-known around there. He played football and basketball for Frontier High School in the late 1990s, then zoomed through Marietta College in three years to get a journalism degree.

For his first career, he became a budding sports journalist, writing part time for the Marietta Times and working at radio station WMOA-AM, where he did some play-by-play and developed a show about auto racing. He also thought about getting into NASCAR truck racing sponsorship, coming up with a lime green color scheme and stencils for a number Penguins center Sidney Crosby would like, 87. That's often the way it is for young sports journalists. You cobble together whatever opportunities you can and allow yourself to get pulled in many directions.

"He was a good athlete and a pretty good writer," Marietta Times sports writer Joe Davis said. "He was really into racing and he really liked to cover sports at his alma mater."

One fall Saturday, an ambitious young Rutherford covered the Marietta College football season finale for the paper, then rushed -- before filing the story -- to call a Frontier High School football home playoff game. There wasn't a phone in the press box to file the college story, though, and after the high school game Davis helped Rutherford frantically search for a way to get his story turned in to the paper. That included stops at a fire station and a country radio station.

In 2004, Rutherford covered the Monroe Central softball team's state high school championship win, then hustled to follow the team home and write about the victory celebration and parade. What he filed won an Ohio Associated Press award for best game story.

It certainly seemed in hindsight that Rutherford's career was going in the right direction. But he still didn't have a full-time job in sports journalism, and late in 2005 he made a big decision to change careers.

He enlisted in the Army.

It happened so fast that many at the paper didn't know until he was headed to Kentucky for training. "I didn't realize he was that patriotic," Davis said. Rutherford left in August 2006 for his first tour in Iraq. He was back home in Ohio in June before leaving to return to the war.

On July 2, near Balad, Iraq, an explosive device detonated near his vehicle as he was delivering supplies. He died from his injuries. He was 25.

For days, Rutherford's death was front-page news in the Ohio Valley area he called home before he gave up a career involving something he loved, sports, to do something infinitely more noble. People packed the gym at Frontier High to pay tribune. They flanked the streets for miles, waving flags, during his funeral procession.

Davis couldn't bring himself to attend. "I knew he had a lot of the same mannerisms and looked like his dad, and I would have just broken up," Davis said. He thinks of Rutherford when he sees a trash can in the Times newsroom that Rutherford decorated with that lime green "87" stencil.

He also brings up a stinging if-only scenario. Health problems caused Davis to cut back on his workload shortly after Rutherford enlisted. "If he would have hung on, he probably would have gotten the full-time job," Davis said.

But that's not the way things play out for heroes.

The Times reported that Rutherford guided 40 soldiers as a platoon leader and led 138 combat logistic patrols during his two stints in Iraq. He is one of more than 3,600 members of the United States military who have died in the Iraq war since March 2003.

What is facing a tense situation in sports or asking a tough question after a game compared with that?

Chris Rutherford knew about courage.

[Tom Taggart]

Chris also worked at 93R as well.