Column: The return of Shoe, ‘The Wanderer,’ at least for a while

Editor’s note: The Stevens Point Gazette was previously known as The Portage County Gazette. It was purchased by Multi Media Channels (MMC) in 2017 and has since eliminated or lost its longtime local editorial staff. The paper has since announced a “merger” with The Waupaca County Post, though it appears to be more of an absorption. The Metro Wire is currently the last locally owned and operated daily news source in our community. 

By Tim Shoe Sullivan

They call me The Wanderer. Like Dion and the Belmonts’ “The Wanderer.”

But I don’t roam from town to town. I stay right here in Stevens Point and wander in and out of journalism circles. Simply put, I write columns for local newspapers and Facebook. And I never hang around for very long. I wander.

My newspaper wandering began in 1972 when I inadvertently became the Sports Editor of the UWSP Pointer. One day, I wandered into their office to complain to a bunch of hippies that their newspaper sucked in my opinion. When I left the office, I then had the brand new title of sports editor. That gig lasted two years.

Hoo boy. What came next? Well, there was a little “paper” called PACKERLAND AFTER DARK which agreed to run “The Superpickers”. Wrote for them for one year and never got a penny.

Started writing again in the 90s for a little newspaper in Plover called “Plover Profile.” A nice paper owned by Trey and Mary Foerster. They were wonderful owners who paid really well and on time. Once again, I ended up as the “Sports Editor” which meant I covered a lot of Plover softball games at Doug Berry’s Royal Wood. PLOVER PROFILE lasted a few years and eventually was no more.

Even though I never left Stevens Point or Plover, my wandering also got my column jobs with Tommy Kramer’s VIKING REPORT, Doug Buffone’s BEAR REPORT, the New Orleans Saints’ SAINTS WEEKLY, and several other NFL papers. The Patriots and Colts really stiffed Randy and me.

And somewhere along the way, I ended up doing a column for The Stevens Point Journal. That was great fun, and Bill Berry was a fantastic editor who let me write whatever I felt like writing. My stay there ended when Gannett bought out the paper and they gave me the boot.

But the wandering continued. I hooked on with the Stevens Point Gazette. Did a weekly column for a few years. Then I was cut loose and replaced by things like Hortonville volleyball standings.

So after a nice break, I guess I’m doing a column again, this time for the Point/Plover Metro Wire. It won’t be a weekly effort, since I was running out of stuff to write about. I do enough of that on Facebook. My column will appear “every once in a while.”

So folks, the bottom line is that I’m back, for the time being, and I hope you’ll enjoy what I got to say. My first effort might be about my recent triple bypass heart surgery. Stay tuned…