 Joe Medley was announced as The Star's sports columnist July 24, 2008. This after he spent nearly 12 years covering Auburn University sports teams, among other writing and page-design responsibilities.
He has also pitched in on high school, NASCAR and participatory sports coverage, including the Outdoor Adventures series that runs during the spring and summer months. Those responsibilities will continue as he opines on all items covered by The Star's sports department.
Joe's time at The Star has seen him vote on the Associated Press college football poll during the 1998 and 2006 seasons. He began serving on the Heisman Trophy voting panel in 2006.
He has won awards in national and state contests for stories and columns covering all of his areas of responsibility.
Joe started at The Star on Nov. 4, 1996, after working nearly 10 years for the Bowling Green (Ky.) Daily News. Throughout his time in Bowling Green, he covered Western Kentucky University, high school and participatory sports. He was the paper's sports editor for his final eight years there.
He graduated from Western Kentucky with a bachelor's degree in journalism and minor in writing. He completed his final full-time semester in the spring of 1987, then completed his final nine hours in the fall of 1989. He graduated in December of 1989.
While the Louisville, Ky., native has missed following his alma mater closely, he said the move to Alabama has helped him grow professionally.
"I never worry any more about whether I'm being tough enough, or too tough while trying to be tough enough," he said. "Covering schools with which I have no attachment alleviated that dilemma, and I don't miss it."
Joe lives in Oxford with his wife, the former Rhonda Joyce Johnson, a graduate of Wellborn High School and Jacksonville State University and a registered nurse. Their son, Hayden Joseph Michael Medley, was born on April 10, 2006. |
