Harvey named Citizen Tribune sports editor

“Rob was doing an excellent job covering local sports before things came of a sudden halt in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Tribune Editor/Publisher R. Michael Fishman said. “In these last few months, Rob has stepped up to help in a variety of ways in the newsroom. From feature writing to pagination, Rob has been a valuable member of the team while continuing to pursue and develop local sports stories whenever possible.”

A graduate of The McCallie School in 2015, Harvey graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2019 with a degree in journalism and electronic media. Prior to joining the Tribune, Harvey freelanced for the Maryville Daily-Times and the Chattanooga Times-Free Press.

While at UT, he was first assistant sports editor of the Daily Beacon, then served as the paper’s managing editor.

Harvey said he’s thrilled to have come to a community with such a passion for local sports.

“I have enjoyed meeting the people, working with the schools and covering the various teams in the Lakeway Area,” Harvey said. “I think it’s important to tell the stories of every level of sports, every type of sport. I like how the area is focused on local sports and how much they invest their time and passion in local sports. I love how the community supports a wide variety of men’s and women’s sports. It’s not just football or basketball.”

Tribune Managing Editor John Gullion said the community is lucky to have someone of Harvey’s abilities leading the paper’s sports team.

“As a former sports editor myself, I know how important covering local sports can be for a community newspaper,” Gullion said. “Rob’s talent is only matched by his dedication to doing the job right. He follows in a long line of community sports journalists who have devoted their work lives to document the happenings on Lakeway Area fields, courts and beyond.”

Harvey said he was especially looking forward to the Spring sports season when the COVID-19 forced the premature end of the school year.

“Baseball and soaftball are my favorite sports to cover and I knew we were going to have a lot of good teams,” he said. “It was an interesting time to be in the newspaper business and remains an interesting time to work in news. From what to cover and how to cover, meeting the challenge of covering sports in this time has been our goal.

“Still, I’m looking forward to things getting back to normal.”