When it comes to running a sports department, there is no “I” in team.
To cover the bases, you need help and support to make sure things run efficiently. As I found out earlier in my journalism career, you can’t do it all.
When I took over as sports editor at the Winchester Sun in 2003, my predecessors had a system in place, and I just added my own touch to the foundation that had already been laid on the second-floor newsroom at 20 Wall Street.
It was then I became friends with Bill Thiry. He had a camera, submitted photos and he was good at his craft. We talked and because his sons, Bryan and Josh, played soccer at GRC, he was already at the games and it made perfect sense for Bill to shoot and submit.
He started on the local sports scene, covering athletic events at George Rogers Clark High School. It wasn’t long before we teamed up and began covering Kentucky sports and that’s when the fun began for the both of us.
When we started traveling with the Cats, he would drive and I would tag along in that grey Camry station wagon that had what seemed like a gazillion miles on it but, nevertheless, Bill kept the oil changed and did regular maintenance until he began driving an Avalon.
I still wonder whatever happened to that station wagon.
When you are on the road with someone for hours, you get to know them and Bill Thiry became more than a photographer to me. He became a close friend. We shared jokes, picked on each other but we shared the same ideals even though he was 11 years older.
One of our first trips together was to Atlanta in 2005 for the SEC Tournament and it was there we learned the tricks of the trade when it comes to covering the Cats, We became known as the Winchester Sun duo and we had no problem getting credentialed to home and away games at UK.
My first trip to New Orleans was with Bill and his wife Sheri. My first trip to Houston was with Bill and it was there we discovered the Astrodome was not as big as we thought it was.
We spent New Year’s Eve together a couple of times when Kentucky played in the Music City Bowl. We would venture downtown and begin a new year in another state in a different time zone.
I do remember a long road trip to New Jersey for the NCAA Tournament one year. Bill was from Pennsylvania, and he shared how much he enjoyed going back there from time to time. We both had to be at work after Kentucky played on a Sunday, and we drove all night to get back home. We made one stop and Bill tried one of those 3-hour energy over-the-counter drinks to stay awake.
It worked and Bill got us back to Winchester. I don’t know whether it was because he feared my driving, but he was behind the wheel on most of our roads trips.
One time, however, I drove through Memphis and got lost. I believe it scared him - and me too, come to think of it. I gave him the keys to the car and he got us back to the hotel.
Of all the times we spent together, we never got into any arguments and we always took up for each other. I had his back, and he had mine.
On Wednesday night, Bill passed away after a courageous fight with ALS. In one of my last conversations with him, he shared that he was ready for eternity and was a believer in Jesus Christ. That was comforting, even though he didn’t have to tell me about his relationship with the Creator.
I already knew. And I know he’s walking and doing the things he was deprived of doing during the last three years of his life right now.
Rest in peace, Bill.
Keith Taylor, right, shares about his friend Bill Thiry, who died from ALS.
