ADVERTISEMENT

Reading the Ledger in the 70s and 80s

bac2therac

Legend
Gold Member
Jul 30, 2001
228,104
154,573
113
55
Belle Mead NJ
arrgh the other thread was locked as I was writing this so here are my thoughts



back to my thoughts on the Ledger...i loved it as a kid in the 70s. The pure breadth of sports information for me as a kid was incredible. On Sundays I was also fortunate enough to read the Daily News at my grandparents house for family dinner but make no mistake the Ledger was wear it was at. From pro to college to local to horse racing it had it all in the 70s and 80s and throughout the 90s then at the turn of the century it sank precipitously into an abyss becoming almost unreadable not because of what they covered but because of what they were no longer covering whether it was the far reduced high school information or the complete removal of coverage of horse racing in the state

My routine everyday was to read the sports before going off to school. I did this as a precocious 7 year old. I was a sports information junkie. Their coverage of local sports in New Jersey whether it was college or high school or events happening in NJ like tennis tourneys or golf tourneys was incredible. The Dunkel Index, the Bill Born Power Index, the predictions for all the high school games every week. The Sunday coverage of all the Saturday high school and college games, the rankings of all the high school sports not only by top 25 but within each county. I mean we were getting virtually every result in sports even like field hockey by the next morning in a day where there was no internet and immediate communication. Those people who worked there in the 70s and 80s must have really been busting their asses. My favorite day was Thankgsiving morning...the anticipation of reading all those previews for the games that day, a tradition we sadly have lost.

But all that was gone in the 2000s and Julie was right all along. The paper became trash much like most journalism. The model changed and they were slow to keep up. Sure I would love the printed paper again but the reality is its not coming back...ever and its not coming back in the way we would want it to plus the cost became laughable...why would someone pay that much money for that. A similar scenerio with the Courier News and I dont even know if its still going

I also remember the Messenger Gazette from back and in the day and their football contests they ran in the 70s and 80s plus WCTC gone too. Local coverage is gone and its not coming back. Sad price of progress
 
arrgh the other thread was locked as I was writing this so here are my thoughts



back to my thoughts on the Ledger...i loved it as a kid in the 70s. The pure breadth of sports information for me as a kid was incredible. On Sundays I was also fortunate enough to read the Daily News at my grandparents house for family dinner but make no mistake the Ledger was wear it was at. From pro to college to local to horse racing it had it all in the 70s and 80s and throughout the 90s then at the turn of the century it sank precipitously into an abyss becoming almost unreadable not because of what they covered but because of what they were no longer covering whether it was the far reduced high school information or the complete removal of coverage of horse racing in the state

My routine everyday was to read the sports before going off to school. I did this as a precocious 7 year old. I was a sports information junkie. Their coverage of local sports in New Jersey whether it was college or high school or events happening in NJ like tennis tourneys or golf tourneys was incredible. The Dunkel Index, the Bill Born Power Index, the predictions for all the high school games every week. The Sunday coverage of all the Saturday high school and college games, the rankings of all the high school sports not only by top 25 but within each county. I mean we were getting virtually every result in sports even like field hockey by the next morning in a day where there was no internet and immediate communication. Those people who worked there in the 70s and 80s must have really been busting their asses. My favorite day was Thankgsiving morning...the anticipation of reading all those previews for the games that day, a tradition we sadly have lost.

But all that was gone in the 2000s and Julie was right all along. The paper became trash much like most journalism. The model changed and they were slow to keep up. Sure I would love the printed paper again but the reality is its not coming back...ever and its not coming back in the way we would want it to plus the cost became laughable...why would someone pay that much money for that. A similar scenerio with the Courier News and I dont even know if its still going

I also remember the Messenger Gazette from back and in the day and their football contests they ran in the 70s and 80s plus WCTC gone too. Local coverage is gone and its not coming back. Sad price of progress

its hard to fathom nowadays that you had to wait a day to get results of all the games, be it pro or college or HS.
 
arrgh the other thread was locked as I was writing this so here are my thoughts



back to my thoughts on the Ledger...i loved it as a kid in the 70s. The pure breadth of sports information for me as a kid was incredible. On Sundays I was also fortunate enough to read the Daily News at my grandparents house for family dinner but make no mistake the Ledger was wear it was at. From pro to college to local to horse racing it had it all in the 70s and 80s and throughout the 90s then at the turn of the century it sank precipitously into an abyss becoming almost unreadable not because of what they covered but because of what they were no longer covering whether it was the far reduced high school information or the complete removal of coverage of horse racing in the state

My routine everyday was to read the sports before going off to school. I did this as a precocious 7 year old. I was a sports information junkie. Their coverage of local sports in New Jersey whether it was college or high school or events happening in NJ like tennis tourneys or golf tourneys was incredible. The Dunkel Index, the Bill Born Power Index, the predictions for all the high school games every week. The Sunday coverage of all the Saturday high school and college games, the rankings of all the high school sports not only by top 25 but within each county. I mean we were getting virtually every result in sports even like field hockey by the next morning in a day where there was no internet and immediate communication. Those people who worked there in the 70s and 80s must have really been busting their asses. My favorite day was Thankgsiving morning...the anticipation of reading all those previews for the games that day, a tradition we sadly have lost.

But all that was gone in the 2000s and Julie was right all along. The paper became trash much like most journalism. The model changed and they were slow to keep up. Sure I would love the printed paper again but the reality is its not coming back...ever and its not coming back in the way we would want it to plus the cost became laughable...why would someone pay that much money for that. A similar scenerio with the Courier News and I dont even know if its still going

I also remember the Messenger Gazette from back and in the day and their football contests they ran in the 70s and 80s plus WCTC gone too. Local coverage is gone and its not coming back. Sad price of progress
And every Monday, the previous week’s holes in one were published
 
its hard to fathom nowadays that you had to wait a day to get results of all the games, be it pro or college or HS.
I used to pore over box scores and stats for MLB and NFL for hours in the Sunday sports section of I think it was the Asbury Park Press. Now, everything is online, so print newspaper has lost it's utility to me.
Also, the writing in various online sources, starting in order: here on this site, other recruiting sites, ESPN and X has also rendered newspapers and news sites somewhat repetitive or useless to me.
Same goes for general news. Get most of my news from a home page I set up, and from X and other media sources that do not require a hard copy subscription. Times have changed.
 
I used to pore over box scores and stats for MLB and NFL for hours in the Sunday sports section of I think it was the Asbury Park Press. Now, everything is online, so print newspaper has lost it's utility to me.
Also, the writing in various online sources, starting in order: here on this site, other recruiting sites, ESPN and X has also rendered newspapers and news sites somewhat repetitive or useless to me.
Same goes for general news. Get most of my news from a home page I set up, and from X and other media sources that do not require a hard copy subscription. Times have changed.
but it was great to get it that way bac then

we were better informed with an entire section of stats and standings and results in front of our faces
 
but it was great to get it that way bac then

we were better informed with an entire section of stats and standings and results in front of our faces

But it wasn't actually.

How many people wanted to wait until Sunday morning to see the Rutgers - USC result and box score?
Because it wasn't making it to Saturday mornings edition.
 
We have received the SL newspaper for years at home. Both my wife and I enjoy reading a newspaper. Technological advancement has always been a double edged sword . It makes life easier and much faster in some ways but also can result in less depth of understanding, shallowness and inaccuracy about many things. When I was young, there was always a sense of anticipation getting and opening a newspaper. I can remember my blue collar, truck driving dad getting home after a long day and then reading two newspapers every night after dinner. Change is constant in life and evolution is necessary. Hopefully the written word doesn’t fade away in the world of visual stimulation.
 
Don't forget Al Ristori reporting the state's big catches in his fishing/outdoors column.
Growing up on LI not NJ, I remember reading Al Ristori's reports and thoughts in the weekly newsletter The Fisherman. Available in fine bait & tackle shops across the region.
 
Reading both the Ledger Sports and the Home News Sports coverage of RU was nirvana.
High school coverage was excellent.

Not too long remember and enjoyed Jim Carty from Courier News.

Printed press will be sorely missed.
 
but it was great to get it that way bac then

we were better informed with an entire section of stats and standings and results in front of our faces
There was no "rush to be first". The results were in, the writers had taken plenty of notes over what they just saw, now they could sit back a bit & reflect on it all (the play, the quarter, the game, the season, the franchise/program history) putting pen to paper sensibly to make it make sense. Now, they write it all in the moment, and upload it to hit the CDN repository as the clock hits 00:00. Something gets lost in the rush.
 
Reading both the Ledger Sports and the Home News Sports coverage of RU was nirvana.
High school coverage was excellent.

Not too long remember and enjoyed Jim Carty from Courier News.

Printed press will be sorely missed.
has the Courier/Home News/News Tribune stopped printing? Or was that all merged into the Asbury Park Press/Gannet papers?
 
I was in a Fantasy Football League back in the 80s. There were two sources of scoring information: (1) Chris Berman's Sunday evening highlite show; and (2) the Monday Ledger.

I also followed College Basketball Recruiting in the 90s. Tom Luicci was pretty plugged in. He would actually interview highschool recruits. He wrote an article about how Rutgers may have been in line for a Fab 5 recruiting class with Webb, Freeman, Tim Thomas, Ajamal Bassit, etc. As a SHU fan, I was hoping that at least of the recruits would land at SHU. Rutgers got Webb and SHU got none of them. I thought SHU or RU would land Tim Thomas but but we learned from the Mike Quick Sunday Night MSG Report that Lappas gave Tim T's cousin a job so he landed at Nova.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ScarletNut
I only get to see the SL when I'm at my MIL's house but I still love the Scorecard/Boxscore section with Transactions, Sports on TV, etc. Maybe the print Post or Daily News still has those, I don't know as I don't see them. Nobody seems to have that stuff online that's as easy to see, at least that I've been able to find. And I really don't give a crap about all the sports opinion pieces that are out there now.

And speaking of instant gratification, in South Jersey in the '60's, the Courier Post published a "Green Sheet" on late Saturday afternoons during football season that had write-ups of the days hs football games. We thought that was great
 
  • Like
Reactions: MADHAT1
arrgh the other thread was locked as I was writing this so here are my thoughts



back to my thoughts on the Ledger...i loved it as a kid in the 70s. The pure breadth of sports information for me as a kid was incredible. On Sundays I was also fortunate enough to read the Daily News at my grandparents house for family dinner but make no mistake the Ledger was wear it was at. From pro to college to local to horse racing it had it all in the 70s and 80s and throughout the 90s then at the turn of the century it sank precipitously into an abyss becoming almost unreadable not because of what they covered but because of what they were no longer covering whether it was the far reduced high school information or the complete removal of coverage of horse racing in the state

My routine everyday was to read the sports before going off to school. I did this as a precocious 7 year old. I was a sports information junkie. Their coverage of local sports in New Jersey whether it was college or high school or events happening in NJ like tennis tourneys or golf tourneys was incredible. The Dunkel Index, the Bill Born Power Index, the predictions for all the high school games every week. The Sunday coverage of all the Saturday high school and college games, the rankings of all the high school sports not only by top 25 but within each county. I mean we were getting virtually every result in sports even like field hockey by the next morning in a day where there was no internet and immediate communication. Those people who worked there in the 70s and 80s must have really been busting their asses. My favorite day was Thankgsiving morning...the anticipation of reading all those previews for the games that day, a tradition we sadly have lost.

But all that was gone in the 2000s and Julie was right all along. The paper became trash much like most journalism. The model changed and they were slow to keep up. Sure I would love the printed paper again but the reality is its not coming back...ever and its not coming back in the way we would want it to plus the cost became laughable...why would someone pay that much money for that. A similar scenerio with the Courier News and I dont even know if its still going

I also remember the Messenger Gazette from back and in the day and their football contests they ran in the 70s and 80s plus WCTC gone too. Local coverage is gone and its not coming back. Sad price of progress
Unemployment must be terrible.
 
Last edited:
I only get to see the SL when I'm at my MIL's house but I still love the Scorecard/Boxscore section with Transactions, Sports on TV, etc. Maybe the print Post or Daily News still has those, I don't know as I don't see them. Nobody seems to have that stuff online that's as easy to see, at least that I've been able to find. And I really don't give a crap about all the sports opinion pieces that are out there now.

And speaking of instant gratification, in South Jersey in the '60's, the Courier Post published a "Green Sheet" on late Saturday afternoons during football season that had write-ups of the days hs football games. We thought that was great
Daily News still prints the box scores, but I normally just go to my team site online to get them right away.
 
I sort of like the anticipation.....

how about the far west college scores you wouldnt see until monday morning
Love the anticipation of the newspaper, along with listening to football and basketball on the radio. ( Especially the final 4 run during the 75-76 season😃
 
I can recall waiting to see my name in print in the HS results and times when I ran track my senior year. 100, 200 and 400 relay.
 
I was trying to describe to my daughter "Moving from right to left on your radio dial" but she didn't see the beauty in that description.
I have to admit that if I wasn't familiar with Bruce, my head would have been bending, bending, bending in confusion at the description.
 
For all the sports news instantly, dial 976-1313
When I called that line as a kid, I thought there was going to be a live person on the other end ready to give me my score on demand. I was sorely disappointed in the final product.
 
arrgh the other thread was locked as I was writing this so here are my thoughts



back to my thoughts on the Ledger...i loved it as a kid in the 70s. The pure breadth of sports information for me as a kid was incredible. On Sundays I was also fortunate enough to read the Daily News at my grandparents house for family dinner but make no mistake the Ledger was wear it was at. From pro to college to local to horse racing it had it all in the 70s and 80s and throughout the 90s then at the turn of the century it sank precipitously into an abyss becoming almost unreadable not because of what they covered but because of what they were no longer covering whether it was the far reduced high school information or the complete removal of coverage of horse racing in the state

My routine everyday was to read the sports before going off to school. I did this as a precocious 7 year old. I was a sports information junkie. Their coverage of local sports in New Jersey whether it was college or high school or events happening in NJ like tennis tourneys or golf tourneys was incredible. The Dunkel Index, the Bill Born Power Index, the predictions for all the high school games every week. The Sunday coverage of all the Saturday high school and college games, the rankings of all the high school sports not only by top 25 but within each county. I mean we were getting virtually every result in sports even like field hockey by the next morning in a day where there was no internet and immediate communication. Those people who worked there in the 70s and 80s must have really been busting their asses. My favorite day was Thankgsiving morning...the anticipation of reading all those previews for the games that day, a tradition we sadly have lost.

But all that was gone in the 2000s and Julie was right all along. The paper became trash much like most journalism. The model changed and they were slow to keep up. Sure I would love the printed paper again but the reality is its not coming back...ever and its not coming back in the way we would want it to plus the cost became laughable...why would someone pay that much money for that. A similar scenerio with the Courier News and I dont even know if its still going

I also remember the Messenger Gazette from back and in the day and their football contests they ran in the 70s and 80s plus WCTC gone too. Local coverage is gone and its not coming back. Sad price of progress
Similar here, but it was the Courier Post in SNJ that had all the local sports coverage, at least for south Jersey/Philly (the Philly papers weren't as good on SNJ sports). Was a sports stats nut from the time I was about 7, also, as that's when I remember truly becoming a huge sports fan - for the Baltimore Colts and Orioles in 1969 when they unfortunately lost to the Jets and Mets (my mom/dad are from Baltimore). As a kid growing up and playing baseball and football it was also cool to see the results in our county paper and then when I was in HS seeing our results (and getting a few mentions) in the Courier Post.

I also recall when I came to RU in 1980 discovering the Ledger and loving it, as I had no idea there was a paper that covered NNJ sports and even mentioned SNJ sports, at least for top 25 action (there was no CNJ back then that I recall and for a kid from Gloucester County, anything north of Trenton to LBI was NNJ, lol). Used to read it a lot in the 80s while I was in college and also liked their RU coverage, of course, even if we often sucked (also read the Targum sports every day from 1980 until 1990). Still read the Ledger some in the 90s, but stopped getting it sometime in the late 90s with the advent of the WWW and being so busy at work I kind of lost interest in most sports, except RU.

As I said in the other thread though, it's still a shame that they're closing the printed paper down, especially since I have a couple of friends who've been working there for 35-40 years. Always tough to lose a job.
 
I used to save the end of season All-State teams and highlight those that were going to Rutgers in football. I didn't do that with the basketball and baseball All-State teams because I knew we weren't getting any of them.
The Parade All-American issue was also a keeper.
 
everyone knows how much a fan my mom was, well as she got in her later years and didnt get out of the house much and to find some purpose, she would literally cut out every and i mean EVERY single Rutgers story in the Star Ledger and Courier News and paper clip them and then everytime I went over there she would have give them to me, sometimes a whole bags worth...I still have some of them kept in a box.
 
I used to save the end of season All-State teams and highlight those that were going to Rutgers in football. I didn't do that with the basketball and baseball All-State teams because I knew we weren't getting any of them.
The Parade All-American issue was also a keeper.
yeah those all state and all group and all county teams for all high school sports was another highlight along with the final top 20 football poll
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kbee3 and MADHAT1
arrgh the other thread was locked as I was writing this so here are my thoughts



back to my thoughts on the Ledger...i loved it as a kid in the 70s. The pure breadth of sports information for me as a kid was incredible. On Sundays I was also fortunate enough to read the Daily News at my grandparents house for family dinner but make no mistake the Ledger was wear it was at. From pro to college to local to horse racing it had it all in the 70s and 80s and throughout the 90s then at the turn of the century it sank precipitously into an abyss becoming almost unreadable not because of what they covered but because of what they were no longer covering whether it was the far reduced high school information or the complete removal of coverage of horse racing in the state

My routine everyday was to read the sports before going off to school. I did this as a precocious 7 year old. I was a sports information junkie. Their coverage of local sports in New Jersey whether it was college or high school or events happening in NJ like tennis tourneys or golf tourneys was incredible. The Dunkel Index, the Bill Born Power Index, the predictions for all the high school games every week. The Sunday coverage of all the Saturday high school and college games, the rankings of all the high school sports not only by top 25 but within each county. I mean we were getting virtually every result in sports even like field hockey by the next morning in a day where there was no internet and immediate communication. Those people who worked there in the 70s and 80s must have really been busting their asses. My favorite day was Thankgsiving morning...the anticipation of reading all those previews for the games that day, a tradition we sadly have lost.

But all that was gone in the 2000s and Julie was right all along. The paper became trash much like most journalism. The model changed and they were slow to keep up. Sure I would love the printed paper again but the reality is its not coming back...ever and its not coming back in the way we would want it to plus the cost became laughable...why would someone pay that much money for that. A similar scenerio with the Courier News and I dont even know if its still going

I also remember the Messenger Gazette from back and in the day and their football contests they ran in the 70s and 80s plus WCTC gone too. Local coverage is gone and its not coming back. Sad price of progress
I liked the Newark Evening News more but the Ledger had much better HS sports coverage.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT