Post-Dispatch Lays Off More Than Half Its Prep Sports Staff

On January 20, the Post-Dispatch laid off one employee and eliminated two other open positions — but it took another week after that for managers to enact a second set of cuts.

Last Friday, January 27, the daily slashed four positions from the paper's prep sports outfit, STLhighschoolsports.com. Along with a staffer who voluntarily left in December and won't be replaced, that means the prep sports team is now down from eight employees to three. Among those laid off were both newer hires and Paul Kopsky, a photo editor who'd been with the company for 30 years.

The high school sports unit has long been something of an organizational anomaly. Kopsky says he was hired back in 1992 by Sport Stats, which was owned by what was then the Post-Dispatch's parent company, Pulitzer. In 1996, when the daily first went online, STLhighschoolsports.com was a separate part of the website with its own brand. "We became a force in the high school sports scene," Kopsky recalls.

Even so, the writers and editors employed there continue to work out of a separate building (these days, they're in Maryland Heights) and are not part of the United Media Guild, which represents other Post-Dispatch writers and editors.

Some parts of that arrangement are now changing. Tracy Rouch, director of public relations for the Post-Dispatch, says that the remaining journalists on the prep sports beat "will now be a part of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newsroom."

"Two STL High School Sports reporters and one editor will continue to cover St. Louis area high school sports as part of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch with added help from the newsroom, including multi-media coverage," she writes. "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch remains committed to first-rate high school sports coverage." And that will still be available at stlhighschoolsports.com in addition to the pages of the Post-Dispatch, she says.

Ben Vessa, who joined the unit as a stringer in 2018 and was hired on part-time in 2020, was one of those let go. He says he's worried about what the dismissals will mean for the paper's coverage.

"I tried to ask during the phone call I received whether this marked the end of high school sports coverage for the paper, and I heard words like 'reconfiguring' and 'restructuring,' but when you cut four of the seven members of the department, it appears the writing is on the wall," he writes in an email. "What I thought we did best was highlight members of every sport, no matter how under the radar. My main beats were field hockey, boys and girls wrestling and boys and girls lacrosse, and some of my favorite stories came from places like the Illinois bowling state championships or from the local high school racquetball scene.

"Unfortunately, it appears those athletes and teams will be the most adversely impacted by this decision."

Kopsky came to the Sports Stat job from radio and continued to represent STLhighschoolsports.com on KMOX, serving as its high school sports reporter from 1997 to 2007. He recalls much bigger staffs, with as many as 10 full-time employees and another team of as many as 10 high school kids coming in to take stats over the phone from coaches.

But after surviving a few rounds of layoffs, he knows much has changed since the glory days of the 1990s.

"We were pleased to be still alive when many high school sports staffs around the country were wiped out," he says. "We were fortunate. At times, because I wasn't making a ton of money, I thought about moving on, but I had such a good boss, and I was comfortable. I thought I'd ride it out — maybe to retirement."

Now, at 60, Kopsky knows he needs to find his next job. He's thinking about trying to set up a business photographing high school athletes, with payment coming not from a newspaper but from their parents or schools. "I might even find a way to stay" in the world of prep sports, he says.

Both Vessa and Kopsky say they were touched by the volume of responses they got when they posted their departures on Twitter.

Welp … I had a hunch the call was coming. It’s truly been an honor telling the stories and celebrating the accomplishments of young people as part of the @STLhssports team. To all the ADs, coaches and athletes who welcomed me and chatted with me, a heartfelt thank you.

— Ben Vessa (@VessaBen) January 27, 2023

Says Vessa, "I received so many kind messages from coaches, athletes and readers who were grateful of the work we did in highlighting the achievements and telling the stories of high school students, and I am so thankful to all of those who reached out. It helped to validate that what we did was impactful."

Kopsky adds, "When something like this happens, you realize how people really feel about you and what you did. That's the thing that really hit me."

After 30 years of covering high school sports for the Post-Dispatch and STLtoday in a variety of roles, my time came to an end yesterday. Thanks to all my co-workers and the coaches, ADs and athletes I worked with over the years. It's time for a new opportunity.

— Paul Kopsky (@PaulSTLhss) January 28, 2023

While Kopsky faces the future with uncertainty, he's still grateful for the job he loved for so many years. He says, with awe in his voice, "I got paid to go watch sports."

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