Hall of Fame journalist Jerry Tipton is retiring after 41 years of covering University of Kentucky athletics.
Tipton, who many know as the UK beat writer who often asks the difficult questions, will certainly always be remembered for this exchange with John Calipari:
Jerry Tipton just checked John Calipari.
“This is a media day, not coach day.” pic.twitter.com/R6Pf718dbn
— Clayton Abernathy (@ClayKY1) October 12, 2017
Here is an excerpt about Tipton’s retirement from the Herald-Leader:
“I spent 46 years in the news business,” said former Herald-Leader sports editor Mike Johnson, who first hired Tipton. “Jerry is simply the best beat reporter I’ve ever seen. Not sports reporter, beat reporter.”
“Jerry is the consummate professional,” said Gene Abell, the Herald-Leader’s sports editor from 1989 to 2015. “I am not sure I know anyone who worked that long on a beat with such a high profile. There is no down time, no offseason. The pressure is constant and relentless. Jerry had a unique ability to shield the distractions and drama and stay focused on his job – which he saw as being the messenger of information to the public.”
A Michigan native and Marshall University graduate, Tipton joined the Lexington Herald on Aug. 25, 1981, after 10 years at the Huntington Herald-Dispatch, where he covered Marshall athletics, Ohio and West Virginia high school sports, wrote a Sunday bowling column and worked on the news copy desk.
“I toiled in newsrooms for half a century and I had the joy of working with many fine reporters, but none any better than Jerry,” said Mike Connell, who as the Herald-Dispatch sports editor recommended Tipton for the job in Lexington.
The great @JerryTipton, @USBWA Hall of Famer who is announcing his retirement, wrote my alltime favorite lead on a game story. After Penn St upset @KentuckyMBB with brothers Joe and Jon scoring big, Jerry wrote:
“Kentucky got fried last night. Extra Crispin.”
Congrats, Legend
— Michael DeCourcy (@tsnmike) May 31, 2022
