Tag Archives: California Scholastic Press Association

Episode 115: Hit the Ball as Hard as You Can | Larry Welborn

One of the first guests I had on my podcast was David Kramer, the oldest son of Jack Kramer, one of the world’s most famous tennis players of all time.

One of the questions I was most excited to ask David was what advice did his father give him and he didn’t have a very clear answer.  I remember talking with my Dad after the interview telling him that I was a little bit disappointed about not getting a little nugget or a pearl of wisdom from the late Jack Kramer.

My Dad told me it wasn’t as easy as I thought it should be and then he asked me what I would say if somebody asked me, and I wasn’t sure what I would say.

In anticipation of this interview I was eager to see what my dad would when I asked him what piece of advice he would give to his children and here’s what he said:

“Hit the ball as hard as you can.”

Larry Welborn recently retired after a 43-year career as the legal affairs reporter for the Orange County Register, in which he covered many high-profile cases but showed a high level of enthusiasm and dedication in every story he covered.

Hit the Ball as Hard as You Can Larry Welborn Zeb Welborn

Larry & Zeb Welborn

Since 1981, Welborn has also been the chairman and president of CSPA, which is preparing for its 64th-annual high school journalism workshop on the campus of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Larry Welborn knew hew wanted to become a journalist at an early age.  At the time, Larry liked two things, he liked baseball and he liked to read.  A book he read as a child, The Freshman Backstop, encouraged him to combine his two loves and become a journalist who wrote about baseball.

In High School he enrolled in journalism classes and he began to write.  A mentor of his, Ralph Alexander took him under his wing and encouraged Larry to pursue his career in journalism and helped him along the way.

Some of Larry’s most famous trial cases were:

  • the Manson Murder Trial
  • the Rodney James Alcala Serial Murder Trials
  • the Nick Adenhart DUI Trial
  • the 2 Fullerton Police Officer’s Beating of a Young Man
Larry, Annie, and Zeb Welborn Hit the Ball as Hard as You Can

Larry, Annie, and Zeb Welborn

Success Quotes:

  • The last line of the story is the one that readers remember.
  • Hit the ball as hard as you can.
  • Success is having a family who loves you, friends who care about you, colleagues who respect you, acquaintances who know you and the knowledge you lived your life caring about other people.  That you loved well, were loved, took care of your family, gave back to society and had fun.
  • Success on a daily basis is being prepared to do the best you can and doing it the right way with consideration to others.

Awards:

Larry Welborn has received numerous awards during his career, but two of the most memorable awards for him was the Sky Dunlap Award by the Orange County Press Club, and recently the California Attorney’s for Criminal Justice honored him with the Journalism Integrity Award.

Thank you for everything Dad.

The Welborn Family - Hit the Ball as Hard as You Can

Welborn Family

 

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Personal Branding | Rich Hammond from the Orange County Register

Rich Hammond is the USC sports reporter for the Orange County Register and has wanted to be a sports journalist all his life. Pay particular attention to a story Rich tells about former Los Angeles Dodger player, Lou Johnson. Lou had problems with substance abuse and lost his World Series ring as a result. Listen to the podcast to learn how Lou Johnson got his World Series ring back and to learn about personal branding and what it takes to make it in the highly competitive field of sports journalism.

Thank you for visiting the Defining Success Podcast.  Please download, subscribe and rate our podcast on iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-success-podcast/id619459909 Thanks for listening!

Rich Hammond from the Orange County Register - Personal Branding

Rich Hammond from the Orange County Register

Recap:

Rich Hammond always knew he wanted to be a journalist.  He loved reading and writing at a young age.  Once he began writing for his junior high school newspaper, he knew that was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

Sports writing is a highly competitive field and Rich knew that he needed a strong foundation in his writing abilities and got lucky with some opportunities that were presented to him.  He attributes his success to the fact that he always seized opportunities when they came to him.  He encourages others to do the same.

He attended the CSPA (California Scholastic Press Association) Workshop and established some great connections that helped him along the way.  He goes back to volunteer his time every two weeks during the Summer’s at the campus at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Each day is a challenge writing and every day presents new opportunities for Rich and he tries to make the most of them.  He enjoys successed every day and feels very fortunate that he’s been able to cover numerous memorable sporting events.

Being a journalist is interesting in the sense that you have to understand people’s motivations and you need to distinguish who’s telling the truth.  Often times Rich feels he made mistakes because sometimes he was too cautious about using sources or sometimes he has taken sources at their word and it’s “bit (him) in the butt.”  Typos are also a concern to Rich and he knows the value of making sure to avoid typos.

The coolest part for Rich about being a journalist is going to major sporting events for free.  People pay money to attend these events and he feels very lucky that he’s been able to attend some of the greatest sporting events.  It also gives Rich the freedom to travel, see different parts of the country and a lot of interesting people.

Although journalism is changing the fundamentals are still the same.  You have to be able to tell a story, be accurate, to relate to people, to ask good questions, to be aware and you have to be able to communicate.  We are now in a 24-hour news cycle, if something happens, as a reporter, you need to be on that story.

One of the biggest changes in journalism is the more personalized relationship with their readers.  During the age of newspapers, all people would see was the persons name in print, but now writers appear in T.V., more pictures are shown, they appear on podcasts and establish more of a personal connection then what was done in years past.  Your online reputation is important and now everything you do matters.  With the easy to use Google searches, Facebook pages and LinkedIn accounts it is now more important than ever to establish your online reputation.  When people look for you online, what are you going to find? Personal branding is critical to the success of businesses in the online world.

For Rich, success was working hard, enjoying what he did, and being happy doing it.  For him, it has nothing to do with money.  If money, or titles determine your success than there will always be something that you don’t have.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • How Do You Know What You Were Meant To Do?
  • How Do You Know if You’re a Success?
  • How important is personal branding?

Links to Great Stuff:

Quotes of the Episode:

  • “Your name becomes your brand . . . your name is your currency.” – Rich Hammond
  • “If you can go to bed at night being happy with who you are and what you’ve done then I think that’s what makes you a success.”

Special Requests:

Rich Hammond at the CSPA Workshop

Rich Hammond at the CSPA Workshop

THANK YOU!

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