Sports column: The Vicksburg Post’s football preview issue is a great tradition worth preserving
Released Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 4:00 AM
Like most sports editors across the country, one of the many tasks I am assigned each year is to produce a football preview issue.
Some might consider this a tedious task, and maybe it is: writing 12 feature-length articles, taking around 300 photos of athletes, and then editing it all and putting it on the page, all in about three weeks, is a lot of work.
But during my time at the Vicksburg Post, I’ve come to see it less as a chore and more as a tradition I’m proud to uphold.
The Post’s first football preview issue was published in 1976 and has been published every August since then, and the current issue, included with this weekend’s print and digital editions, will be issue No. 49 — nearly half a century.
During that time, the Preview issue certainly evolved, from a massive 100-page newspaper edition that included state and local colleges to a more concise, dense 48-page glossy magazine called “Playmakers,” which focused primarily on local high school teams.
The current version is, by design, a keepsake edition that can be kept throughout the year. I always keep a copy on my desk to use as a yearbook-like reference tool for the current season. While the season preview articles may not have a long shelf life, the features such as the Warren County record book, schedules and rosters will stand the test of time. Team and individual photos give it a yearbook-like feel.
It all leads up to the 2024 edition of “Playmakers,” available in this weekend’s print and digital editions, with individual articles posted at vicksburgpost.com. If you missed it in this weekend’s paper, you can pick up a few copies at our offices at 1106 Washington St. in downtown Vicksburg. A limited number will also be available at the Red Carpet Bowl on Aug. 30.
“Playmakers 2024” includes all the basics mentioned above, as well as features on players from five area teams: Vicksburg High, Warren Central, St. Aloysius, Porter’s Chapel Academy and Tallulah Academy.
One of the most intriguing stories involves the Magnolia Wildcats, a homeschool team from central Mississippi, who are entering their first season with roughly a third of their 31-man roster made up of players from Vicksburg.
The other is a review of the Vicksburg-Warren School District’s new clear bag policy, which goes into effect this season.
Playmakers is 48 pages long and is packed with about 30 features. As always, we’ve done our best to make it available throughout the season, not just at the beginning. We hope you enjoy it.
Let’s do it again next year.
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Ernest Bowker is sports editor for the Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com.
About Ernest Bowker
Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. He has been with The Vicksburg Post since 1998 and is one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper’s 140-year history. A native of New Jersey, Bowker is a graduate of Louisiana State University. He has won more than 50 awards for his coverage of Vicksburg local sports from the Mississippi Press Association and the Associated Press.
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