Why I wrote a ‘book’ about Jay Getty by accident

If you’re reading this first before you’re confronted with what we’ve just published today, you’re about to embark on a long journey through time. But there’s a lot there and we, or maybe just I, thought it was worth it. 

I’ve known Coach Getty since I first graduated UCF into my very first professional newspaper job at the Seminole Chronicle newspaper in 2004, which some of you may remember. It’s buried in a “Raiders of the Lost Ark”-style warehouse by now, but the first athlete profile story I ever put in print was about Oviedo High School’s Jenny Barringer, who would be an Olympian in less than 4 years, thanks in part to Getty. He was exceptionally kind in making sure I got everything I needed for that story. So was Jenny. 

It helped that I was a runner. At that point I’d run four years of cross country and track and dozens of 5Ks. Runners, especially marathoners, are all connected in some way. Either way, Getty helped me many times in the first 10 or so years of my career, when he wasn’t also our paper’s guest columnist sending us dispatches from Hagerty High School from his desk as its athletic director. He never missed a deadline.

When I first reached out to Coach Getty in late fall of last year about his retirement, it had been a while since we talked. Years even. We were on the verge of the holiday break, Christmas events were already upon us, but he responded like we’d last talked yesterday. I knew he deserved a proper sendoff. I can think of very few people in the Oviedo area more well-known and well-regarded than Coach Getty. I told him my plan. “Always glad to share a story!!” was his reply.  

I met him on the track at Seminole High School in the second week of February, and it was as if we’d never lost contact. We casually talked for a while in between events. He introduced me to his inspiration to become a coach, Denis Scheider, on the infield grass. 

What became of that wasn’t just about Getty, but a historical journey through the lives of several coaches, a family and an Olympian all together in one story, reported over the course of nearly four months. This handful of coaches shared so much that it really enlightened me about the life of a coach, particularly coming from multiple generations of them at once, all centered around one beloved friend they’re sorry to see go. 

I didn’t set out to write this story the way it ended up, but I’m glad it did.

This is the most expansive feature story I’ve ever written in my life, comprising 11,393 words, which is quite a lot; half of the length of “The Catcher in the Rye.” There are a few natural stopping points in the story, which we used to split it into three parts for you, arriving over the next few weeks. Thank you for reading the story, especially if you get all the way to the end, which I think contains about as rewarding a payoff as it gets.