Chuck Landon stands inside the living room of his home on Jan. 3, 2025, in Huntington.
Ryan Fischer | The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON — Chuck Landon covered Heisman Trophy candidates and major bowl games and interviewed the biggest stars in sports.
Some of his most cherished days, though, were spent as a college student writing for The Parthenon, Marshall University’s newspaper.
“It might be when I was made sports editor of the Parthenon the first time,†Landon said of his fondest memory of a 53-year career in journalism. “I walked in as a second-semester journalism student, and I told them my name and told them I was there to volunteer for whatever they need. They just kept trusting me with more and more and more.â€
That was the start of a career during which Landon won awards, broke major stories and sparked a wide range of emotions in readers. Landon’s career has now come to an end, as he announced his retirement from HD Media, owner of The Herald-Dispatch and ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Gazette-Mail, among other newspapers.
Landon, 71, suffered a stroke last summer, causing him to crash his pickup truck. His physical injuries were minor, but the stroke altered his ability to communicate via the written word.
This is an undated file photo of HD Media sports columnist Chuck Landon.
Gazette-Mail file
“You never think it’s going to end, certainly not the way it did,†Landon said in his living room. “I soon found out it took away my ability to write. I can write a list or whatever, something like that. But to sit down and write, I can’t do it.â€
‘He didn’t always write what I wanted to hear’
Many readers say they wish Landon would return to the sports pages. Others might not miss Landon’s no-punches-pulled style. He said he’s all right with that.
Among those missing Landon’s writing is former Marshall football coach Bob Pruett, who now considers him a friend.
“I tell you one thing about Chuck, he dug and researched,†Pruett said. “He didn’t always write what I wanted to hear. That’s the way journalism should be. Give the fans the facts.â€
Landon’s colleagues respected him. Beat writers, many of whom Landon protected by tackling controversial issues in his column, particularly appreciated him.
Writers also were eager to see Landon’s comments on the boys’ state basketball tournament on running score sheets he banged out on a typewriter at courtside and handed out along press row.
“My introduction to Chuck was in the early 1980s, when, writing for The Intelligencer in Wheeling, I’d often come to town for the state basketball tournament,†said Rick Ryan, who also worked for the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä newspapers. “Back then, Chuck typed up a running play-by-play of the games to hand out to media afterward — a task that computer programs have since assumed.
“Chuck always stuck in a few witticisms on the play-by-play sheets, so much so that they became must-reads for media members. ... It was quintessential Chuck. He was forever attracting attention with his own way of writing.â€
‘I beat Chuck Landon’
Landon also was famous for his high school football picks each Friday. Readers entered their own selections from a list of games in the Kanawha Valley. Those who made more correct choices of winners received an “I beat Chuck Landon†bumper sticker.
Jeff Rider, executive editor of HD Media, said he grew up reading Landon’s columns in the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Daily Mail and particularly enjoyed the high school picks pieces, which he would pore over alongside his friends at Herbert Hoover High School.
“That’s the thing about Chuck — whether you loved him or hated him, you always made time to read his work,†Rider said. “Sometimes, it would make you laugh. Other times, it would make you think. Most of the time, it just made you mad. But, regardless of the subject matter, Chuck had a way of eliciting an honest, emotional reaction from the reader. That’s a skill very few journalists possess.â€
Landon was known for his college coverage, but his columns on high school sports were some of his favorites.
“I always had fun with the high schools,†Landon said. “That was good stuff. It was so much fun back in the [Kanawha Valley Conference] days, when you had all the different high schools. ... You always had stuff to write about. I came up at the perfect time.â€
Rider said Landon’s retirement leaves an unfillable vacuum.
“Chuck will forever be an institution in West Virginia sports media, and his contributions will be sorely missed,†Rider said. “All of us at HD Media wish him the best in his retirement.â€
That includes HD Media sports director Zack Klemme.
“Chuck has, for decades, been a must-read in newspapers in Huntington and ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä because of his dogged insistence on telling it like he saw it, come what may,†Klemme said. “The institutional knowledge he brought to his columns was legendary, and he approached his job with an old-school columnist’s mentality of getting answers for the fans.â€
Not bad for a guy who worked mopping and sweeping floors at First Huntington Bank while in college. Landon now laughs about that humble job. He said he was happy to have the little spending money it brought in.
“I was downstairs in the vault because it had a phone,†Landon said. “I’d get my work done and I’d call people. The Daily Mail called me and said they wanted to offer me a job. I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it.’ I went up there and never finished my college education, as it were. I hit the ground running from there. Looking back at it, it was so different to get into it that way.â€
After the Marshall crash
Landon made a name for himself with his coverage of the 1970 Marshall plane crash for the Parthenon. The stories particularly were difficult because Landon lived in South Hall with several of the football players who died in the crash. He fought back tears as he recounted the event.
“I refused to go out to the crash site,†Landon said. “It was 22 years before I went out there. I finally went out there and went to a house. An older lady answered the door, and I told her what I was doing. She said her husband was the first person on the scene. She said he came back and said, ‘Now I know what hell looks like.’ I was in the dorm with all those guys. I had 11 guys just on my wing.â€
The night of the crash, Landon and friends went to Boney’s Hole in the Wall, a local bar popular with Marshall’s athletes.
“We waited for The Herald-Dispatch to come out because that would make it true,†he said.
Landon said Marshall’s rise from the crash to a Top 10 program under Pruett from 1996 through 2004 is a cherished memory.
“The years with Bobby Pruett, you couldn’t beat those,†Landon said. “That has to be one of the great comeback stories from the crash to what Bobby took them to.â€
Landon mentioned several people he enjoyed working with, including Sam Hindman, whom he replaced at the Daily Mail. He recalled times with ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä writers Jody Jividen, Mike Cherry and Tom Aluise, among others, as well as several Herald-Dispatch reporters.
Retired HD Media sports columnist Chuck Landon sits in the living room of his Huntington home on Jan. 3, 2025.
RYAN FISCHER | HD Media
At peace with retirement
Landon also said he enjoyed the rivalries with other columnists, such as The Herald-Dispatch’s Ernie Salvatore, with whom he was friendly, and The ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Gazette’s Danny Wells.
“Ernie was at a different level,†Landon said. “I liked sitting next to him in the press box. We talked and reminisced.â€
Landon said he doesn’t attend many games now, preferring to watch them on television. He said he misses writing and would love to be able to chime in on the daily happenings in the world of sports, but those days likely are gone.
Following his stroke, Landon went to rehabilitation for six months, which he said helped a lot. Still, he says he can get stuck while talking, when he can’t seem to find the word he’s searching for.
“There are certain words that just won’t come,†he said. “You adapt.â€
Adapt he has. Landon is at peace with retirement, and he still talks sports and expresses opinions to anyone who’ll listen.
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