Message from the Publisher
Dear Reader,
Most reporters pride themselves on accuracy; getting things right.
Just one wrong fact or quote can ruin an otherwise perfect story.
It can even alter what’s written in history books. The records we
write today very well could be the documents
future generations use to research life in 2014.
As a reporter/editor/publisher, I have
experienced this lesson many times over
the years. I also experienced it first-hand
on more than one occasion as a long-time
board member for the Joseph F. Glidden
Homestead & Historical Center. Writers
covering events at the Glidden Homestead would often include a
wrong date for when Joe Glidden invented “The Winner” barbed
wire, and then continually keep reprinting that incorrect date.
That’s why it’s important for me to note communication from
Michael Korcek, a long-time journalism colleague and friend.
Korcek wrote in an e-mail that he has lived in this community
for 45 years and has been covering sports and more specifically,
Northern Illinois University athletics, for half a century. In the
last issue of InVironments, my Publisher’s Letter was dedicated
to the new book “Acres of Change: A History of DeKalb County,
Illinois, 1963-2012.” Korcek’s name was left out of the paragraph
naming contributing writers and for that I apologize. He made the
significant contribution of nearly six pages about NIU athletics
and rightly should be included in the list of the book’s writers.
Korcek, who still writes a sports column for the local daily,
brought up a “minor issue” with information contained in the
DeKalb Wrestling Club story–most of which came from the
club’s history written for its annual banquet. Korcek said while
he is aware of the rich legacy for wrestling in our community
(he worked with the “father of DeKalb wrestling” Don Flavin
for many, many years in his role at NIU), “I have a minor
issue with the paragraph on Hall of Famer Phil Szukis. I was
in school and worked at the Northern Star covering Huskie
football when he played here in the late 1960s. I was aware of
his accomplishments at DeKalb High and being a two-sport
athlete at NIU in that early Division I era was impressive, too.
“But Phil never got drafted by the NFL (I checked the 1971
and 1972 NFL drafts the other day—884 athletes and no
Szukis). If anything, maybe Phil was a free agent and had a
tryout. There is a distinct difference,” said Korcek. “We (NIU
Sports Information) had no record of this and I tried to update
the Huskies i