Moving on at the top of his game

I first met Kevin O'Brien three years ago at Gonzaga. I was in my second week on the job as Sports Editor of the Gonzaga Bulletin, and I was meeting with prospective writers for the page. I had never seen any writing examples from the reporters I was talking to, so I figured that this would just be an informational meeting so they could get their feet wet and learn how to contribute in the future.

At the end of the meeting, I asked if anyone had any story ideas for the next issue. After some silence, one man spoke up and said that he had an idea for a sports column about the need for college football at Gonzaga. I had never seen this guy's work before, so I had no idea what kind of writer he was, or if he was just more interested in getting his name published. After all, at the time, the sports section was notorious for employing flaky and unpolished writers. For some reason, I agreed to let him do it.

One impressive debut column later, and Kevin O'Brien's sportswriting career had begun.

He became the hardest worker I had seen on the Sports staff, taking any story assignment that was thrown his way and producing well-written articles every time. Later, he moved on to the position of sports editor and columnist, where he and his co-editor Travis Lucian hit a home run with their in-depth and unique sports coverage. And of course, during this past year, he authored the excellent blogs "The Ex-Call Taker" and "Remember 51," from which I drew inspiration constantly.

He was a wealth of sports knowledge, and could turn any situation into an obscure sports reference ("God, I feel worse than I did when the Warriors picked Todd Fuller 11th in the 1996 Draft"). He even got one of his columns published on ESPN.com, and was able to have it referenced live on College GameDay.

Why all the love for Kevin right now, you ask? Well, because in a Barry Sanders-like move, Kevin is leaving the sportswriting world at the top of his game. But not because of a lack of desire or ideas or any selfish reason. In fact, it is because of the most unselfish reason of all.

You see, there was always another side to Kevin that wasn't as obvious as his love for sports, but it still was in important factor in his life, and that's why he is doing what he is doing now: joining the Priesthood. Kevin O'Brien, writer, columnist, blogger and sports fan extraordinaire, is in training to become Fr. Kevin.

This was his plan all along, this is where is biggest passion lay. He finished what he set out to do this summer by writing about the Giants every day, and now he is moving on with the next chapter in his life. And I couldn't be more proud of him.

When I first heard the news, I had trouble wrapping my brain around it, but then I remembered the way he was when he worked at Gonzaga's Jesuit House, or the way he interacted with many of the Jesuits at GU, and I understood. When you find your calling, you have to answer.

So this is merely an attempt to say thanks. Thanks for the hard work and great writing, thanks for your knowledge, and thanks for teaching me a thing or two. I'll miss your regular blog updates and the quality that came with it, but in the grand scheme of things its not as important as taking an important next step in your life.

It takes an awful lot of dedication to be as good of a writer as he is, but it takes even more dedication to leave it behind because of a higher calling. Based on the way he's talked about his next step, I know he'll approach it with the same excitement as he did with his love of sports.

Sports and the Priesthood aren't things that seem to go hand-in-hand very often, but I have a feeling that Kevin will figure out a way to balance his passions. When we were getting ready to graduate from Gonzaga last May, Kevin mentioned that graduations should be held like the NBA draft, where each graduate is selected by a group for their immediate future. "With the first pick, the Jesuits select ... Kevin O'Brien!"

Yeah, I think he'll do just fine.

I'm proud to have worked beside him for so many years, and I'm proud of the next steps he is now taking.