Allegany Communications News

09/25/2025

It’s a secret! (from Mrs. Twigg)
But we want you to tell everyone!

We are celebrating, Mrs. Twigg has been a teacher at Humpty Dumpty Learning Center for 50 Years!

We will be having an “Open House” for all her past and present students to come in and congratulate her on 50 years. We will be having cake, cookies, and punch.

It will be on Sunday September 28th from 2-4 pm at Humpty Dumpty.

Please come out and join us!

*If you have pictures from you or your child’s time here, we would love to see them.

Please SHARE this!!!!!

09/24/2025

Ravens are uhmm … Still 14 games to go

MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
For the entire offseason we were told by the pundits (or, as the great Tom O’Rourke called them, “the wonks”) that the Baltimore Ravens were a favorite to be in the Super Bowl, if not the Super Bowl champion.
The Ravens defense was said to be among the NFL elite, and the offense was going to be unstoppable. The Ravens would play five playoff teams through the first six weeks of the season, but that shouldn’t be a problem for this stacked team, even though it routinely fails to beat playoff teams in the playoffs.
And how stacked is this team? The Ravens roster, it was said more than a few times, would be the deepest and most talented roster in the 30-year history of the franchise.
Meanwhile, three weeks into the season, it seems there is a problem, as the Ravens do lead the NFL in scoring with 111 points, but are 1-2 where it counts following their 38-30 beatdown at the hands of the Detroit Lions in front of over 70,000 bewildered home folks, and now head to Kansas City where they have not won during the Lamar Jackson era.
Talk about the seven sacks of Lamar Jackson, talk about Derrick Henry’s ghastly and costly fumble for the second time in three weeks. Both are legitimate talking points, but even so, the Ravens still scored 30 points. And lost. Again.
What I took to slumber were the two Lions scoring drives of 98 and 95 yards respectively. Yes, two scoring drives nearly the length of the field in the same game. The last time even one of those happened against the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium was in 2001.
With all-pro tackle Nnamdi Madubuike and all-pro linebacker Kyle Van Noy out with injuries, the Ravens were at a disadvantage to say the least, but for allegedly having the most talented roster in team history, this team has no depth at defensive tackle, and, for what seems like 10 years running, no pass rush.
The Lions basically beat the Ravens the way the Ravens beat non-playoff teams, by exposing the poor play of the defensive tackles. The Lions ran inside double-team power-gap blocking all night, and there was no one dressed in black to stop it.
Madubuike and Van Noy have each accounted for 21 1/2 sacks since the start of 2023, but without them, the Ravens were left with five players between the interior and edges of the defensive line still on rookie contracts. That leaves safety Kyle Hamilton as the only viable blitzer, but he has spent the first three games deep in coverage and away from the line of scrimmage.
It is feared Madubuike’s neck problems are something that will keep him out for an extended period of time, so now would probably be the time for general manager Eric DeCosta to look into a trade or raid a practice squad, because the Ravens need to get someone who can tackle, and they need to do it fast.
Conversely, the Lions, who once again look to be among the NFL elite, did not allow a sack of quarterback Jared Goff, they did not turn the ball over and were the varsity vs. the jayvees on every fourth down.
Running back David Montgomery rushed for 151 yards on 12 carries and Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 67 yards on 22 carries, combining for four touchdowns.
Goff threw for 202 yards, completing 20 of 28 passes with a touchdown and enjoyed easy living operating from the pocket as the Ravens front could barely get into the picture with him, much less get close enough to throw off his timing.
The Ravens missed 20 tackles and allowed 426 yards of total offense, which puts them at the bottom of the league this season after ranking second in rushing success rate last year.
Deepest and most talented roster in team history?
Super Bowl contender?
I think cornerback Marlon Humphrey had a more realistic take on it at this point: “We’re just not very good.”

Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X

09/24/2025

Special Weather Statement issued September 24 at 4:00AM EDT by NWS Baltimore MD/Washington DC

September 24, 2025 at 4:02:30 AM EDT
The combination of light winds and lingering low level moisture will create areas of fog through daybreak this morning. Visibilities can become less than a quarter of a mile at times in the thickest of fog. Please use caution if traveling early this morning.

Shared from the Allegany County Sheriff MD

09/23/2025

RECREATION AREA CLOSURE UPDATE:

The Howell Run Boat Launch is no longer useable for boats requiring a trailer to launch. The area will remain open for shoreline access. The restrooms are closed for the season. The current inflow is 41 cfs with an outflow of 246 cfs.

The restrooms at Shaw Beach are closed for the season.

The Howell Run Picnic Area and Robert W. Craig Campground are reservable through September 30th.

JRL staff would like to thank everyone for a great recreation season!

09/23/2025

UPDATE: all clear 6:59pm

Police Activity in the area of Broadway and Mechanic st in Frostburg. Please stay away from area.e

09/22/2025

Not a big game? Definitely a big win

MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
Maryland’s 27-10 win at Wisconsin on Saturday was huge, and the most important Maryland football win in some time.
Granted, Wisconsin doesn’t appear to be the Wisconsin we’ve grown accustomed to seeing, and the fans at Camp Randall Stadium certainly took every opportunity to remind Badgers head coach Luke Fickell of that. Yet for the young 4-0 Terps, and, boy, are they ever young, that’s Bo Callahan’s problem, not theirs.
Nobody qualifies every win the other Big Ten schools pile up at Maryland’s expense with, “Yeah, but Maryland’s down.” The street runs both ways, and while it wasn’t a win over Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State, it was still a dominating win as a 10.5-point underdog over a brand Big Ten program in front of one of the largest and loudest fanbases in the conference in a hallowed Big Ten venue.
It also comes on the heels of a 4-8 season in which Maryland went 1-8 in the Big Ten, which, short memories being what they are, erased all evidence of the Terps’ three consecutive bowl-winning seasons that preceded it.
Headed into the game, the Terps seemed incredulous that they were not only a 10-plus point underdog, but an underdog by any count (I took them on my card for Recreational Use Only).
Call it the naive brashness of youth, but Maryland seemed very confident they were going to win, and it didn’t take long into the first quarter on Saturday to understand why they felt that way.
Maryland’s win wasn’t an upset, it was a trip to the woodshed. The Terps were the better and more assertive team from the beginning, and their overall team speed, particularly on defense, was striking.
And it was Maryland’s true freshman quarterback Malik Washington looking like the seasoned veteran rather than former Terp Billy Edwards Jr., who started for the Badgers but was lost after a few plays to injuries, and his replacement Danny O’Neil, who, thanks to the Maryland defense, resembled a human crash dummy for much of the day.
While Washington was becoming the second true freshman in the past 20 years to pass for 250 yards or more in each of his first four games, the Maryland defense was hounding O’Neil and forcing the Badgers to go 3-for-17 on third downs.
Maryland’s defense, led by junior linebacker Daniel Wingate, freshman linebacker/end Zahir Mathis and freshman defensive end Sidney Stewart, is fast and physical. While the offense was adjusting to the six dropped passes Terps receivers committed (a problem), the defense and special teams set the tone of the game, and truthfully, the 20-0 halftime lead should have been by more because Maryland was clearly a better team than Wisconsin.
Head coach Michael Locksley said over the summer that Wingate reminds him of former Terps great EJ Henderson with his ability to go sideline to sideline and always be around the ball. Might as well throw former Terps great D’Qwell Jackson’s name in there as well.
Stewart leads the Big Ten in tackles for loss, Mathis blocked the field goal attempt on Wisconsin’s first possession to put the Terps in the driver’s seat early, and freshman safety Messiah Delhomme blocked a punt for the second week in a row.
As Locksley said after the game, there is still much to fix, and the Terps will have a bye week to work on it. While Washington has proven to be ahead of his years, the offense needs work, as does (as always) some on-field decision-making. But what sometimes seems to be poor decisions can be the result of aggressiveness you like to see.
Still, the Terps enter the bye week at 4-0 and 1-0 in the conference with good Saturday night reviews from the national media and a positive buzz amongst its fanbase, that hopefully will begin to buy what Locksley’s been selling; because right now, while it’s just one conference game, it looks like it can be an excellent product.
It all centers around Washington, the highly sought-after quarterback who stayed home to play at Maryland, because it’s a star quarterback, particularly a local one, particularly a freshman, who can elevate a program both on and off the field, amongst media, the fans and, most importantly, recruits, who might want to stay home as well, but who want to play immediately.
With this year’s team flooded with talented underclassmen, recruits see that Michael Locksley is a man of his word.
It’s as Lefty Driesell told John Lucas the high-school recruit when Lucas asked him if he could play at Maryland as a freshman the first year freshmen would be eligible to play: “Son … I don’t care if you’re blind. If you can shoot, you’re gonna play.”
Anyone, though, with visions of Maryland becoming last year’s Indiana dancing in their heads should have those visions exit stage left. That’s not going to happen. There will still be bumps along the road, and Maryland still needs to prove it can win some big games.
But don’t let anyone say that Saturday’s win at Wisconsin wasn’t a big win, because it was. And it was a big deal, because it gave Terps fans and recruits, and a national television audience, a good look at what just might be.

Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X

09/19/2025

MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports

Robert Redford said, “The glory of art is that it can not only survive change, it can lead it.”
Redford died on Wednesday at the age of 89. He was an actor, a director, a producer and the founder of the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, as well as an advocate for nature, artistic expression and free speech, which has never been more important than it is now.
Word of his death has caused most of us great pause. Robert Redford being 89 years of age actually threw me more than the news of his death did. Yet word of his death saddens us, not because we were friends; we never even knew him.
Yet somehow, maybe we did. As he said in his role as Johnny Ho**er in The Sting, “You know me. I’m just like you. It’s two in the morning and I don’t know nobody.”
Everyone who loves movies has their own favorite Robert Redford films. Mine are All the President’s Men, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Three Days of the Condor, which I just finally watched, The Natural, The Way We Were, The Great Gatsby, Jeremiah Johnson, The Candidate, Barefoot in the Park, The Spy Game, and every single one of us could go on and on.
Early on, when Redford was strictly on screen, it seemed it couldn’t be a Robert Redford film if there wasn’t at least one scene of him sprinting extended distances, something that much later seemed to be a staple in the films of a young Tom Cruise. And it wasn’t a Robert Redford film at all without at least one trademark Redford double-take.
Redford starred in so many exceptional political thrillers, including those that really happened. He was current and ahead of the times at the same time. We can only wonder what he’d have for us now.
He bought the film rights to “All the President’s Men” and played Bob Woodward, reporter for the Washington Post, who, along with Carl Bernstein, played by Dustin Hoffman, broke the Watergate story, motivating countless young people in the mid-’70s to turn to newspapering as their careers.
Every scene between Redford, Hoffman and Jason Robards, who played Post editor Ben Bradlee, is a piece of cinema history. Three screen legends playing three real, enormously consequential individuals at a turning point in American history.
And this is why cinema matters. It’s art.
Redford’s art stands the test of time. His devotion to young filmmakers and artists created the Sundance Film Festival. He stressed the importance of nature. As a director he created art from behind the camera.
There is no such thing as perfect anything, but as far as movies are concerned The Sting has to be the closest thing to it, beginning with the stars, Redford and Paul Newman.
Perhaps they weren’t lifetime performances by either actor, but they were perfect for the parts and their chemistry, which they had established in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, produced near-perfect performances, with Redford’s Ho**er telling Newman’s Henry Gondorff during their first meeting, “Luther said I could learn something from you. I already know how to drink.”
The movie is a gem because Redford and Newman are in it, and because the supporting cast, the script, the score and the production keep viewers moving, alert and amused every step of the way no matter how many times they’ve seen it.
In 1984, Redford made The Natural, an adaptation of the Bernard Malamud novel that got the 1980s baseball movies (good baseball movies) boom going.
It doesn’t stay accurate to the book, but in a movie like this one, in which Redford is the star and has a gorgeous left-handed swing, that’s more than okay, with Redford, as Roy Hobbs, delivering one of my two favorite movie lines: ‘God, I love baseball.”
Behind the camera, Redford hit a home run on the first pitch, winning the Oscar for best director of Ordinary People, his first movie as a director. No one had ever seen this Mary Tyler Moore before. No one had seen this Donald Sutherland before (which was saying something), and no one had even seen young Timothy Hutton before, until he won the Oscar for best supporting actor in the film.
Director Redford also earned acclaim for The Milagro Beanfield War, A River Runs Through It, and Quiz Show.
Redford was an actor who convinced you in roles ranging from high society (The Great Gatsby, The Candidate, Indecent Proposal) to grifters or regular folk just trying to find a way to get by (The Sting, Condor).
What made him the best Gatsby is you didn’t recognize Robert Redford as he was giving you Jay Gatsby.
Much more than a pretty face, he was snubbed by the Academy Awards too many times for having one. Redford’s acting was greatly overlooked and under-appreciated.
His kind of movie is fast disappearing. He made movies that confronted the complexity of the human experience and at the same time were genuinely entertaining. He could think and feel simultaneously, and, in turn, helped us to do the same.
Gratefully, we can enjoy and grow from Robert Redford’s art forever.

Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X

09/19/2025

We know Robert Redford; he’s just like us

MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
Robert Redford said, “The glory of art is that it can not only survive change, it can lead it.”
Redford died on Wednesday at the age of 89. He was an actor, a director, a producer and the founder of the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, as well as an advocate for nature, artistic expression and free speech, which has never been more important than it is now.
Word of his death has caused most of us great pause. Robert Redford being 89 years of age actually threw me more than the news of his death did. Yet word of his death saddens us, not because we were friends; we never even knew him.
Yet somehow, maybe we did. As he said in his role as Johnny Ho**er in The Sting, “You know me. I’m just like you. It’s two in the morning and I don’t know nobody.”
Everyone who loves movies has their own favorite Robert Redford films. Mine are All the President’s Men, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Three Days of the Condor, which I just finally watched, The Natural, The Way We Were, The Great Gatsby, Jeremiah Johnson, The Candidate, Barefoot in the Park, The Spy Game, and every single one of us could go on and on.
Early on, when Redford was strictly on screen, it seemed it couldn’t be a Robert Redford film if there wasn’t at least one scene of him sprinting extended distances, something that much later seemed to be a staple in the films of a young Tom Cruise. And it wasn’t a Robert Redford film at all without at least one trademark Redford double-take.
Redford starred in so many exceptional political thrillers, including those that really happened. He was current and ahead of the times at the same time. We can only wonder what he’d have for us now.
He bought the film rights to “All the President’s Men” and played Bob Woodward, reporter for the Washington Post, who, along with Carl Bernstein, played by Dustin Hoffman, broke the Watergate story, motivating countless young people in the mid-’70s to turn to newspapering as their careers.
Every scene between Redford, Hoffman and Jason Robards, who played Post editor Ben Bradlee, is a piece of cinema history. Three screen legends playing three real, enormously consequential individuals at a turning point in American history.
And this is why cinema matters. It’s art.
Redford’s art stands the test of time. His devotion to young filmmakers and artists created the Sundance Film Festival. He stressed the importance of nature. As a director he created art from behind the camera.
There is no such thing as perfect anything, but as far as movies are concerned The Sting has to be the closest thing to it, beginning with the stars, Redford and Paul Newman.
Perhaps they weren’t lifetime performances by either actor, but they were perfect for the parts and their chemistry, which they had established in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, produced near-perfect performances, with Redford’s Ho**er telling Newman’s Henry Gondorff during their first meeting, “Luther said I could learn something from you. I already know how to drink.”
The movie is a gem because Redford and Newman are in it, and because the supporting cast, the script, the score and the production keep viewers moving, alert and amused every step of the way no matter how many times they’ve seen it.
In 1984, Redford made The Natural, an adaptation of the Bernard Malamud novel that got the 1980s baseball movies (good baseball movies) boom going.
It doesn’t stay accurate to the book, but in a movie like this one, in which Redford is the star and has a gorgeous left-handed swing, that’s more than okay, with Redford, as Roy Hobbs, delivering one of my two favorite movie lines: ‘God, I love baseball.”
Behind the camera, Redford hit a home run on the first pitch, winning the Oscar for best director of Ordinary People, his first movie as a director. No one had ever seen this Mary Tyler Moore before. No one had seen this Donald Sutherland before (which was saying something), and no one had even seen young Timothy Hutton before, until he won the Oscar for best supporting actor in the film.
Director Redford also earned acclaim for The Milagro Beanfield War, A River Runs Through It, and Quiz Show.
Redford was an actor who convinced you in roles ranging from high society (The Great Gatsby, The Candidate, Indecent Proposal) to grifters or regular folk just trying to find a way to get by (The Sting, Condor).
What made him the best Gatsby is you didn’t recognize Robert Redford as he was giving you Jay Gatsby.
Much more than a pretty face, he was snubbed by the Academy Awards too many times for having one. Redford’s acting was greatly overlooked and under-appreciated.
His kind of movie is fast disappearing. He made movies that confronted the complexity of the human experience and at the same time were genuinely entertaining. He could think and feel simultaneously, and, in turn, helped us to do the same.
Gratefully, we can enjoy and grow from Robert Redford’s art forever.

Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X

09/17/2025

MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports

There is no intention here of being a spokesman for anyone, most certainly not for the 1975 Fort Hill football team that was recognized Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the school’s first football state championship.
Still, it’s safe to say it meant a great deal to every member of the team who attended to have been invited back to Fort Hill, being most grateful to Fort Hill principal Candy Cannan, athletic director Gavin Palumbo, teammates Dudley Holliday and Don Pullin, and everyone else who was involved in bringing this remarkable team together again, and to celebrate its landmark achievement that brought further distinction to Fort Hill.
Best I could tell there were 24 members of the team in attendance, as well as family members of the deceased teammates, and assistant coach Arnie Coleman. Assistant coach Glenn Cross had a previous commitment and sent his regrets and best wishes.
For having come together for something that took place 50 years ago, 25 is an impressive number, but certainly not surprising. This was a team that always answered the call together, and when the call went out to be at Greenway on Friday night, as many as possible were there, many traveling significant distances, including from Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Actually, based on the group picture, the number was 33, which is even more impressive, yet even less surprising. The name of every player, coach and support staffer on the team was announced, and the deceased members of the team were represented by family members wearing their loved ones’ jersey numbers: Lonnie Athey, Bob Brown, Steve Eaton, Erik Fleek, Mike McCullough, Donnie Nau, Donnie Painter, Chuck Spangler and Steve Trimble.
Fort Hill provided two complimentary tickets to the game, which, granted, did not go well, as the current Sentinels lost to Dunbar, 30-0, as well as red t-shirts commemorating the 1975 Fort Hill Sentinels and the school’s first state championship.
Many of the guys put on the shirts immediately and wore them for the rest of the evening, which concluded with a great party at Oscar’s Restaurant, which in 1975 was Shaw’s Cafe (“It’s All True”), a place most of us didn’t dare enter after a game because we weren’t old enough to (it’s all true).
The players on this team genuinely love each other. They grew up together, they competed together and against each other before coming together at Fort Hill where, over the course of four years, they were involved in just two losses, both coming in their junior season.
They did everything together through both good times and bad times, and there were a lot of hugs throughout the night on Friday, a lot of laughs, and more misty eyes than you might think.
Behind the Fort Hill end zone at the foot of the 52 steps, photographers attempted to get the large group assembled for pictures, which was about as easy as herding cats. Fifty years later, guys weren’t moving as nimbly or as quickly as they used to. In fact, they really had no interest in doing so, as everyone was too busy catching up and enjoying each other’s company once more.
With not much movement and with game time approaching, one of the photographers expressed a slight tone of frustration in trying to get the group together.
“Our team never did take instruction well,” said former All-State tackle Bruce Metz.
No, it never really did, and after a brutal opening couple of weeks of summer practice during which many key injuries, one near-catostrophic, hit the team, head coach Charlie Lattimer came to realize that – after a heart-to-heart in his office with Steve Trimble, a conversation that was initiated by Steve.
Steve, who had grown up with all the guys, asked Coach Lattimer to tone it down, because things (and Coach Lattimer) had been rough. The guys in that locker room, Steve assured him, could handle each other and any circumstance that came their way.
Coach Lattimer would tone it down, not only because he trusted Steve, but because he trusted the guys on that team, and they pretty much governed themselves and made a season in which everything had gone wrong, including losing the starting quarterback entering Week 9, a season in which everything would go right in the glorious end.
And 50 years later, there they stood, all in their mid-to-late 60s, standing behind the end zone they had worked together to successfully reach seemingly hundreds of times. And there they stood, together again.
Sure, we’re all a little larger than we used to be, and Father Time has, of course, reached down and made some coming-of-age changes, not all necessarily to our liking. But, frankly, we all looked pretty damn good if you ask us.
These guys, who Coach Lattimer said he would go to war with, truly were a team of “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”
Fifty years later, they still are.
Thank you for remembering, Fort Hill.

Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X

09/12/2025

09/12/2025

Requiem for a sportswriter; love for a friend

MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
The news of the passing of Steve Luse remains difficult to process. When a wonderful man moves on from us, it leaves an enormous void. Steve’s gentleness, his kindness and his humor stay with you forever, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking of him.
Steve, of course, was the great sportswriter at the Cumberland Times-News for 35 years, passionately covering all of the sports, all of the teams, all of the players, and all of the stories that came with them, and had a particular devotion – oftentimes passion – for Allegany College of Maryland basketball.
We worked together at the Times-News for 23 years, then for nearly 10 more after he retired in 2007. He said he wouldn’t stay away, and he didn’t. He couldn’t. He loved to write, talk to people and tell the world their stories.
He was, by nature, a very curious man who loved sports and loved people of all walks. He never met a stranger, and always saw the good in everyone.
He was also very stubborn, very deliberate – he worked at one speed: his – and was also incredibly funny.
More than anything, he was incredibly reliable and the best friend and co-worker one could have.
We worked together for 23 years while Mike Mathews and current Times-News sports editor Jeff Landes both worked with Steve for over 20 years, but when you work so many shifts together when the phone is constantly ringing and the nightly deadline begins to stare you down as you walk through the door in the afternoon, those 23 and 20 years feel more like 40 in sportswriter years.
With all that the four of us went through together, I feel as though I have known Steve, Mike and Jeff for my entire life, rather than for over half of my life.
The thing is, it didn’t matter if Steve was the sports editor or I was the sports editor, because neither Steve nor I thought of ourselves as being the boss, mainly because we had hit the mother lode when Mike and Jeff were hired. It was all a matter of four friends working together every day and night, and four friends getting every single sports section and special edition out on time.
Initially, Steve was the sports editor for several years, but when the Sports Magazine came to be, Steve took over because putting it together not only became another passion of his it required all that he did best and liked doing best – interviewing folks and writing feature stories about them.
But the Magazine didn’t put itself together. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of writing and making a lot of calls, waiting for return calls and for contributors to file their stories. That’s when Steve began to work the famous “32-hour days,” which, having been put in charge of the Magazine when Steve retired, is what many of those shifts of hurrying-up and waiting seemed like.
Steve was just a blast to work with and to be friends with, but, again, he did work on Luse Speed which was often delayed even further by his gift for gab and laughter – Heeh!. Let’s just say, Steve could make you curse just as easily as he made you laugh. And there were a lot of both flying around that newsroom on most nights.
But the bottom line is, Steve had your back. You could count on Steve because the work was work he loved and believed in. He was a newspaperman in the truest and finest sense, always being a source for guidance, patience, professionalism and honesty.
There was always Steve’s devotion to the job and to his co-workers. His manner was easy, his smile natural, and he carried with him a distinctive gait, forever known in the newsroom as the Luse Shuffle.
Without fail, when he came to work, his first words would be, “There he is,” or “There she is,” depending on who he was saying his first hellos of the day to.
When he sat down to compose his stories, he said to no one in particular, “Ho-ho-ho and away we go,” and every time he put the Sports Magazine to bed, he would say, “And another one bites the dust.”
He somehow did so much great work sitting at his “thing-eating desk,” so named because if you wanted to hide something from somebody, all you had to do was put it on Steve’s desk and it would invariably disappear..
Perhaps the only thing that was not eaten by the desk was a picture of Steve’s beautiful daughter Jennifer that stood front and center beneath his computer screen, as Steve was a loving family man with enormous good will in his heart.
His eyes sparkled when he talked about Jennifer and his grandchildren. His voice filled with pride when he talked about his son, “that daggone Paul,” and he was truly and deeply in love with his wife Nancy, who was his best friend.
Steve had a way of relieving the tension through any stressful stretch, whether he had intended to or not. He was one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. A lot of what he said came in the heat of, let’s just say, newsroom humor, but Steve was amazing because he didn’t swear. He just had a sharp eye and uncanny timing – such a subtle and dry sense of humor.
Much of Steve’s humor was directed toward himself. He was the most self-effacing person, which, to me, always provided a window to his natural kindness. He had the most agreeable disposition of anyone I’ve known.
For whatever reason, folks sometimes didn’t know what to make of Steve until, that is, they met him.
You didn’t have to peel the layers of this onion to immediately understand the innate goodness of the man. Steve was the onion that peeled itself. He was at once inviting and immediately your friend.
Nothing fazed him. He was unflappable. For over 30 years I tried to tick him off, but he just wouldn’t bite. He was too content in life to waste his time on conflict.
We should all aspire to follow his example.
To know Steve Luse is to love him. I was blessed to have known him for 41 years …
Goodbye, old friend. We’ll miss you.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X