Ken Campbell — Sports Editor at the Brattleboro Reformer — set a standard of excellence in writing, reporting and personal relationships during his career reporting on Brattleboro area athletics from the 1940s through the 1990s. Ken was a humble man always deflecting attention from himself and toward the athletes, coaches, and teams he covered. He was “the voice” of southern Vermont high school and youth league athletics for decades, covering everything from Small Fry and Little League baseball to the exploits of local athletes on the high school, collegiate and, occasionally, at the professional level. He followed Carlton “Pudge” Fisk through Fisk’s days with the Bellows Falls Post 37 baseball team to his famous 12th inning home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series at Fenway Park. He covered one of the finest high school teams ever in Vermont history, the 1965 Vermont State Division I undefeated champion Brattleboro Colonels.
Ken was a favorite among coaches in Southern Vermont. You could always find something adding clarity and interest from his weekly “Speaking of Sports” column to his game reporting in the Reformer.
Ken was very well-liked and respected by the sports community in the Brattleboro area and was a life-long member of the community, attending schools and raising his family in Brattleboro. Ken had an ability to report in a fair and balanced manner and always looked for the positives even in a team’s worst defeat. Ken was also one of the first sportswriters in the state, if not all of New England, to give girls’ sports – still in their infancy in the 1970s and early ‘80s – the same level of coverage that boys’ sports always enjoyed. Thanks to people like Ken, girls’ sports have made significant gains at the local level in achieving equal or near-equal coverage from the state’s newspapers. Ken led this movement from his keyboard.
Ken at work at Fenway Park
Ken’s HOF induction slideshow is here: