State Press alumni remember print: Marty Sauerzopf

I was starting my stint as State Press editor in the fall of 1988 when great friend and amazing reporter Darrin Hostetler learned that ASU President J.R. Nelson planned to announce his retirement at the annual Faculty Senate breakfast the Friday before the semester began. It was a blockbuster story for us, but unfortunate because the State Press wasn't scheduled to begin publication until the following week. Unwilling to let the scoop pass us by (and being in the pre-Internet era), we worked with adviser-extraordinaire Bruce Itule and scrambled to pull together a four-page special edition. Since none of our support staff were working yet, Darrin and I and Managing Editor Joan McKenna laid out the paper, pasted it on the boards and got the entire thing ready for print. Darrin and I drove the proofs to the printer, stayed awake while it was prepared, then delivered the paper ourselves to racks all over campus before dawn. When the faculty began gathering at the Memorial Union for the breakfast, every single person in line had a State Press in hand, devouring every word. Nelson began his speech saying it wouldn't be nearly as interesting as that morning's State Press, drawing laughs from the crowd, and he went on to announce his plans to step down.