Brent Engh -- sports copy editor
If there were an election today for unsung hero of the Capital Times sports department, Brent Engh would be a unanimous winner.
As a man of few words and no pretense, he'd also be a bit embarrassed by the honor, and that provides some insight into how he earned the respect of every member of this newsroom.
Latter-day readers of the Cap Times may not recognize Brent's name, because he has scaled back from writing in recent years after covering a variety of subjects including UW football recruiting, a TV-radio column and auto racing at a time when Cambridge's Matt Kenseth was cutting his teeth in NASCAR.
Copy editors, like offensive linemen, rarely get the credit they deserve. And Brent is a pro's pro as a copy editor, a master of the four Cs. Not only is he calm, cool and collected in the face of deadline pressure, he's also conscientious beyond measure. And he has been a favorite of the writers, because when a story of theirs needs to be trimmed, he does his work not with a machete but with a scalpel, preserving their best work.
Whether it be writing clear headlines, choosing entertaining stories from wire service offerings, designing a well-organized page or compiling the TV-radio calendar, Brent has taken a lot of pride in delivering the best product possible to Cap Times subscribers.
One of Joe Hart's favorite memories of his time as sports editor was the night of the Packers' 1997 Super Bowl win, when he and Brent came into the office immediately after the game and worked through the night until noon the next day, when the paper hit the presses. That sort of commitment was part of the job for Joe, given his title; for Brent, it was far from just another day at the office.
That's been Brent's trademark day-in and day-out for the last 18 years -- staying until the job is done.
From Adam Mertz, sports editor
Brent Engh
