“When one door closes, another opens.”

To be fair, it’s not as though the “door” that is on-line media has just recently opened. Since the turn of the millennium, the shift from traditional media to internet-based options has grown exponentially.

And yet as much as those from my vintage and perhaps one generation on either side of the late Boomers recognized the inevitability that this day would come, there is still a wistful melancholy that comes part and parcel of realizing this column forms a part of the very last newsprint edition of the Sudbury Star.

For those of us in the grouping above who enjoyed any kind of connection with the local sports scene, there are certainly some very special memories of having print in hand, seeing your name or the names of people close to you prominently displayed for the entire city to see.

In the case of our particular family, those memories typically involved the “not all that long after supper was done” stretch, once my father had his chance to peruse the news and sports of the times. Growing up in an era when the Star sports department alone employed three to four full-time staff members, there were ample opportunities to relish in said spotlight.

Olympic gold medal winner and current coach Robert Esmie has witnessed first hand much of the transformation in the industry, even as he tries to share with his son (Nehemiah) and other young talented teens the role the daily newspaper played in his rise to prominence and pursuit of his dreams.

“I learned at an early age the value of the publicity that comes with being on the front page of a newspaper, on the front page of a sports section,” said Esmie, who now leads the Airblastoff Track Club into top-end competitions near and far.

“I had dreams of being an Olympian and this is where it all started,” he said, leafing through some scrapbooks assembled decades ago.

For as much as the confidence of a young man who was fully aware of just where he stood in the realm of elite international sprinting was on full display by the time the final of the 400 metres relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta rolled around, the starting point for the young man who moved to Canada from Jamaica while still in elementary school was quite different.

Esmie comfortably admits to battling low self-esteem and a degree of self-consciousness as he navigated his early successes. A well-captured picture and accompanying story that formed a Star Spotlight feature did a world of good for the track sensation who has always distinguished himself as one of the best “out of the blocks” sprinters in the world.

“When I first saw my picture in the paper, that was a huge piece of confidence for me,” said Esmie. In so many ways, he now looks back of the choice to ultimately settle in Sudbury as such a blessing for the youngster who would fall asleep at night with visions of track greatness floating through his head.

“There are so many reporters to thank,” said Esmie. “Laura (Star columnist Laura Young) has done some beautiful pieces on me and shared my story. And all of the stories helped introduce me to Sudbury.”

“I think because it is a smaller market, I was ablve to navigate it a little bit easier. In a bigger city, I would have gotten lost.”

And while newsprint in Sudbury is now lost, sports coverage is not. Folks may just have to become slightly more attached to their computers and devices than they already are.