Throughout the pandemic, sports writer Eric Nehm, \u201912, yearned for personal contact with his subjects: members of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team.<\/p>\n
But he never dreamed how close he would get to the Bucks\u2019 biggest star, Giannis Antetokounmpo, after the team captured its first national NBA title in 50 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city held a celebration parade with the players the next day, and I saw Giannis walking away,\u201d Nehm said. \u201cI called out to him, and because we\u2019ve built a relationship, he recognized me and stopped to talk with me. And in that moment, he decided to trust me to such an extent that he grabbed my left hand and put it on his heart so I could feel how hard it was beating.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That heartfelt moment with Antetokounmpo, and covering the Bucks\u2019 championship season, is the highlight of Nehm\u2019s career covering the Bucks for subscription sports website The Athletic. But Nehm was ready for his moment, thanks to 91ÖÆƬ³§.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn college, I was thinking my job would be in radio,\u201d Nehm said. \u201cBut now I write all the time. Every day, I use the writing fundamentals I learned in Dr. Barb DeSanto\u2019s media writing class and from Dr. Leilani Carver-Madalon. They encouraged me to pitch different ideas, and Dr. DeSanto especially taught me not to overwrite. That\u2019s a critical skill as a writer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maryville also introduced Nehm to podcasting, still a new medium when he was an undergraduate from 2008-12. He helped found the Saints Talk podcast, which sometimes streamed live. After graduating, Nehm put his on-air experience to work by covering the Bucks for Sportsradio 1250 in Milwaukee, his home town.<\/p>\n
The next year, he seized a chance to sharpen his writing skills by pursuing a master\u2019s degree in journalism. By then, DeSanto \u2014 who had also been his undergraduate advisor \u2014 had moved to Kansas State University. Nehm studied with her again while earning his graduate degree managing K-State\u2019s radio station.<\/p>\n
Finally, in 2018, The Athletic hired him as its Bucks beat reporter, a full-time writing position.\u00a0\u201cBecause it\u2019s a website, The Athletic doesn\u2019t have the same restrictions that writing for print does,\u201d Nehm said. \u201cIt lets me write the way I want, but I still remember Dr. DeSanto\u2019s lessons to get right to the point.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the pandemic hit, his Maryville education helped him in another way. \u201cMaryville gave me the writing fundamentals I needed to be versatile,\u201d he said. \u201cThat helped me learned how to survive and to tell stories in ways I never would have had thought of before.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Bucks clinched the NBA championship in Game 6 on July 20, Nehm pulled an all-nighter to file the story. The next day, he ran alongside the team in the victory parade \u2014 which brings him back to his heart-pounding moment with Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime story, and it belongs to Eric Nehm. He sees the journey that brought him here as a metaphor for his education and career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn sports writing, everyone covers the same players and coaches, but each writer does it in their own way,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s just like in school. People can get the same degree, but you get different things out of it based on what you put into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t appreciate all of my writing training from Maryville at the time, but it ended up being extremely helpful to me as I used it to create my own interesting stories and find my own ways to tell them.\u201d<\/p>\n