If you batted a ball, or skied in a race or rode a bike in Whitehorse in the mid-1990s, I probably took your photo.

If your child was part of a soccer camp or tried out for a hockey team, I probably took their picture.

I was the sports editor at the Whitehorse Star between 1993 and 1996.

It was a job I really wanted, and a job I really loved.

I had been in the Yukon for about four years before the job finally came open. I always wanted to try my hand at being a sports writer, it was one of the reasons I went to journalism school in the first place, and I felt I had to give it a try.

It was a great time to be in the role. A number of Yukon athletes were making names for themselves in the national scene, from cross country skiers like Lucy Steele and Sean Sheardown to hockey players like Bobby House and Memorial Cup champion Jarrett Deuling. Those athletes had to overcome a lot to make it to the big time from little old Whitehorse, and people here back home loved to read about their accomplishments.

I took the job seriously, and I threw myself into it. I wanted a fresh picture for my page or pages every day, and I wasn’t much of a photographer, so that meant I had to spend a lot of time at the rink snapping away, hoping at least one photo would be good enough to publish.

I spent a lot of time at Takhini Arena, a lot of time standing on that giant block of cement behind the penalty boxes. It was the only place to actually see the action when the rink was packed for the native hockey tournament or another major event, and that block of cement got really cold. It would be at least one long hot shower and a shot of something before feeling returned to my feet.

I spent most of the summer at the Pepsi Centre ball complex, and ate my share of grand slam burgers. Someone should do some research and find out why food always tastes better at the ballpark or the rink.

A lot has changed in Whitehorse over the years. We’ve seen the community grow and mature, and facilities like the Canada Games Centre provide recreational opportunities that would rival most communities down south. But I still miss some of the old ways. It was certainly a challenge to get a good sports photo in a dimly-lit school gym, and the less we say about the unique charms of Stan McGowan Arena the better.

I had so many great experiences over those three years, I feel like I worked at the Star for decades. One of my favourites was watching the annual bike race grow. I remember covering the race in its very early days, there probably weren’t more than 50 riders in it. The race was beautiful, of course, and competitive, but in the end the celebration was more about just making the thing happen than actually winning. These days the race features more than a thousand riders, and it’s hard to believe it sprang from such humble origins,

During a recent visit to the paper, I paused and looked at the team photos scattered around the building, hundreds of smiling kids and coaches posing for the camera on a bright sunny day. That’s one of the things this community is going to miss. I remember taking photos of a youth softball league, and when the hitter was called out on a third strike she dropped her bat and quietly walked to her mom, who was coaching third base, for a hug.

Maybe some of these things didn’t matter in the long run. There are no journalism prizes for trying to make sure you get a kid’s name right in the caption of a photo, or trying to make sure you’re at as many events as you can be just to make sure every one gets a moment in the sun. I’m not sure a lot of that matters in the great scheme of things, but I know that I couldn’t take very many steps down the street without someone thanking me for something. That meant a lot, and that’s what still sticks with me. That’s what I take from my three years at the Whitehorse Star.

By DAVE WHITE