In and out of the news, diverse interests defy stereotypes

Sometimes we think of it as cosmic injustice, that some people should be unusually gifted not in one arena of life alone but in many.

Questions of divinity and fairness are probably best left to more esoteric forums than a common newspaper column, but the phenomenon itself - the interests some people develop and hone in wildly diverse subject areas - can serve at least as a reminder of the surprises that often await when we make assumptions about people based on their line of work.

I am drawn to these ruminations by sports writer Mike McGraw's fascinating description Wednesday of the career path of Naperville Central High School grad Matt Armstrong. It was not necessarily so extraordinary that Armstrong's reputation at NCHS was built on his performance in football while his son Pete Crow-Armstrong has gone on to make his name in professional baseball, debuting at center field this week with the Chicago Cubs. But it certainly was attention getting to learn that this teenager remembered as one of the toughest linebackers in the DuPage Valley Conference would eschew potential football scholarships for the appeal of Shakespearean acting.

Sure, it's not uncommon for professional athletes to transition to "acting" when the name recognition they've earned in sports makes them bankable on the silver screen, but Matt Armstrong's career pivot at a young age certainly defies stereotypes.

One of the more remarkable such contrasts in my personal experience was that of former Daily Herald sports copy editor Bill Gowen. Gowen, a uniquely memorable character whatever field he might have chosen, was an accomplished and knowledgeable sports copy editor at the Daily Herald until his retirement in 2008. He "moonlighted" as an opera aficionado and wrote a regular column on the Chicago opera scene. You might guess a hundred times at the side hustle of a typical newspaper sports editor, but I'm willing to put down good money you won't come up with opera writer.

Then again, if you were challenged to describe the career in which Bat Masterson gained lasting fame after putting his days as a cardsharp and gunfighter in Dodge City, Kansas, behind him, I'm guessing sports writer for The New York Morning Telegraph would not be among your first couple dozen guesses.

Barbara Vitello developed her early career at the Daily Herald as the paper's theater critic and still regularly earns writing awards in that role, but more than a decade ago, she also made what might seem an unlikely leap into the dark, often grim world of court reporting, where she is similarly distinguished. Vitello will tell you that the realms of a theater and a courtroom are not so different as one might think, but it's still arresting to consider that she is regularly called upon to sit in on a murder trial by day before rushing to describe a lighthearted musical that evening.

As the economic and social storms battering traditional media have made their impact on newsrooms, we have had many opportunities to test - and prove - the adage that a good journalist can transfer his or her skills to whatever role circumstances may demand. Sports writers have become award-winning local-government reporters. Photographers have become accomplished feature writers. Traditional newsroom beats have been combined, revised and re-imagined in countless creative ways to meet the varied needs and interests of suburban readers. Still, you can't help marveling at how some people - in this field or in sports or in entertainment or likely in any other - find their interests and success in improbably diverse fields.

Is this fair in a karmic sense? Truthfully, I doubt justice has anything to do with it. But I'll leave that for the theologically or philosophically inclined to sort out, perhaps when they get torn away from their day jobs playing bridge, curing diseases, riding rodeo broncs or whatever unlikely alternate vocation has captured their interest at the moment.

• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on Twitter at @JimSlusher. The views expressed in this column are his own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.