Homecoming weekend brought thousands of visitors and returning alumni back to campus, including Peter King, a retired NFL journalist. King spoke on Friday for fans, students and old friends in Schoonover Center, answering burning questions from the crowd while reminiscing on his time as a student at Ohio University.
Aimee Edmondson, the interim dean of the Scripps College of Communication, inducted King into The Ohio Communication Hall of Fame, which includes award-winning journalists with a lifetime achievement and connection to Ohio or Ohio University.
“A three time national sports writer of the year, he built his reputation through deep and insightful reporting, industry knowledge and a commitment to journalism at its finest,” Edmondson said.
This year's Homecoming Parade livestream was hosted by King, which was not around when King attended OU; the parade was not held during King’s time on campus.
King wrote for Sports Illustrated for 29 years, leaving in 2018 to write his column for NBC Sports. He announced his retirement at the age of 66 in 2024 after 44 years as a sports writer.
King said he had no intention of entering a career in sports journalism, but left OU with an open mind, which landed him a general assignment sports job at the Cincinnati Enquirer. King said he felt lucky, as he loved sports but never thought he could make a living off of it.
King graduated from OU in 1979, obtaining his journalism experience, and meeting his wife, Ann King, whom he married in Galbreath Chapel. King said he was looking forward to visiting the chapel, as it held sentimental value to him.
During his visit to Athens this weekend, King stayed in Pilcher House, the former headquarters of The Post, which has now been turned into an Airbnb. King said the owners did a beautiful job with the renovation, and kept a lot of The Post graffiti from the 70s.
“I could show you where the paper was, where the rim was, where we edited copy with a blue pencil,” King said.
Pilcher House is where King spent most of his time at OU. He said he spent more time working in the newsroom than he spent in his apartment. King recalled a time during his senior year in which he personally delivered the papers during an intense blizzard, with the help of Larry Neumeister, a Post alum and newsperson for The Associated Press.
“I remember in that particular time, we just felt like, ‘okay we got to get the paper out,’” King said. “Whatever it takes, we’re going to get the paper out.”
King said Neumeister had a Volkswagen, which they filled to the brim with newspapers to deliver throughout campus. Throughout the winter excursion, King said “a real esprit de corps” was created, and they would have possibly walked the paper through the storm if it came down to it.
Neumeister said he and Scott Stephens hosted workshops as executives during their time at The Post, which dramatically enlarged and diversified the staff.
“In Peter’s time, The Post would be put together by like nine people who wrote the paper every day,” Neumeister said. “It was hard for anyone to even come to The Post and write a story, and we held these workshops beginning of our senior year and invited people with an ad in the paper to come work for The Post.”
King advised aspiring journalists to be versatile, and be willing to work for free to gain experience and recognition. Although King said he retired at the beginning of artificial intelligence’s peak, he said using it as a “crutch” may not help a journalist in the long term. He compared the use of AI to cheating off of “the smart kid” in high school. King said the use of AI could hinder one’s ability to create a real, human piece.
After his years of covering local issues for The Post and a long career with multiple publications, King said he resonated with Jeff Shultz’s desire for boredom in his final column for NBC Sports. In the fall of 2024, King was offered to write his book “The Game,” which he signed for attendees after his talk on Friday.
King has been working on “The Game” since then, finishing in April. He said that he and Ann King have taken several vacations since his retirement, but most of his time has been spent writing the book.
“I’ve really yet to be totally bored,” King said. “But one of the things I really liked about doing this book is that I could pick out exactly what I wanted to write about, and I didn’t have to stay up until 4:30 in the morning every Monday morning when I used to do this long column, this 10,000 word column on the internet.”
In the future, King plans on moving out to the West Coast with Ann King to be closer to his three grandchildren. King said he hasn’t thought much about his life or plans after the move, but is ready to settle down with his family.
“It’ll be an adventure,” King said.
