The perfect photo

By John Murphy

This photo is AI-generated of course, since I do not have access to Sun photos from 2001.

Today is 9-11.

Back on Sept. 11, 2001 I was in my second year as the prep editor at the San Bernardino Sun. I was really just a sportswriter, but my predecessor Louis Amestoy thought “prep editor” sounded better, so I went with it.

That horrible day in 2001 was a Tuesday and the attacks happened early in the morning. By the time the second plane hit, I knew it was no coincidence.

Tuesdays during the prep football season were routine. Everything pointed toward the Friday morning edition when a full-page “Game of the Week” spread appeared. It included a graphic with the starting offensive and defensive lineups for each team — let’s say Eisenhower vs. Fontana for example.

I started work on the graphic early in the week, obtaining the starting lineups from the coaches. We also ran a short feature on a player from one of the schools. Then on Wednesdays and Thursdays I wrote a general preview on the game and detailed capsules of six other top games around the area. That required 15-minute calls to 12 different coaches. It was exhausting work but necessary in that pre-MaxPreps era.

Then 9-11 happened and threw a wrench into the whole damned works — as it did for all of America. Like I suppose many prep guys across the nation, I spent much of the day calling the dozens of high schools in our coverage area and asking if the school planned to play on Friday, or if they would cancel out of respect to the fallen.

Most schools forged ahead with their plans, firm in their resolve that terrorists were not going to permanently strike fear in the lives of Americans, nor upset our routines and traditions.

The full-time Sun sportswriters and army of stringers that covered Friday night’s games always eagerly anticipated Saturday’s sports section. Most secretly took pride in making the tight deadline and seeing their byline in print.

That Saturday the pride really swelled when we saw the section’s main photo. The beautiful color shot was of the Rialto High team ready to charge onto the field, led by a player holding an American flag. It was the perfect photo.