Newtown Bee Sports Editor

Hit A Grand Slam With All Who Knew Him

By Nancy K. Crevier

How does one take the myriad sports activities in a town like Newtown, wrap them up in a neat package each week, and present it to the public? It takes a magician to perform that kind of wizardry, and Newtown Bee sports editor Kim J. Harmon was the wizard of sports who enlightened the town every week as to who was who, what was happening, and who to watch out for in the world of local sports.

Mr Harmon, 45, of Waterbury, died suddenly on December 15, and his loss will reverberate throughout the halls of all of the schools, the golf courses he haunted, on the fields where he played with The Newtown Sandy Hook vintage baseball team, and certainly at The Newtown Bee, where he had served as sports editor since 1998.

Born November 20, 1962, in Waterbury to Maurice J. and Diane M. (Russell) Harmon, Mr Harmon was the husband of Rebecca (Sherman) Harmon. Following his graduation from Kennedy High School in Waterbury in 1980, he continued his education in journalism, receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1984.

Mr Harmon was sports editor at The Town Times in Watertown when Bee Publishing Company purchased the paper in 1989 and worked there until 1992. In November 1993, he came to The Newtown Bee.

Newtown Bee publisher Scudder Smith said that with the acquisition of The Town Times The Bee Publishing Company discovered a priceless gem in Kim Harmon. “He was the sports editor [at The Town Times]. We gave him the full reins he needed to make the sports pages come alive and welcomed him in The Bee family. A few years later when we sold The Town Times, Kim opted to come along with us.”

Over the years, Mr Harmon took on more sports news responsibilities, recalled Mr Smith. “More ball fields resulting in more games, larger soccer tournaments, local athletes competing in statewide contests, and expanded weekend leagues created more sports coverage, all of which Kim took in stride, without complaint,” Mr Smith said. “He was everywhere, day and night.”

Even though Mr Harmon was the sole member of The Newtown Bee sports department by the time he became sports editor, Mr Smith said that there was never a concern about that section of the paper.

“Kim covered the games, shot the pictures, took notes, and wrote the articles. That alone is generally more than what any sports writer does. Yet Kim took it further, laying out the pages so that they were camera ready.”

The Newtown Bee had a treasure in Mr Harmon, said Mr Smith. “His talents kept our pages alive and his presence about town always spoke well for The Bee.”

Bill Brassard, a former Newtown Bee sports editor who was a colleague when Mr Harmon was still working at The Town Times, said, “He was passionate about sports and fully understood how much the games meant to the players and their parents. It seemed to me that Kim did his best to give everyone a moment in the spotlight, and I think he’ll be remembered for providing comprehensive sports coverage for all leagues, male and female, youth and adult.”

In September 1998, Kim Harmon stepped into the position as sports editor at The Newtown Bee, taking over from Tom Wyatt. He introduced himself to the Newtown community in his column “On Sports” (later known as “Bits & Pieces”), although in truth, he had been working hand-in-hand with Mr Wyatt for nearly five years to cover sports in Newtown. In a column published in the September 4, 1998, issue of The Newtown Bee, Mr Harmon referred to his promotion to sports editor saying, “I’m seeing things a little bit more clearly, I think. Like a point guard in basketball or a quarterback in football, a sports editor has to see the whole field and know, at any given moment, what plays are being run and what’s going on in each corner of that field. It’s an awesome responsibility.”

He spent several paragraphs crediting his predecessor with preparing him and assuaged any fears that local coverage would suffer.

“I’m not afraid of working hard,” wrote Mr Harmon. “We will continue to tell your stories and continue to highlight the best things about our local sports and our local athletes, from the youth levels right up through high school and beyond.” It was a promise he kept over and over, say those who knew him.

“He loved Newtown and he loved sports. He was in the job of his dreams,” said Tom Wyatt. “We worked together for about five years at The Bee and we became very close and shared a lot of laughs. Kim was a great guy.” What impressed Mr Wyatt was Mr Harmon’s ability to tell a story.

“Kim cared a lot about the people he wrote about. He loved to write their stories,” Mr Wyatt recalled. Nor was Mr Harmon one to play favorites, said Mr Wyatt. “It didn’t matter if you were the star or not; everyone got the same attention from Kim.”

As sports editor, Mr Harmon made it a point to know many of the students in Newtown’s athletic programs. He spoke with them, he watched them grow as athletes through the various town and school programs, and he photographed them, capturing moments of action on the courts, in the pool, and on the fields.

Chane, Rhonda, Cody, and Chad Cullens of Newtown recalled one of many instances in which Kim Harmon quietly revealed his savvy about the hundreds of Newtown athletes that were part of his world.

“Just last week our son, Cody, who is a senior at Newtown High School, came home and said Kim Harmon had been at the school to take a photo of the seniors on the indoor track team for The Bee. Cody was so impressed that as the kids were giving him their names for the caption that [Kim] already had his name written down before he said it. Kim looked at him and said, ‘Yeah, I know some of your names already,’ and smiled at him,” said Mrs Cullens.

Finding Positives Even In Losses

One of the people who spent many hours with Mr Harmon as school sports ran through the seasons was NHS athletic director Gregg Simon.

“It is very difficult for me to fully express in words how much Kim Harmon meant to me personally and to the student athletes of Newtown High School. Kim always found the positives in even the most devastating losses. That was the way he looked at life: the glass was always half full,” remembered Mr Simon this week. “Kim and I spent hundreds of hours over the past decade watching our teams in the pool, the gym, and at Blue and Gold Stadium. We traveled all over the state to watch our teams play in league tournaments and the state tournament. At many of those events, we talked about the difficulty of having a job that required us to be away from our families for so many hours. Kim loved his wife and family. He would always tell me about his children’s accomplishments with such pride,” Mr Simon said. “It is impossible for me to think about sports in Newtown without Kim Harmon.”

The high school coaches viewed Mr Harmon as an exemplary sports writer and photographer, who always had the players in mind as he wove each week’s story.

“Every interview, every story, every picture was done accurately and fairly,” recalled Marc Kenney, NHS Girls Soccer coach, who had also had the pleasure as a Watertown High School athlete from 1988 to 1991 of knowing Mr Harmon, then reporting for The Town Times. “I am grateful to have had the opportunity here in Newtown to work with a man who handled his job with class,” said Mr Kenney. It was a pleasure, he added, to find a familiar face when he first met with the sports reporter from The Bee one afternoon and discovered it was none other than Kim Harmon. “[Kim] succeeded in building the self-confidence of many of our student athletes and making what we do really worthwhile,” he said.

“He knew every stat, every strength, every weakness of every kid in every sport,” NHS golf coach Jen Huettner said. “[Kim] will be missed, more than the town of Newtown, the high school, or the coaches will ever know.”

Tennis coach Maureen Maher remembered how Mr Harmon would stay until the very end of the matches, even in the coldest spring weather, “Waiting to see if my girls would win or just to congratulate them. He loved what he did and he did a great job at it,” said Ms Maher.

Without Kim Harmon’s incredible coverage, said coach Doug Russell, the Girls Soccer Team would not have gained the attention that they did. “I will never forget the big smile on [Kim’s] face when we won our sixth straight SWC championship. Not seeing ‘By Kim Harmon’ under the article captions will be something that I don’t think I will every get used to,” said Mr Russell.

Carl Strait, now the head NHS baseball coach, recalled an incident early on in Mr Harmon’s career at The Newtown Bee that let him know just how dedicated the man was to his work.

“Each January the swim team would practice on a Friday afternoon, shower, and hop on a bus for the annual Wappingers Invitational Swim Meet. Kim was a fixture on that overnight trip. One Friday Kim showed up two hours early… in his bathing suit for a practice. Our workout began with an ‘easy’ 500 yards freestyle. From then on, the individual workouts varied. Everyone dove in and began.

“Kim hopped in — glasses and all. At the first wall, Kim paused, took a couple seconds rest, and continued back. He stopped about half way, made his way to the edge of the pool and hopped out. As he exited the pool, hair and glasses perfectly dry, he said, ‘Put a fork in me, I’m done.’ It was then, with a subtle turn of the head, that the diving board caught his attention. ‘Maybe I should have tried to be a diver,’ he said. I think he understood it was a completely irrational idea to swim that day, but he never would have known unless he tried,” Mr Strait said.

Coach Strait and Mr Harmon spent many other hours together during baseball season, as well, even trading places one day at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y. Mr Strait wrangled the sports editor’s high-tech camera and Mr Harmon called the plays.

“Newtown scored two runs on five hits in ‘Coach’ Harmon’s debut. He was like a kid in a candy store, coaching a baseball game on Doubleday Field,” recalled Mr Strait.

Mr Harmon’s dedication to sports coverage was legendary among the coaches at NHS, yet his dedication to family was equally strong. “My fondest memory of Kim is how much he truly loved his family,” said NHS basketball coach John Quinn. “Every time we would talk about NHS basketball, Rising Stars, etc, he would always update me on his wife, his kids, their personal, educational, and athletic accomplishments. Kim was all about his family. He was so proud of them,” said Mr Quinn.

Jason Edward, NHS sports announcer, summarized what so many coaches had to say.

“Every name I’ve announced, and many names of younger athletes for years to come, are connected to his comprehensive and complimentary coverage of NHS athletics. This is a legacy that deserves recognition, like the athletes he worked so hard to recognize.”

A Man Of Many Pastimes

Mr Harmon was a big fan of the many Newtown teams, his children’s teams in Waterbury, and the New York Yankees and Giants, but he was not merely an observer of sports. Mr Harmon enjoyed nothing more than a good game of golf, and was a member of a vintage baseball team, The Newtown Sandy Hook Vintage Base Ball Team.

Ray Shaw is the founder of the Sandy Hooks. “When I thought about starting a vintage baseball team, I contacted Kim to see what he thought. Kim was really enamored by the idea and probably one of the first to get on board when the team was announced in 2005,” Mr Shaw recalled. “He was most instrumental in promoting the team,” Mr Shaw said. “I regarded Kim as one of my very good friends. He was an important member of our team and I know we will all miss him greatly.”

Kim Harmon had not a lot of time to devote to leisure activities, but he loved old movies, especially bad “B” films. And as much as he loved sports, he loved reading. His family remembers him as a voracious and unrepentant reader, as does his coworker Kendra Bobowick.

“I had to admire his ability to find the right moment to sit in his office and read a book,” said Ms Bobowick. “That was my first impression of him as I walked through the office. My glance skipped through his doorway and Kim looked up without a bit of guilt for leaning back in his chair with a book in one hand. I have always known the value of letting my mind wander, but Kim was deliberate about it. He was right, and that’s something I’ll remember,” she said.

“Kim Harmon was an island of calm in the chaos that passes for order in a newspaper office,” said Newtown Bee editor Curtiss Clark. “He had an incredible mind that thrived on detail, and because he ran The Bee’s sports shop single-handedly, I suspect he probably had every page of every sports section planned out in his head weeks in advance,” said Mr Clark. Love of family, self-possession, journalistic craftsmanship, his photographic eye and his “astonishing appetite for books — and chocolate,” said Mr Clark, were traits to be admired in Mr Harmon. “But what stood out was his deep understanding of people. He worked out there in the community among a lot of competitive and often agitated people, and somehow he managed to put everyone at ease and to stay on good terms with everyone. I wish he had had more time to teach me the Harmon way,” Mr Clark said.

Besides his father, Maurice, and his wife, Rebecca, Kim Harmon is survived by a daughter, Melissa; two sons, Benjamin and Tyler; two brothers, Sean Harmon of Bristol and Maurice Harmon of Seymour; seven nieces and nephews; and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Mr Harmon was predeceased by his mother.

Friends and family were asked to gather Thursday, December 20, at 9:30 am. A funeral service was scheduled at 10 am at Bergin Funeral Home, 290 East Main Street in Waterbury. Burial was private.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Kim Harmon Family Scholarship Fund, c/o Newtown Savings Bank – Attention Brian Amey, 39 Main Street, Newtown CT 06470.

“[Kim] was our archivist, knowing every high school record and accomplishment,” said NHS athletic director Gregg Simon. “He was our athletes’ greatest fan, attending hundreds of events each year. Kim Harmon will never be forgotten. When family scrapbooks full of his stories are opened in the years to come, Kim’s voice will leap from the pages and remind the reader of a man who dedicated his life to Newtown sports.”

(The complete comments by Newtown High School coaches can be found online this week at www.newtownbee.com. Also, Kim Harmon’s final “Bits & Pieces” column is published this week in The Bee’s sports section. Thank you to all in the community who have offered thoughts and condolences on this great loss to our newspaper.)