Editor’s Note: This is an installment in a series of profiles on alumni in journalism. If you are interested in writing a piece on an alum or have someone you would like to see profiled, please let us know by emailing hcclerk@gmail.com.
As a lifelong New York Mets fan, Charles Curtis had attended hundreds of games at Shea Stadium, but during the dog days of the 2002 season, something disastrous unfolded. Sitting along the left-field line, he watched as a foul ball curved right in his direction. All he had to do was step into the aisle, slightly move forward, open his glove, and make the catch.
As the ball came toward him, he realized it was coming in pretty fast, so he turned his head and closed his eyes at the last second, and it ricocheted off the top of his glove. When he opened his eyes, a sea of 35,000 fans were booing and heckling. Fans came down the rows, grabbing his glove and asking, “Where’s the hole in your glove? I don’t see it.” Curtis laughs about it now, adding, “It builds character.”
This moment reflects the type of sports and entertainment journalist Charles Curtis is: laid-back and humorous while also being hardworking and informative. Curtis’s path in sports journalism has been a true roller coaster, with a seven-year stint at ESPN The Magazine leading up to his current role as Managing Editor of For The Win, USA Today’s online sports newspaper–a journey inspired by his beginnings at Haverford College, where his passion for sports writing first took root.
Because Curtis wanted to stay close to New York City, his hometown, he narrowed his college search to the Northeast. “I quickly realized I wanted to be at a small liberal arts college,” Curtis said. When he stepped onto Haverford’s campus, it was a no-brainer. “It felt like home. It felt like it fit with my values. Haverford just felt right.” He also cited the small student population of just over 1,000 and the Honor Code as key reasons he loved the college. It had the perfect feel and was close enough for a quick train ride home.
When Curtis arrived at Haverford in the fall of 2000, he knew he wanted a career in creative writing and initially aspired to be a Hollywood screenwriter. But as he matured, he realized Hollywood “would eat him alive,” and those dreams eventually faded.
By his junior year, a friend suggested he try sports writing for The Bi-College News, pointing out his experience as the managing editor of his high school paper and his extensive sports knowledge. The sports columnist had recently left, and Curtis was invited to give it a shot. During his first week on the paper, he sat in front of his computer and wrote an article about Barry Bonds. “I pressed submit and thought, ‘Oh gosh, this is awesome.’” At that moment, he realized journalism could be a long-term career path, as well as a way to make money. “It’s ironic because journalists don’t make any money,” he laughs.
During his senior year at Haverford, Curtis was picking up his mail when a fellow student noticed him holding a copy of Entertainment Weekly. The student mentioned that their brother was an editor at the magazine—a coincidence that, fast forward to post-graduation, landed Curtis his first journalism internship at Entertainment Weekly. “I guess that was fate,” he reflects.
Shortly after, he scored a role with ESPN The Magazine, where he wrote for the NHL, NBA, and NFL departments, contributed sidebars for major features, and produced pieces for ESPN Insider. Starting as a fact-checker, Curtis gradually climbed the ranks, focusing on his passion for sports and entertainment. He wrote about athletes and celebrities with sports backgrounds, interviewing stars like Jason Sudeikis, LMFAO, and Joel McHale, exploring their journeys from sports to stardom.
“I can confirm Jason Sudeikis is the best non-athlete who was an athlete of all time. That’s Ted Lasso,” he jokes. One memorable interview had him walking around New York City with Sudeikis, recorder on Sudeikis’s chest, asking about his basketball days, experiences in the Celebrity All-Star Game, and high school basketball background. “Every fifteen minutes or so, I’d ask if he could check that the recorder was still on. We couldn’t miss any of this.”
In 2013, Curtis was let go from ESPN after choosing to stay in New York City with his wife rather than relocate to ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. Nonetheless, he left with invaluable lessons from his time at the world’s biggest sports media company. “I learned the basics, and how to pitch arguments in a room with a lot of smart people,” he says. Reflecting on his journalism journey, he adds, “I realized that mistakes were inevitable.”
He often faced rejection, with editors turning down his ideas and reminding him they had more experienced writers to rely on first. Yet they encouraged him to keep pitching and trying. “It taught me how to not only face rejection but also to be more creative and approach stories from different angles. It helped me develop my ‘weird brain.’” Curtis carried this mindset into his next chapter—at USA Today.
In the winter of 2016, Curtis brought his “weird brain” to USA Today’s For The Win, a relatively new online sports publication that was only three years old at the time. For The Win was the first sports publication devoted to “social news,” blending coverage of professional sports leagues with pop culture and video games, which was a perfect fit for Curtis. “What I liked about For The Win is that they weren’t focused on just the one straight angle USA Today Proper looks at,” he explains. “They were focused on the five to ten other angles that fans also want to know about.” Curtis appreciates that For The Win allows its writers’ voices to be authentically heard. “Not naming names, but there are a lot of sports sites where writers can’t fully express their voices, and this isn’t one of them.”
Along with high ethical standards and quality of work, Curtis backs up his work with impressive output, writing around seven to ten articles a day. With Curtis being a Mets fan, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was taking a page from the 1986 World Series champs and popping greenies—not for baseball, but to keep up with the relentless pace of his articles. Or maybe, I thought, he was just plain crazy. “I don’t drink coffee; I just wake up at 6 a.m. to write. I’m the guy who’s turning the lights on in the office,” Curtis laughed.
Years of practice and writing so many articles have turned the process into second nature—muscle memory, in a way. “Sometimes, speed is the thing, although it isn’t always healthy,” he admits. “It’s just what the job entails. Now, as Managing Editor, there needs to be more balance, but I’m working on it.”
As Curtis recently stepped into this new role, he finds himself in the middle of a significant transition. “I’m at the point right now where, in my head, I’m still doing the old job, but now I’m doing the new job too. It’s been a work in progress but a rewarding one, thanks to an excellent group of writers and editors.” Charles Curtis’s path through sports journalism has been anything but typical, a mix of unexpected turns, hard-won lessons, and moments of pure joy, even in the face of jeering crowds or relentless deadlines. From his early days at Haverford, where he first found his voice as a writer, to his current role leading For The Win, Curtis has stayed grounded in a few core values: authenticity, resilience, and the ability to laugh, especially at himself. And if he misses the occasional “catch” along the way, he’s the first to laugh it off, always finding a way to turn even the fumbles into fuel. It’s a journey that captures the heart of who he is: dedicated, real, and always up for the next foul ball.
Correction: The article previously stated, “during the dog days of the 2022 season.” The author has revised this to read: “during the dog days of the 2002 season.”
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