David Utecht: Loss of Jardine, Agostini a blow for The Bee, readers

It was a sad, sad day for The Modest Bee and all who read that newspaper. To lose two such fine journalists as Ron Agostini and Jeff Jardine at the same time has to be a severe blow. I moved to Sonora in 1966. Moving to Sonora was a fortuitous thing for me rather than living as a flatlander. I taught high school for 24 years. One of the earliest things I did was subscribe to The Bee and the Daily Union Democrat, which was edited and owned by Harvey McGee, a fine journalist in his own right.

It did not take me long to realize what a superb sportswriter Agostini was. He not only knew what he was writing about, he understood the game and the psychology of those who played and coached.

Jeff was a graduate of Sonora High, and though he didn’t have the pleasure of being in my classroom, I think he turned out a little bit better than just OK. At first I had my doubts, based on his high school achievements academically. Boy, was I ever wrong! Day by day you could see the improvement until he joined the elite group of Bee writers.

I for one will miss them, a lot.

This story was originally published June 8, 2017 at 5:52 PM with the headline "David Utecht: Loss of Jardine, Agostini a blow for The Bee, readers."