Part 9: Close-Up Spotlights Sports Reporter Barry Sankey

From first pitch to kick-off, center ice to tip-off… for over 35 years, Barry Sankey has covered it all. As an award-winning sports writer for The Phoenixville Newspaper, The Phoenix, a weekly and former daily paper for more than 100 years, his love for sports reporting goes beyond the professional level extending to collegiate, high school, and even local youth leagues.

Writing was always a driving force in Barry’s life winning story-writing contests at his elementary school in Limerick, PA. By freshman year of high school, he was the coordinator and writer for a local section about Spring-Ford Junior High School in two local weekly newspapers, The Inter-Borough Press and Weekly Advertiser. Before even finishing high school, Barry started writing for the local Pennsylvania paper, The Mercury in Pottstown, PA, and then went on to earn his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia with a minor in political science.

Professionally, Barry Sankey’s record speaks for itself, having reported for such Pennsylvania papers as The Mercury, the old Philadelphia Bulletin, a weekly The Spring-Ford Reporter, and currently The Phoenix, which is part of the large Journal Register Company whose many papers also use Barry’s stories in their editions as part of a sharing process. Barry is the recipient of multiple Keystone Press Awards for his work that appears in The Mercury, The Times Herald in Norristown, and the Delaware County Times to name a few.

At the professional level, Barry is a die-hard Philadelphia fan. It’s refreshing to hear Barry speak about his passion for covering high school sports. “To most high coaches I talk with, the importance of high school sports is truly an extension of the classroom."