A desk sits empty at the Times-Picayune today, a desk that had been filled for 67 years by a man who dedicated his life to reporting the happenings of the New Orleans sporting world. From the glory days of New Orleans Catholic League football to the Saints winning the Super Bowl, Peter Finney saw it all in his time at New Orleans’ leading newspaper. “This is a great sports state and a great sports town,” Finney said. “The good thing about sports is that it’s year round. Football season gives way to basketball season, basketball gives way to baseball… [Sports writing] isn’t really a duty. It’s a nice way to go through life.” Lloyd A. “Hap” Glaudi had the small screen and Bernard “Buddy” Diliberto had the radio, but Finney used the written word as his tool. All three men were the faces and voices of New Orleans sports journalism in a time when the city was still growing and taking shape. “I never thought of it like that,” Finney said. “I was always just writing and taking life as it comes. Hap and Buddy were the same way. It never felt like a real job.” With the recent downsizing of the Times-Picayune, Finney was one of many writers caught in the crossfire of the cutbacks. The city’s iconic sports writer was released from the Times-Picayune staff after spending the better part of a century as its sporting pulse. However, Finney will be able to continue writing for the paper on a freelance basis, allowing him to write what he wants when he wants. Joan Serpas is the daughter of the late Charlie Kertz, founder of Charlie Kertz’s Marching Saints Club and a longtime friend of Finney. “I was astounded they let him go,” Serpas said. “I understand the downsizing, but Mr. Finney was the Times-Picayune. He’s like an icon for the city of New Orleans. He never tore down the city, he was an ambassador to New Orleans.” Serpas recalled Finney writing stories about her father’s club, which raises money for Children’s Hospital in New Orleans and takes sick children to Saints games. She said when ESPN wanted a story on Saints fans for the Super Bowl, Finney turned them onto the group of 200 die-hard fans. Finney is a man respected by peers, past and present, for his hard work and dedication to the profession. He earned a master’s degree in journalism from LSU and never truly left, covering games in Tiger Stadium for the better part of the last 60 years. Upon hearing of Finney’s departure from the Times-Picayune, LSU football sports information director Michael Bonnette tweeted that Finney would always have a spot open for him in the press box at any LSU football game he wished to attend. “When you’ve been around as long as he has in the world of sports journalism, why not give him the opportunity to come to LSU if he chooses to do so,” Bonnette said. “Peter has more than earned his right to be there… He’s seen and done just about everything you can do in sports journalism.” Finney got his start as a stringer covering high school sports for the New Orleans States in June of 1945 while still attending Jesuit High School. The Times Picayune eventually bought out the local evening paper and Finney followed. He then joined the paper’s staff while an undergrad at Loyola University with his first staff byline accompanying an advance for a Jesuit baseball game. “It was the golden era of New Orleans sports for some people,” Finney said. “The big games then were between the public schools and the catholic schools. Jesuit versus Warren Easton was a big game back then. Now, all the schools have great sports programs. [New Orleans is] a great place for people interested in sports.” After growing up in the shadow of Lee Circle near the Warehouse District, Finney has since watched Peyton Manning play football while at Newman High School, he saw John Gilliam return the kickoff during the Saints’ first game as an NFL franchise in Tulane Stadium and he even traveled to Miami in February 2010 to see the team he spent a lifetime covering finally win its first Super Bowl. Finney was also in Tiger Stadium when Billy Cannon darted past the Ole Miss defense on Halloween night to push a Tiger team that Finney said is the best LSU team he has ever seen to a victory and earned Cannon the Heisman Trophy. “My relationship with [New Orleans] is great, it’s fun,” Finney said. “The games aren’t life or death, even though some people think it is.” When asked why he never followed Glaudi or Diliberto into the different mediums of sports journalism, Finney admitted he had offers but never seriously considered putting down the pen or keystroke for a microphone. Instead, he was a man who spent his life dedicated to a city, making sure that for 67 years, New Orleanians would find that day’s latest sports insights dropped on their front porch each morning.
 
____ Contact Mike Gegenheimer at [email protected]