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Source: Erie Times-News, Pa.mini storageAug. 19--If things had worked out the way he planned in high school, Mike Ruzzi might have been writing this column about someone else.Ruzzi wanted to be a sportswriter growing up in South Park Township, the Pittsburgh suburb where he played football and wrestled and spent one year on the tennis team and dreamed of turning his love of sports into a profession.He did, but not by putting words on a page. Instead, Ruzzi entered an essay contest through a Pittsburgh television station. He won a scholarship and a six-week internship at the station, WIIC, sending him head-first into broadcasting.After graduating from Edinboro University in 1982, he spent 21/2 years working part time at WSEE and WICU before replacing Phil Fatica as WICU's sports anchor, a position a held until Sunday."It was never my intention to get into TV, but it worked out that way," said Ruzzi, 51, who ends a nearly 30-year career on Erie's sports scene today when he officially becomes co-anchor for four daily newscasts on WICU.Three decades is no short run, and during that time Ruzzi has covered six Super Bowls, a Daytona 500, an Indianapolis 500, numerous high school state championships and countless features.The first one was a package Ruzzi created on Buffalo Bills special teams maven Lou Piccone while still an intern with WJET in 1982.He lists among his favorite moments broadcasts of Strong Vincent's 1991 PIAA football championship, two Girard boys state basketball championships and the unforgettable 1987 PIAA basketball meeting between Carlisle, led by future NBA player Billy Owens, and a Meadville powerhouse led by the Burnett brothers, Paul and Michael.Ruzzi also has worked closely with Erie City Special Olympics since he was encouraged in the early 1990s to become involved as its banquet emcee by former Strong Vincent assistant basketball coach Jim Delsandro.That work, as much as anything he's covered in sports, has left lasting memories.At an event at Penn State Behrend in April, Ruzzi raced a Special Olympian named Willie. In a wheelchair decked out in Steelers logos, Willie pulled away for an easy win, then dazzled Ruzzi with a detailed forecast of the Steelers' draft prospects."I'll never forget the smileself storageon his face when he got to the finish line," Ruzzi said.As with most professions, technology has taken quantum leaps since Ruzzi broke in. In the early years he would rush back to the station after an NFL game and spend hours editing packages against deadline for the 11 p.m. newscast. Now he does the same work on-site in an hour or less and zaps it back to Erie.What hasn't changed is Ruzzi's calling card, an upbeat approach to stories and sources he says comes from five years working alongside former WICU sportscaster Craig Woodard.When Ruzzi took time off in 2001 to be with his father, who was battling cancer, Woodard picked up the extra shifts. After Ruzzi's father died, Woodard worked a Friday night, left early the next morning with a few colleagues to drive to Pittsburgh for the funeral, then returned to Erie to work that night, making it clear he had Ruzzi's back for as long as he needed him."He taught me to look at things with a glass-half-full attitude," Ruzzi said of Woodard, who now works in the financial services industry in Florida. "He had so much positive energy, and that made a real impression on me."Ruzzi has the same sort of close relationship with longtime sidekick Jay Puskar, who will replace him in sports beginning today. Tim Melo, a versatile cameraman/reporter for the station for the past several years, will slide into Puskar's role.Sunday, Ruzzi was back at his parents' home in South Park Township for a helping of his mother's "good luck lasagna" on the eve of today's news desk debut. He admits to having heard from a few skeptics wondering how a sports guy will fare in the news world.But he's not worried about the switch, pointing out that WICU's previous two sports anchors -- Fatica and the late Bill Knupp -- made successful moves to news."Reporting is reporting, whether it's news or sports," Ruzzi said.And, as he learned a long time ago, landing in front of the camera can be a nice fallback plan for an aspiring writer.JOHN DUDLEY can be reached at 870-1677 or john.dudley@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNdudley.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at .GoErie.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉