Through hard work and determination, former Eastern Echo sports writer Creighton Hart has been able to keep his head above water as a journalist over the last decade, but there is always a story behind the success.
Hart was born in Chicago, but moved to Detroit at age 5 after his mother got married to who would eventually become his legal stepfather, Bruce Smith. After graduating from Eastern Michigan University he moved back to Chicago.
“Even though I was born and raised [in Chicago], Detroit will always be my home, because it is like having your first kiss and it has helped make me part of who I am,” Hart said.
Since he was a kid, Hart began to develop a love for sports and learned how to read a box score in the newspaper.
His stepfather took him to baseball games at Tiger Stadium.
“I think most importantly sports helped me and my stepfather bond and is a huge part of our relationship to this day,” he said.
“I kind of resented [my stepfather] in my early years, but once we found that common bond I respected him a lot more from that point forward.”
Hart played baseball and football growing up and summed up his experiences.
“Once you play in those sports it is an awesome experience and at the same time being involved in sports was and still is a part of my life,” he said. “It is a happy medium from all of the chaos that goes on in our daily lives.”
Hart attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit and summed up his experience as “excellent.”
Hart played baseball and football at Cass and admitted he was not very good.
“In football, I was fine,” Hart said. “In baseball, I was not good … I am a much better player at 31 than I was at 17.”
If there was a sport to choose as his favorite it would be baseball.
“I grew up watching my idols Cecil Fielder, Mo Vaughn and Frank Thomas,” Hart said. “I love those big power hitters who knock the ball 400-500 feet into the stands.”
Before enrolling at EMU, there were other schools Hart was interested in going to.
“I applied to Western Michigan, Ohio State, Miami [Ohio] and Ball State,” he said.
Initially, he got accepted into three of the four schools, but his mother did not want him to go out of state because it was too far away.
Ironically, Hart was recruited by Western for basketball but never played in high school, and instead was discovered in his neighborhood around Joy Road by former University of Michigan and National Basketball Association star Robert “Tractor” Traylor, who grew up in the same area.
“I’m playing [basketball] one day and because [Robert] was in the NBA and guys were coming to see him play they were watching me too,” Hart said. “There happened to be a guy who was an assistant
coach for Western watching me play and wanted me to come to their campus for a visit.”
Eventually, he picked EMU because of the closeness to home and started writing for The Echo in his sophomore year.
“My first story was about women’s golf because I was able to get my feet wet, and my first five-to-six articles I wrote, I would cut them out and put it in my dorm room to show off for others to see,” he said.
Hart’s first meeting with EMU’s Director of Student Media, Kevin Devine, was when The Echo offices were located in the Jones-Goddard building.
“The one thing about Kevin is that he was always great to all of the staff members at The Echo and treated us like he was one of his kids,” Hart said.
His favorite story at The Echo was a feature on the EMU women’s basketball head coach at the time: Suzy Merchant. Merchant is now the head coach for the Michigan State women’s basketball team.
“I remember being at Marshall University and I asked her if she wasn’t coaching what she would be doing, and she gave the longest pause ever,” he said. “Eventually, she did answer the question.”
After graduating from EMU in 2005, Hart became a freelancer at The Ypsilanti Courier covering Willow Run High School sports but did not get paid a lot, so he eventually moved back to Detroit and had to go back and forth to attend games.
After four to five months, The Ypsilanti Courier went into new management. Hart lost faith in the paper and wanted to relocate.
Hart decided to move back to Chicago and attended Columbia College to pursue a master in journalism.
“My aunt told me doing a newspaper was fine, but why not try TV,” Hart said. “I realized the business was changing and felt the need to do video, audio or whatever was necessary to become versatile.”
He graduated from Columbia in 2011 with his master’s degree in journalism.
Hart’s biggest influence is his stepfather.
“He personified what hard work, determination, and responsibility is all about,” Hart said. “He showed me what hard work was all about and it has rubbed off on me, and I think at the end of the day every son’s idol should be his father.”
Hart is currently a freelance journalist in Chicago.
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