I haven’t officially met Christopher, but I was aware of his work with www.texashsfootball.com, and somehow we started following each other on social media. He ended up selling that website in 2013 and I wrote for them in 2015.
Name: Christopher Lyke
Job: Writer
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AS A WRITER?
I started writing in high school when I was part of the school papers at Clear Creek High in League City, Texas from 1992 to 1994 and then at Hallandale High in Florida from 1994 to 1996.
I continued on in college as the sports writer for the TC News at Texarkana College in Texas. In fact, I actually won several statewide awards for my work. While I was at Texarkana College, I was fortunate to travel and work as a student assistant with the baseball program. Future MLB All-Star Hunter Pence was part of our team at the time. During that time period, I did board operations work for the ESPN Radio station in Texarkana and also served as a Media Relations Intern for the short lived Border City Bandits minor league hockey franchise.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CRAFT AN ARTICLE?
It really varies on what the circumstances are. Normal write ups I tend to take my time, let my creativity kick in. If there is a deadline, it is basically focusing on the most critical details of what you are writing about.
To me, preparation is all about passion. If you have the passion to write, preparation is second nature.
WHAT WRITERS DID YOU LOOK UP TO?
Peter King of Sports Illustrated, Peter Gammons from ESPN on a national level, Ivan Maisel of the Dallas Morning News on a regional level. People forget that before they were prominent on TV, they were elite sports writers.
HOW DID YOU COME WITH THE IDEA FOR WWW.TEXASHSFOOTBALL.COM?
The idea actually came from a short-lived Texas based information site I created while I was at Texarkana College. I did a test run in 2000 before the site was even an idea by covering high school football and I saw a gold mine.
Then while I was doing baseball and hockey at Texarkana, I launched TexasHSFootball on April 13, 2001. It was a slow gradual build over the years. One of the things that made it successful was my ability to be creative and follow the trends of the internet. People forget that the site itself was created before the existence of the social media age and before there was a Twitter and Facebook. While all that was gaining traction, I had to use the tools that were out there to keep up with the times.
WHY DID IT END?
I was suffering from severe burnout. I had run the site non-stop for a decade and a half. I worked hard in the off-season to keep eyeballs on my content and refused to take a break. Even when I went to Florida every January for the Under Armour All-America Game, I did very little to rest. You can even ask Josh Wilson of FloridaHSFootball.com about that. There was always something that needed to be done and I wanted to compete with the best of the best.
Looking back, I would’ve done a couple things different and probably would still have the site to this day. It was the single biggest regret of my life.
HOW MANY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL GAMES HAVE YOU ATTENDED?
The number was pretty high and I tended to keep a low profile on purpose because I did not want to put the attention on myself. At least a thousand games if I did my math right.
WHAT ARE SOME YOUR FAVORITE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL STADIUMS?
Shotwell Stadium in Abilene because of its historic ties.
Eagle Stadium in Allen because of its distinct awe along with the Allen band and fanbase.
Lobo Stadium in Longview because of its vibe and atmosphere.
You can’t go wrong with any of those three.
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE GAMES AND ATHLETES YOU HAVE SEEN?
There’s actually two that stand out above the rest.
The state quarterfinal game that featured two of the greatest quarterbacks in Graham Harrell from Ennis and Jevan Snead from Highland Park in 2001. It was the first season I actually went full time with TexasHSFootball. I remember Highland Park having their way with Ennis and led the game by a couple touchdowns in the fourth but Graham and the Ennis Lions never relented. Ennis won and they also won the state championship. Even the coach’s, Randy Allen and Sam Harrell, was a chess battle at the most elite level.
The second is actually my own personal assignment after I left TexasHSFootball. It was the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL) in Melbourne, Australia between the Sydney Swans and Hawthorne Hawks. Man what a treat!
The AFL Grand Final is essentially the Australian version of the Super Bowl. The game was a blow out win by Hawthorne but the memory I have from that is basically shadowing the Australian sports media that entire weekend. Everything from the setting of the game, the organization and venue.
It was just magical in my eyes but that was not the only thing that stood out to me. In that stay down there, I also got to tour the official headquarters of Carlton FC with one of the Carlton FC players and then walked the grounds of Rod Laver Arena, where the Australian Open is played. I also met with people who run Gridiron Australia, the governing body of Australia’s American Football activity and spent time with the Melbourne University Royals junior (high school) gridiron team.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEBODY WHO WANTS TO BE A SPORTS WRITER?
Don’t be afraid to be creative. Think outside the box. Writing everyday can only help. It doesn’t have to be about sports. Keep your own journal and goals in life. Learn something new everyday. Research is probably the single biggest asset you will have. The more research you do, the more prepared you will be and the more creative you can be.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?
I am in the middle of writing a very detailed and heavily researched book about the NBA and the some of the greatest players to play the game but I am tying it all in together to a point where every player discussed has one common and unique element. The book should be close to completion by end of the year.