Daily News sportswriter says goodbye

Long-time preps sportswriter Gerry Gittelson of the L.A. Daily News lost his job last Thursday. I never met him but I've read his byline since I was in high school. He was a colleague of my former roommate, Ivan Orozco, who also lost his job in a round of layoffs a few weeks ago at a paper owned by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Gittelson, one of the hardest working prep writers in Southern California, wrote this in his final blog.

Well, this is my last Blog. I was informed today that I've been laid off from the Los Angeles Daily News because of ongoing budgets cuts.
A huge part of me is devastated, of course, as i've put my life and soul into being a sports reporter through the seasons. But I'm also just grateful and happy to have had a chance to do what i love for so long, and to have been able to enjoy being a writer because it's really been a pleasure. I've never thought i worked a day in my life. That's how much I love writing. I'd like to thank my editor, Vincent Bonsignore, who has been a great co-worker and a great friend since the day I arrived at the Daily News as a Friday-night stringer in 1997. I'd also like to thank all my other good friends at the newspaper -- Gene Warnick, Rich Hammond, Kevin Modesti, Chris Hart, Erik Boal, Ramona Shelburne, Jack Pollon and so many others. And I am forever grateful to former Daily News staffers who helped me along the way, especially Eric Sondheimer, who I've tried to emulate at every turn, along with Mike Anastasi, Michael Rosenthal, Darrin Beane, Rick Hazeltine, the late Matt McHale and all the others who've touched my life.
It's a new turn, a new chapter. God only knows what will happen next, but for some reason i know it's going to be OK.
I'd love to keep in touch with everyone. My email is gerryg123@hotmail.com
All the best forever and ever,
Gerry Gittelson