Geoff Calkins grew up as the eighth of nine children on a small farm outside of Buffalo, New York. A Magna Cum Laude graduate from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. for three years before deciding at 31 to switch to being a sports columnist for more fun and impact.
Currently the host of the Geoff Calkins show on 929 ESPN FM, he has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades.
Geoff has been named the Best Sports Columnist in the country three times by the Associated Press Sports Editors and is a member of the Scripps Howard Hall of Fame.
For the Just Bluffin’ podcast, Campfire Collective talked to Geoff about his career path, his work in sports journalism, and what it’s like to discover work that you love.
According to Geoff Calkins, a lot of people think his story is a perfect example of the adage to do what you love. “But the truth is,” he said, “I think we spend very little time figuring out what we love. We may spend time thinking about where we want to go to college, but figuring out what you actually want to do with your life is harder to figure out.”
Geoff originally attended law school because he liked history and English, and didn’t like the idea of lots of science or math courses. “But then I found myself as a lawyer in D.C. It was a big-time law firm, and I just hated it. I hated it. Not in a sort of low-level, depression kind of way… I became a hypochondriac, I was depressed, I was drinking too much. I didn’t know for certain that I wanted to be a sports writer. But I knew I had to stop doing what I was doing.”
Geoff took a leave of absence, went to journalism school, and eventually applied to work at three hundred newspapers. “I got one job offer, from The Anniston Star in Alabama, making $225 a week, covering high school sports for a summer internship.”
At the law firm, he’d been earning a six-figure salary. “It seemed crazy. But I did it,” he said. “And even then, for a while, I wondered if I would go back. I didn't think I could sustainably make $225 a week for the rest of my life.”
It wasn’t until Geoff became a columnist here in Memphis that he knew for certain that he was going to keep working as a sportswriter.
“It’s worked out miraculously well,” he said. “I love what I do now. But I don’t think it was obvious when I was doing it. I think for a lot of people, you head off down a path and then you say this path isn’t right for me. Then you adjust, and it was a big adjustment. But that’s all I did. I went down another path, and that path worked out.”
“I have three kids in my home now who are in their twenties,” he added. “And I’m sympathetic to the challenges of figuring it out because it took me a long time.”
Geoff sees Memphis and his hometown of Buffalo as cities with similar sensibilities: “Buffalo is an underdog city with hard-working, blue collar people. In that way, the sensibility fits Memphis perfectly. But when I moved to Memphis in ‘96, it felt like the people who were most critical of Memphis were Memphians. Lately, the self-loathing has picked up again, to a degree that makes me unhappy.”
He thinks there are still a lot of things to love about living in Memphis, including the fact that you matter in Memphis. “In the end, I think most of us want our lives to have some kind of meaning,” he said.
“When I was in Washington, D.C., one lawyer out of 100,000 lawyers, I felt totally fungible,” he continued. “And in Memphis, I feel like every person matters. So the problems and challenges that Memphis faces are also an opportunity to matter, which I think should be meaningful to people.”
To listen to the Just Bluffin full conversation with Geoff Calkins, click below. And don’t miss any of their future conversations with Memphis leaders!
Campfire Collective is a Memphis-based marketing and communications agency that seeks to ignite creativity for community-focused organizations. Learn more at buildacampfire.com
