Keith Pompey

By: Lyza Newbern

lnewbern@slabeeber.org

Born in the Frankford part of Philadelphia, this beat reporter answers questions from 7 of Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber’s students during an hour long Q&A. Questions like ‘When did you start writing?’, ‘Did you ever run out of things to write about?’, and of course ‘Who do you think will go home champions from the NBA championship game?’ It was an hour of laughter, memories were shared and made.

He talked answered questions about the hardships of working on the beat, considering the hours he had to put into it during the 2013-2014 season. Pompey, being the reporter for the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers and their record beating 26 games in-a-row losses he has dealt with a lot of different feedback and reviews from his readers. He stated that this is the “age of twitter” and that he has to keep up with his competitors more now than ever because of the internet. One of the students asked a question that went along the lines of “How did you never run out of things to say while writing throughout their losing streak?” he shed some light about things that he knew with the student and the overall goal of what he did while this was going on. He said that he knew he always had to tell a story, he knows that the game story becomes old faster now because of the internet and that he knew he had to write about something else to keep people interested and entertained. While writing throughout the NBA all-time high record of straight loses he wrote about them as if they were the Heat. Not thinking about the loss - or win - he wrote because it was his “duty” to keep his readers happy.

“Let’s face it the heat lost to the sixers.” was his reply when asked who his prediction on who will win the NBA 2014 championship. He stated that the - predicted - winners of the final game have the “Best Bench in the league.”