Triad grad Steve Porter inducted to Illinois Sports Hall of Fame

By Mark Jurgena

When you’re really good at something for a long time, it gets noticed and remembered.

Triad Class of 1969 Alumnus Steve Porter was really good at his job covering sports in the St. Louis area for 45 years for three local papers.

That legendary career had led to several halls of fame, including his latest honor, the Illinois Sports Hall of Fame.

Porter is part of the third class of the Illinois Hall and will get inducted with Illinois legends like Michael Jordan, Kirby Puckett, Whitey Herzog and Dick Butkus.

“I’m honored to be in any sports hall of fame,” Porter said. “I’m truly grateful to be in the third class. I would have never thought that. Going in as a media guy with the people in there is remarkable.”

Porter is already in two of the biggest halls anyone around sports could be in—the IBCA and St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.

“It’s great when people recognize you because when you’re in the newspaper business or media business, you’re not up there to be recognized but when you do get appreciated,” said Porter. “It’s heartwarming because the media sometimes, not so much in sports, but, you know, it takes a lot of hits. So when people recognize you, I’m really appreciative of that.”

He spent the lion’s share of his career at the Alton Telegraph, where he served as the longtime sports editor. He also worked for the Collinsville Herald at the start of his career as well as with the Alestle during his college days at SIUE.

In that time, he has covered some of the biggest sporting events to occur in the area and with teams in the bi-state.

While he has a treasure trove of memories, he boiled that entire career down to five events (although it was begrudgingly based on how much he covered).

His No. 1 favorite event he covered was when the Illinois men’s basketball team went to the Final Four in St. Louis. The Illini fell in the NCAA championship game to North Carolina but it was the local team, having a magical season, getting to that level.

For Porter, number two was any of the World Series he covered.

“I guess 1982 was gratifying because that’s the first one I got to cover and that I went to,” he began. “The Cardinals won in seven games.”

His third event was going to the Sugar Bowl to see Illinois play against LSU, which was coached by Nick Saban.

Porter’s fourth moment was the 1989 IHSA Class AA boys basketball state championship when East St. Louis (Lincoln) beat Peoria (Central) 59-57 in three overtimes to win the state title.

His fifth moment was when Madison won the IHSA Class A boys basketball state title in 1977 and 1981.

His sixth moment was, (like I said, ‘how do you boil a career down to five events?’) was when Alton went to the state tournament in 2001.

Number seven was Hardin (Calhoun) winning back-to-back state championships in 1992 and 1993.

“But I’ve enjoyed it all,” Porter said. “Like I told you before, it’s been a great ride. But I had the joy of being able to go to a high school game on Friday night at a college event on Saturday in a pro game on Sunday, whether it’s baseball or football or basketball on Saturday, you really appreciated things.”

“You’d see high school, college and pro football back to back-to-back. And I don’t know how you could get burned out on it? You really savored it to watch all three levels, on three different days.”