The editorial staff in the Journal-World sports department works around the clock year-round to be your best source for breaking KU sports news, features and opinions. Here's your chance to get to know the men behind the bylines a little more personally.

Tom Keegan - Journal-World sports editor
Tom Keegan, sports editor/columnist/Spodcaster/panelist for "The Drive" television show for the World Company, has a diverse media background as a baseball writer, author, and sports talk radio host. A 1981 graduate of Marquette University, Keegan has written for the Orange County Register, National Sports Daily, Daily Southtown, Baltimore Sun and New York Post. Keegan also was co-host of an afternoon drive-time radio show on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York.
Keegan, 48, has written three baseball books. During his career, Keegan has interviewed, among others, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Jim Brown, John Hadl, Michael Jordan, Sandy Koufax, Tommy Lasorda, Willie Mays, Liza Minelli, Denny McLain (in prison), Terrell Owens, Cal Ripken, Jim Ryun, Wes Santee, Gale Sayers, Mike Tyson and Dwyane Wade.
Favorite teams: Marquette basketball, Rochester Red Wings.
Favorite sports moment: Kirk Gibson's Game 1 home run in the 1988 World Series.
Favorite sports quote: "I'll always take your calls, but don't ever call me again." -Told that by George Steinbrenner.

Gary Bedore - Journal-World KU men's basketball beat writer
Gary has covered KU basketball exclusively since Roy Williams' first year. Before that, he also covered the Royals, Chiefs and Lawrence High when it was the only school in town. He's from Chicago's South Side, as well as the Western suburb of Lisle, and a fan of both Benet Academy and Brother Rice, where he split his high school years before attending KU.
Favorite teams: White Sox, Bulls during Jordan era, Bears, Illinois Institute of Technology basketball, Brother Rice and Benet High football and basketball, Gabe Kaplan (poker), Anna Kournikova (tennis).
Favorite sports moment: White Sox World Series title two seasons ago.
Favorite sports quote: "My mom said I woke up from a dead sleep one time and said, 'I need some hot dogs from Steak and Shake.' I didn't even remember saying that. I was pretty messed up. -Jeff Graves commenting to me about his recovery from a car wreck at KU.

Dugan Arnett - Journal-World KU football beat writer
Dugan Arnett has covered the KU football team for the Journal-World and KUSports.com since July of 2008. A 2006 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he grew up in Kansas City and attended Blue Springs South High School, home of the Jaguars (ROAR!). Prior to arriving at the Journal-World, he spent 18 months as an enterprise/high school sports reporter in Port Charlotte, Fla., where he covered everything from skeet shooting championships to push-up competitions.
His hobbies include, but are not limited to, kickboxing and getting asked out a lot by girls.
Favorite teams: Any team that Brandon Jennings is on.
Favorite sports quote: "Obviously all vegetables." - Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing, responding to a question about his favorite food

Jesse Newell KUsports.com online editor
Jesse Newell has been online editor at KUsports.com since August of 2008, coming from The Emporia Gazette, where he covered Emporia State sports. A native of Emporia, Jesse double-majored in journalism and communication studies from the University of Kansas in 2006. In addition to sports, Jesse enjoys sleeping in and Royals baseball games, even though his record at the "K" is usually uninspiring. His favorite player is David DeJesus, least favorite is Mark Teahen, and he believes that even though Ryan Shealy suffered through a horrible 2007 and was sent to Omaha in 2008, he still will set the Royals' single-season home run record before the end of his career.
Favorite teams: Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Chiefs.
Favorite sports moment: Trying out for the KU men's basketball team as a senior in college.
Favorite sports quote: "Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40!" - Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy

Kevin Romary - 6News Sports director
Kevin joined the 6News Sports Team in 1997. Four years later, he became Sports Director. The Mansfield, Texas native and University of Kansas graduate lives in Lawrence. He spends his spare time on the links at Eagle Bend and occasionally plays a few sets of tennis.
Favorite Teams: KU, and all pro teams from Dallas.
Favorite Sports Moment: Making my first hole in one with my dad watching on.
Favorite Sports Quote: "Game, Blouses."

D.J. Whetter 6Sports Nightside anchor
D.J. has been the 10 p.m. anchor for 6Sports since August 2005. Before that, he worked part-time at Ch.6 covering news and sports on the weekends, while completing his Journalism and Political Science degrees at the University of Kansas. Born in Stockton, California, D.J. also lived in Ohio and Arizona before moving to Kansas in 1995. He graduated from Blue Valley High School in 2001 and from KU in 2005. D.J. still lives in Lawrence, and his hobbies include golf, swimming and basketball, along with dying a little bit each year the Chicago Cubs fail to win the World Series.
Favorite teams: Bears, Cubs, Bulls, University of Kansas.
Favorite sports moment: Steve Kerr's 3-pointer with 5 seconds gives the Bulls Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals and their 6th World Championship in the 90's.
Favorite sports quote: "The mailman doesn't deliver on Sundays." Scottie Pippen to Karl Malone before he took two free throws toward the end of Game 1 of the '97 Finals. Malone missed both freebies, and Jordan hit the game winning shot at the buzzer.

Eric Sorrentino Sports copy editor/Big 12 Spotlight
Favorite teams: Texas Rangers, Oakland Raiders, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars.
Favorite sports moment: Former Rangers catcher Rod Barajas hitting a game-winning home run to beat the Yankees, 4-3, in May 2004.
Favorite sports quote: "The Bears are who we thought they were. We played them in the preseason ... We played them in the third game, everyone played three quarters, the Bears - are who we THOUGHT they were." -Former Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green

Eric came to Kansas from Plano, Texas, where he attended Plano West Senior High School. He also previously lived in Coral Springs, Fla., and was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He attended Kansas University, where he graduated from the School of Journalism in 2006. He worked for the Journal-World part-time, covering Free State High athletics, from May 2006 to May 2007, when he moved to Tonganoxie to become sports editor of The Mirror, one of The World Company's weekly newspapers. In February 2008, Eric re-joined the Journal-World as a sports copy editor. He also produces the Big 12 Spotlight feature in the sports section on Wednesdays. Eric considers family - his brother David, who attends the University of Arizona, his mother Debbi and his father Ralph - the most important parts of his life. In his spare time, Eric likes to watch the Texas Rangers online, shoot threes in the Journal-World's pick-up games and listen to music. Some of his favorite bands include Fair to Midland, Metallica, Sevendust, Avenged Sevenfold and AFI.

Bill Mayer - Contributing editor
Joined Journal-World staff in 1950 and has ranged from reporter, sports editor, news editor, managing editor and executive editor and columnist-editorialist before semi-retiring as contributing editor. Native of Kansas City, Kan., World War II Army Air Corps veteran and graduate of Wyandotte High School and Kansas University. Main hobby reading - anything fair or foul that might help provide fodder for J-W editorials and columns.
Favorite teams: Jayhawks, Lions and Firebirds and once the Celtics and Yankees.
Favorite sports moment: Forrest Griffith's last-minute touchdown that gave Kansas a 20-14 football victory over Missouri here in 1947 and sent the Jayhawks to their first bowl game.
Two favorite sports quotes: Boston Celtics' Bill Russell when asked by a young reporter how he thought he might have fared against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "You've got that backward, son."