A long-tenured ESPN writer is moving on to new pastures. After time at The Baltimore Sun, Kevin Van Valkenburg had been working for ESPN for the past 11 years as a news, features, and investigative reporter. He announced Wednesday that he’s leaving the company to become editorial director at golf site No Laying Up, and to oversee that site (which started around the titular podcast, and also includes videos)’s expansion of their written content:
So. A bit of personal news. After 11 years, I made the decision to part ways with ESPN when my contract ended this week. It was my decision & I stuck to it even when asked if I might reconsider. I leave with only warm feelings about the place. It changed my life. I'm so grateful.
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) February 1, 2023
Today is my first day as part of @NoLayingUp. I'm going to be the company's Editorial Director, and lead its expansion of written content. I'm really excited to work with such a smart group of friends.
This is my first piece. It's called "Comets." https://t.co/OfaghHpq7r
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) February 1, 2023
Here’s more from that piece, where Van Valkenburg talks about how golf writing had “started to feel strangely spiritual to me,” and how that helped him make a move to a place where he could focus on that:
After thinking about it a long time, I decided to run toward joy.
Today is my first day with No Laying Up. I’m going to serve as NLU’s Editorial Director, a title we made up because it sounds interesting and we wanted something that could cover just about everything. It turns out, you can do that at a small company. For now, I’ll anchor the expansion of our written content, lead some new content for Nest members and continue annoying you with my ridiculous Gary Player impression.
…Sometimes life, and golf, gives you exactly what you need when you least expect it.
Van Valkenburg wrote a lot of impressive pieces for ESPN over the last decade-plus, including features on left-handed quarterbacks, Conor McGregor, Eddie Lacy and weight, Felix Hernandez, and more. We’ll see what he does at No Laying Up.
[No Laying Up; image from a June 2022 interview Van Valkenburg did with The Rich Eisen Show, screengrabbed from YouTube]
