Jill Painter pens farewell column for Daily News

Sports columnist Jill Painter, a longtime staffer at the Daily News — a columnist for 14 years — has a new gig as a columnist for Fox Sports West. Painter, who tweets here, has covered golf and the other major sports, but she remembers the beginning in a gracious farewell column today at the DN: Thank you for a great ride at the Daily News.

Sample:

My first gig was covering Cal State Northridge sports, and in a New York minute, I followed the men’s basketball team en route to its first berth in the NCAA Tournament and the football team’s demise.

I volunteered to go anywhere and everywhere and cover anything and everything. I wound up in John Wooden’s living room in his Encino condo one afternoon for an interview, and I made sure I was anywhere he was after that. I was in awe over how he could capture the attention of student athletes who were nearly seven decades younger. I found a lovely breakfast spot at Vip’s Cafe in Tarzana, where he dined every day, and where I still frequent. I soaked up every word, then wrote about it. You don’t call that work. You call that lucky.

Thank you for allowing me the pleasure of covering the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, NBA Finals, BCS Championship games, CIF High School Football Championships. And all those events without the glitz and glamor, like a golf tournament that featured frozen meat balls instead of golf balls.

I met a horse named Paynter. I rode shotgun with former Dodgers manager Grady Little on his motorcycle. I get to say hi to Vin Scully every time I cover a Dodgers game and dine in the press box cafeteria of Dave Pearson, the nicest human being you’ll ever meet. I’ve sat next to Bob Miller during Kings playoff games.

Thank you for allowing me to call that stuff work.

Photo of Painter: Twitter