Going with Your Gut: Branch takes retail route to The New York Times

By George Plaven

John Branch (MA ’96), 40, admits he has never been a goal-oriented person. Now a sports feature writer for The New York Times, Branch said he never had a grand plan for his career.

He just took the opportunities as they came up.

“I suppose it’s just like [covering] any story,” Branch said. “You sort of follow your intuition and see where it goes.”

Before deciding to become a journalist, he attended the Leeds School of Business at CU, graduating in 1989 with a degree in marketing. That took him to a job in retail, ultimately as a manager at Costco in Denver, which he said he liked, but that, in the back of his mind, he had always wanted to be a sports writer.

Branch said he chose to major in marketing because business schools were hot at that time. Looking back, he said it was a decision he made with his head, not with his heart. So, in 1995, he followed his intuition back to Boulder to pursue a master’s degree.

“I always loved the newspaper, and I always loved sports,” he said. “I knew, when I went back to school, what I wanted to do.”

One class in particular, a sports writing class taught by former Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Doug Looney, had an impact on Branch. Branch said he loved the basic news gathering and how much power journalists had in terms of gaining insight. But it was outside the classroom, reporting on Boulder City Council meetings and gaining hands-on experience, that Branch said CU best prepared him for his work today. “The more they get you out of the classroom, the better,” he said.

Branch said he received his first internship and first full-time job at the Colorado Springs Gazette during the summer of 1996, the same year he finished his master’s. Based on his background, he began by writing for the business section but transitioned into a college football beat reporter covering the Air Force Academy.

He said there are thousands of sports writers who would toil for years in preps before they got a job in college sports. “I feel like I started my career late, but I’ve been lucky,” Branch said. “I was totally prepared to do the typical career path.”

After moving on from Colorado Springs, Branch worked as a columnist for The Fresno Bee. He said he liked the freedom he had as a columnist and wanted to continue down that path – so much so that he was hesitant when he heard about the job opening at The New York Times.

In the end, covering the New York Giants was too much to pass up.
“The next morning, I woke up and thought, ‘Wow, The New York Times. What, am I out of my mind?’ ” he said.

With the Times, Branch said his favorite stories to write are ones that he’s never done before. He said that after going to the Super Bowl six times, the novelty has worn off.

This year, Branch will do something new by going to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, and he said he’s excited by the idea of covering table tennis. But travel can be difficult, he added, especially with family. He lives in Madison, N.J., with his wife, Cathy, and their two children, Joe, 6, and Ally, 3. “Travel is probably my favorite part of the job because it takes me new places, but it’s (also) my least favorite part of the job because it takes me away from the people I care about the most,” he said. branch@nytimes.com