MADISON — Four decades after joining the Wisconsin State Journal newsroom, longtime sports columnist Tom Oates has announced his retirement.
Oates bid farewell after 25 years as a columnist for the Madison newspaper, calling himself the “luckiest columnist on the face of the Earth.” He held the role during one of the most entertaining and successful stretches in Wisconsin professional and collegiate sports history.
An Appleton native, Oates grew up attending Green Bay Packers games during the team’s glory years, when the Packers won five NFL titles in seven years. He graduated from Xavier High School in 1970 and earned his degree from UW-Madison in 1974.
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Oates’ journalism career started at The Badger Herald student newspaper, and after graduating, he went on to spend four years with the Daily Jefferson County Union in Fort Atkinson. In 1980, Oates returned to Madison, joining the State Journal staff as a high school sports reporter. He later covered the Packers and UW men’s basketball beats and served as assistant sports editor before taking on a full-time columnist role in 1995.
In a brief Q&A with State Journal editor John Smalley, Oates listed a few of his most memorable moments and athletes from over the years. Super Bowl XXXI stood out as the top game, while the 2014-15 UW men’s basketball team — which Oates still believes was the best in the country that year — provided his most memorable season.
