Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media
achedden@currentargus.com

JT Keith was a marine, a salesman and most importantly a loving son as he and his mother MaryAnn Bowser moved across the country several times throughout Keith’s eclectic career.

Most recently, Keith, 61, landed in southeast New Mexico, stationed in Artesia where he works out of the local newspaper’s downtown office to cover not only the iconic Bulldogs football team but also lesser-known stars of the city’s sports scenes including cheerleaders and band members.

Keith’s first day was Feb. 10, tasked with overseeing all sports coverage for two of El Rito Media’s southern New Mexico newspapers: the Artesia Daily Press and Carlsbad Current-Argus.

El Rito owns five newspapers in New Mexico, more than any single company, after it purchased the Current-Argus, Alamogordo News and Ruidoso News in June 2024 from Gannett, adding to a portfolio that already included the Artesia Daily Press and the Rio Grande Sun in Espanola – all dedicated to reinvigorating local news and sports coverage.

For Keith, that means uplifting the communities through an institution he said unites the people of small towns like no other: high school sports. He said his goal is to honor the students and parents involved in all athletic competitions throughout the communities he covers, immortalizing their greatest triumphs in print and online.

“I just want to make sure these athletes are highlighted,” Keith said. “I try to make sure I give these kids a legacy. I try to write stories no one is talking about.”

Before his current job in New Mexico, Keith worked in Jackson, Mississippi, as USA Today’s HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) sports editor from May 2022 to August 2024. In that role, Keith’s coverage included the Jackson State University Tigers, and interviews with football legend Deion Sanders, who served as head coach of the Jackson State football team for three seasons from 2020 to 2022.

At USA Today, Keith also covered Jackson State stars Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, who went on to play at University of Colorado Boulder along with “Coach Prime,” and edited the work of more than 50 writers in the south region.

But JT (the initials stand for Joseph Thomas) is no stranger to southeast New Mexico, having worked as sports editor for the Roswell Daily Record from April 2017 to April 2021. For the year between Roswell and Mississippi, Keith ran his own online and print sports newspaper, Life N Sports, which published weekly and was intended, he said, to compete directly with the more established Roswell Daily Record.

Operating Life N Sports taught Keith about more than total coverage of local sports teams and events. He also learned about all aspects of publishing, including ad sales, customer service and page layouts.

It’s that kind of knowledge, he said, that will benefit him with El Rito and in southeast New Mexico.

“The reason I like writing sports is because I want the kids to be recognized. If you can make a kid feel good, you can make a difference,” Keith said. “I try to make the kids the stars.”

Lifelong, lasting memories

He said he’s “never met a stranger” and brings a combination of friendliness and discipline taken from past lives in the Marine Corps and as a salesman for multiple large, national companies such as Bally Total Fitness and life insurance firm Philadelphia United.

Keith graduated from West Muskingum High School in his native Zanesville, Ohio, in 1981, then attended the University of Findlay and the University of Mountain Union, both also in Ohio, where he played football as a linebacker.

He left college in 1982, and joined the Marine Corps in 1984, serving until 1988.

“It changed my life. It gave me discipline,” Keith said of the Marine Corps.

For about the next 20 years, Keith worked in sales at several companies, but it was a chance encounter with Terry Pluto, a sportswriter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, in about 2007 that encouraged him to give sports writing a try.

Keith scored his first gig at a local newspaper, the Suburbanite, in Green, Ohio, that year.

The job came two years after Keith’s mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, an event that made him reevaluate his priorities and think about turning his passion for sports into a career.

“I was starting to hate what I was doing,” Keith said of his life as a salesman. “It paid good money; I was very successful. But I thought if I died today, would I be happy? I wouldn’t.

“I just remembered when I was a kid reading Sports Illustrated. I sent a bunch of letters to people. I said why they should hire me.”

Although that first flurry of job applications landed him the gig in Green, Keith wanted more. He knew that to truly advance as a reporter, he needed more than on-the-job training – he needed a degree.

To that end, Keith brought his mother with him to Portales, New Mexico, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Eastern New Mexico University in 2014. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in Sports Media at Texas Tech University in 2016.

But amid his academic achievements and country-spanning travels, Keith said, he’s maintained a value for community journalism, and celebrating the proud moments of local athletes.

“People want to read good content. People want to read about their kids. I want someone to laminate my stuff on the fridge,” Keith said. “I want to create lifelong, lasting memories for athletes. I’m always trying to be encouraging and uplifting.”