For this Throwback Thursday... “The Heat of the Day.” Hard to believe this moment was nearly 40 years ago.

This photo was taken in the mid-1980s by the Euclid Sun Journal, part of the Sun Newspapers chain that once served as a vital source of public record for Cleveland's neighborhoods. At the time, I was just 12 years old and organizing my first community fundraiser. It was a local “Junior Olympics” event to benefit the American Red Cross. With support from neighborhood merchants and the Euclid Kiwanis Club, I helped pull together what felt like a big accomplishment.

We may not have raised much, but the event made it into print. That one photo and article were preserved in local archives. A small moment in time, but a real piece of Cleveland’s civic history. I still remember the reporter’s leather notepad and the photographer who took the picture. It was probably the first time I was ever published in a real newspaper.

Around that same time, I was delivering those very newspapers on my weekly route. We used punch cards to track who had paid, and I walked the neighborhood in the pouring rain, sometimes soaking the papers by accident. I wonder if kids today even realize how many of us used to deliver the news by hand, in all kinds of weather.

It feels like another world, far away now. But the importance of records, community stories, and local engagement has not changed. Every day still feels like the heat of the day. I am still hustling. And I will be until my last breath.

Why it matters Local newspapers and civic organizations are more than memories. They are part of the public record. They document who we were, what we did, and how we came together as a community. At ClevelandLawLinks.com, we believe in keeping those records alive and accessible.