My first job was delivering the Advertiser. I was not very good at getting up early.

My second job was delivering the Star-Bulletin. I threw one on somebody's roof, and my newspaper career immediately went on hold.

A few years later in John Simonds' office, he held up four applications; I'd filled out one every summer since my junior year of high school.

“;I guess you're serious about this,”; the editor of the Star-Bulletin said. “;Do you know what a copyboy does?”;

At age 19 I didn't, and still don't—other than whatever someone tells you to do. All I really knew was it was my ticket into the place I wanted to work the rest of my life.

From 1981 to 1998, I spent an ungodly share of my waking hours (and even some sleeping ones) in that beautiful but old and drafty building at 605 Kapiolani Blvd., two stints at the Star-Bulletin sandwiching one at the Advertiser.

AMID THE chaos of the past few months, the fact that this is technically the end of the Star-Bulletin as well as the Advertiser has almost gotten lost in the shuffle. Our newsroom staff and part of the name lives on with the debut of the Star-Advertiser tomorrow, but the change still signals a sentimental loss—one felt as far away as Wingo, Ky.

That's where my favorite sports writer ever, Jim Easterwood, and his wife, Darlene, also a former Star-Bulletin reporter, live a quiet, semi-retired life in a cozy and pretty farmhouse Darlene grew up in.

“;David, say it isn't so,”; read Easterwood's e-mail. (Yes, Pancho's gone high-tech.)

Sadly, it is. So much uncertainty, so many friends out of work. We talked and I tried to explain to Jim it's also an opportunity to do something special. We owe it to those displaced, and of course the community at-large.

WHEN STAR-BULLETIN sports editor Bill Kwon let me do stats and then later cover high school games in 1982, I felt like a kid who'd been called up to the Red Sox (also Bill's favorite team). I was in the same clubhouse as my idols, Easterwood, Paul Carvalho, Rod Ohira, Dick Couch, Al Chase and Randy Cadiente (Randy was also a better athlete than most of the ones we covered). Cindy Luis, who is still with the paper, had just been hired as the Star-Bulletin's first woman sports writer.

They treated me like a nephew or a younger brother, and then as a colleague and friend. In our off-time, we were fantasy sports pioneers and we played mediocre softball and bad golf together.

It was just a couple of years prior that I was throwing papers with their bylines into the bushes and onto roofs.

Ferd Lewis, Ann Miller, Curtis Murayama and Stephen Tsai were among our competitors and friends across the hall. Tomorrow, they bring their talent and combined experience of more than 100 years covering Hawaii sports to the Star-Advertiser.

They join our diverse group of experienced veteran and young energetic sports journalists, including Billy Hull and Jason Kaneshiro, who are on the mainland covering every pitch of the Rainbows and Wahine.

Paul Arnett, the Star-Bulletin's “;lead dog”; as the UH football writer for more than a decade, has led us through rocky times nearly as long as sports editor. He is as excited as the rest of us about the new venture.

Like coaches and players often say as they head into a new season, we think we have a chance to be a really good team.

See you tomorrow, from the Star-Advertiser.

Oh, one more thing: I think we'll have better paperboys than in 1977.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), his “;Quick Reads”; blog at starbulletin.com, and twitter.com/davereardon.