Scott & Wayne

Updated
Scott Morrison and Wayne Parrish, two former Toronto Sun sports editors, have popped up in the news out of the blue, prompting flashbacks to the 1980s and 1990s.

Scott, a Hockey Hall of Fame sports writer who bowed out of the Sun as sports editor six years ago, is returning to the Sun in October (by way of Quebecor's purchase of Osprey Media) writing two Inside the NHL hockey columns a week.

He joined the Sun as a hockey writer in 1979, was appointed sports editor in 1991 and in 1999, with Scott at the helm, the Sun's sport section was named one of North America's Top 10. It was Canada's first sports section so honoured by the AP Sports Editors North American Award.

After leaving the Sun following a 22-year run, 11 years as sports editor, the multi-talented nice guy moved on to Rogers Sportsnet as managing editor - hockey and then became a high profile hockey commentator on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

Scott, former two-term president of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, is also a recipient of the Hockey Hall of Fame's 2006 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award.

When Sun vets talk about the good old days at the Sun, Scott Morrison comes to mind as one of the many reasons for its success, as a newspaper and as a working environment.

The return of this widely-praised hockey writer to the tabloid he loved follows Quebecor's purchase of Osprey, where Scott's columns were featured. We're not sure of Scott's feelings about the full circle, but he has been missed.

Meanwhile, Wayne Parrish, whose forte at the Sun was sports writing (he won two National Newspaper Awards), not management from a former employee's viewpoint, was named yesterday as Canada Basketball's new executive director and CEO.

Wayne, a former sports columnist at the Toronto Star and sports editor of the Toronto Sun, was later the GM and executive editor of the Sun and vice-president of strategic operations for Sun Media.

A Canadian Press story says Wayne "won the job over about 50 applicants, many with far more extensive basketball backgrounds. Parrish played high school basketball growing up in Vancouver and covered the sport as a reporter."