Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Friend Encounters: Jamie Ruden and Henry G

Friend Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends who have met celebrities.

Today, I feature a former boss with a celeb who represented the reason I knew him. If that isn't confusinbg enough, let me tell you a story.

Henry ran Global Women's Sports Radio, a website focused on women's sports. Despite it's name, it had nothing to do with radio. It didn't even have audio or video, at least until I got on board. Henry courted me for a while, but I was pretty busy at the time. Eventually, I did sign on, because I liked what he was doing and I am a big supporter of women's sports.

I brought a lot of women's wrestling to GWSR. I also brought a bunch of interviews with women athletes. Henry liked what I did and made me Senior Writer. Eventually, I was pretty much running the day-to-day stuff. Along with writing, I trained other writers and edited their work. It was a lot of work, but it was fun and I thought GWSR was rolling.

Unfortunately, apparently Henry did not think so. One day with no notice, he ended the site. A couple of us tried talking him out of it, but he didn't change his mind.

I understand his decision, because women's sports are not huge drawing cards. I imagine he struggled getting sponsors to keep things going. I know he believed in the objective, but at some point, the money needs to roll in to keep things afloat.

Henry has been a supporter of women's sports before GWSR started. He attended games and met many athletes, like Jamie Ruden, former star player for Arizona State.

I don't sit around and lament the loss of GWSD daily. I do dislike how it ended and wish it could have been more successful. Either way, we did some good work and had fun while it lasted.

Hnery and Jamie Ruden in Tempe, AZ-December 2019.

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