How a tiny town shaped two journalists' big careers
Broadcaster Sterling Sharpe once called Wellsville a 'one-stoplight town' where he grew up. Despite its small size, he dreamed big—even treating local football games like grand spectacles. His early career began there, just as another local journalist would later do.
Around the start of the 1960s, Sterling launched his career at WLSV-AM radio in Wellsville. He brought ambition to every task, comparing modest high school matches to legendary showdowns like the Army-Navy game.
The author of this piece also started in the same area, though decades later. Their first job came at the *Times-Herald* in Olean—28 years after Sterling’s radio debut. Both careers took root in the same quiet corner of western New York.
Sterling’s early drive set the tone for his future work. The small-town beginnings he shared with another local journalist shaped their paths in different eras. Wellsville, for both, became the unlikely starting point for much larger careers.
