WATERTOWN — This is a correction that is long overdue. How about nearly 25 years overdue?
But I’m not going to take the blame for it. I didn’t take the original picture, a high school boys golf picture published in the Public Opinion in the fall of 2000 of a golfer chipping to the green in the Watertown Invitational at the Prairie Winds Golf Club.
The cutline said it was Watertown High School golfer Stuart Stein. That’s where this story takes over.
Many of you have been following my “20 Favorites” series the past couple of years where I’ve looked at many of the best high school athletes from Watertown and other area high school since I started covering sports for the newspaper in December of 1984. Along with each story, I’ve published an online gallery of photos.
The “20 Favorites” story on WHS boys’ golf ran in late July and the gallery included a photo of Stein, but it really wasn’t him. I know who Stuart Stein is but I didn’t look closely at the photo thinking it was him. Anyway, it’s not so easy to tell when you consider what a person looked like a quarter of century ago when compared to today.
Now comes an interesting message that Stuart’s mother Cindi Stein sent to my wife Kris. She said:
“When my son Stuart was in WHS Arrow Golf …. a picture was taken in a tournament. The P.O. THOUGHT it was him and it was published in the paper,” she said. “It actually was NOT him, rather I believe it was a Madison golfer. We (especially Gramma Mary Stein) at the time tried to get a correction, but for whatever reason, it didn’t happen. She was pretty upset as Gramma!!”
So when the “20 Favorites” story on WHS boys golf was released, Stuart sent his mom the article. It was all good, except for one thing. The picture used in the gallery was the same one used in 2000 that wasn’t him.
“We had a good laugh,” Cindi Stein wrote. “Gramma’s in heaven shaking her head again!!”
20 Favorites: Links to the stories highlighting the best northeastern South Dakota athletes since 1984
Just last summer, I took some photos of Stuart and his son Madden at the 2023 Stein Sign Display ProAm Classic at Cattail Crossing Golf Course and also took another photo of Madden is this year’s South Dakota Golf Association Junior Tour stop at CCGC in July.
So there you have it. I had thought during my research through the archives that there could be a photo that was misidentified or even information in a story that was incorrect. There’s a good chance I wouldn’t catch the correction we ran a couple of days later. My memory is Ok, but you know, I’m getting older.
If you get a chance to go back and look at the gallery on the web site (www.thepublicopinion.com), it contains a correct photo of Stuart from a meet in 1999.
Someday I’ll run into Stuart again, probably at the golf course, and I’ll offer first hand what I am doing in print right now and that’s apologizing for the confusion.
The apology goes out not only to Stuart, but also Cindi and other members of the Stein family including (looking up), Gramma Mary.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Stuart Stein and his mom share a laugh when incorrect photo runs again in newspaper