Just as innumerable: the number of Standard-Examiner sports reports written by Bob Judson, who has been along for the ride.

This year, Judson reached the 50th anniversary of the first story he had published in the Standard-Examiner — and he doesn’t plan to stop writing.

“It doesn’t get old. I still get a kick out of it every time I do it. There’s always a story to be told and I’ve really enjoyed it,” Judson said.

A native of Layton and South Ogden, Judson graduated from Bonneville High School and attended Weber State to study communication with an emphasis in journalism. Somewhere along that path, he connected with longtime Standard-Examiner writer Randy Hollis and got his first assignment to cover a high school boys basketball game.

Bonneville defeated Sky View 63-56 and Judson’s resulting report, headlined “Bonneville spanks Cache Valley foe,” was published on Saturday, Jan. 4, 1975.

He couldn’t quite line up a full-time reporting job anywhere. Instead Judson, now a longtime resident of Layton, got a promotion from working in a lawn mower shop into an outside sales position and worked 37 years in the outdoor power equipment industry.

“But the journalism bug had bit me and I didn’t want to give that up,” Judson said. “I was never good enough to make the team but it was my way of being involved with sports.”

Being around that long means some full-circle moments. Judson recalls covering Kurt Miller and coach Evan Excell’s state-championship Ben Lomond boys basketball team in 1986. Then, in January 2023, Judson reported on the night when Ben Lomond High School named its new gymnasium after Excell.

“I went back and pulled four or five stories I had written about him and copied those … and gave him the copies of those old stories and got a chance to reconnect with him,” Judson said. “That’s one of my favorite memories.”

Judson said he was also immensely honored with the trust given him by Jeff Nakaishi and his family when reporting on Layton High’s baseball team honoring the longtime coach after his sudden cancer diagnosis in March 2024. Judson’s story documented the final sports tributes paid to Nakaishi as he got to see his grandson play varsity baseball for one of his final wishes.

“It’s special to be part of those kinds of things,” Judson said.

“I just thank the Standard-Examiner for the opportunity,” he said. “When there’s been so many different editors and so many different things, to have them stick with me and give me the opportunity, I really genuinely am pleased to have the opportunity to do this the last 50 years.”