Smith succeeds Quinlan as Daily Herald sports editor

Mike Smith, a longtime news editor with the Daily Herald, has been named sports editor, the fifth in the long history of the publication.

He replaces Tom Quinlan, who retired last month.

Smith will direct the newspaper's pro sports coverage and work with new High School Sports Editor John Radtke to oversee the prep report.

An 18-year veteran of the newsroom, Smith joined the paper in 2000 as Weekend Editor and later took on roles as Design Editor, Tri-Cities Editor and Fox Valley Editor. While his focus during his tenure the Daily Herald has been on local news, Smith has an extensive background in sports journalism.

He earned a Peter Lisagor Award for his front-page design, "The Champs," commemorating the White Sox World Series victory in 2005, and was the editor of the 2013 Lisagor Award-winning Title IX series.

He began his journalism career as a high school sports stringer. After graduating from Northern Illinois University in 1981, he joined the sports department of the former Copley Newspaper group, where he worked for 18 years.

"Mike's a disciplined and enthusiastic editor with a great love of sports," Editor John Lampinen said. "With a talented staff, he's going to build on the award-winning sports coverage that's been a recognized part of the Daily Herald's heritage for decades."