King Midas move over. Linda Hamilton has a modern-day golden touch.
Hamilton has been covering a variety of sports since joining the Deseret News in 1977. Teams she covers seem to excel.Take last year's Salt Lake Trappers. All they did was set an all-time professional baseball record by winning 29 straight games. The team also won the Pioneer League championship for the second straight year - Hamilton started covering the team two years ago.
Last year, Hamilton was given the Weber State College football beat. The Wildcats had their best season, making the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs for the first time.
Perhaps Hamilton is most noted for her coverage of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. Since 1979, when she started covering them, Hamilton has been with the team for four championships - two in the Central Hockey League and the last two seasons in the International Hockey League.
Of this year's championship team she states, "This is probably the most consistently hard-working team that I've seen Salt Lake have. Every game this team put out a good checking effort."
She's watched a lot of players graduate from the Eagles to the National Hockey League. When asked about a favorite experience with the Eagles, she said, "Watching Joe Mullen develop. He's a real classy individual." Mullen was a rookie on the 1979-'80 Eagle team and went on to play for the St. Louis Blues and then the Calgary Flames. Last year he won the NHL's Lady Byng Trophy, which goes to the most gentlemanly player.
Hamilton also covers gymnastics, which means she's been with the six University of Utah championship teams. In late July and August she'll cover the Olympic Gymnastic Trials in Salt Lake City.
She's a sportswoman as well as a writer and enjoys numerous outdoor activities - particularly horseback riding.
Her love of horses began at an early age while growing up in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago.
"I've always liked them. When I was 2 or 3 I was always riding. There would be kiddie rides for a dime and I'd ride those. In junior high and high school I'd save $2 for an hour ride on the weekends."
She has two horses - "Queenie," 33 years old, which she bought 3 1/2 years ago, and "Mo," an 8-year-old.
Now that the Golden Eagles have put another Turner Cup to rest, she might have a chance to ride them. She'll have to work fast. Next month the Trappers begin another season.