10 BLADE SEPTEMBER 2019UNSHEATHED| BYSTEVESHACKLEFORD
I
t probablyallstartedwithmydailyperusalsofthesportspage,
which is basically how I learned to read. Th en there was watch-
ing old fl icks with Mom. Movies are media, aft er all, and my
love for them—especially those starring John Wayne—graduated
to a fascination with entertainment in general.
It wasn’t long before I had a bicycle newspaper route. It was
the mid-1960s and the paper included the syndicated columns
of Los Angeles Times sportswriter Jim Murray, whose ability to
cover sports with a non-stop delivery of wisecracks and wisdom
captivated my 13-year-old sensibilities. While Watergate would
draw many of my generation to journalism, I was not one of them.
I wanted to be a sportswriter.
At one critical point in my writing, Dad advised me to get to the
point and to do so with an economy of words. It was some of the
best advice I ever received. I earned by journalism degree at the
University of Tennessee and went to work for a weekly newspaper
in Ringgold, Georgia, the Catoosa County News, covering
everything from Little League baseball to town hall meetings to
photographing gargantuan-sized squash raised by local farmers.
From there, things went south. I was reduced to writing for a local
insurance publication, lost that job and returned to an old standby,
house painting. My sports-writing career had been slam-dunked.
It was then, in 1985, that BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-
Fame® member Bruce Voyles hired me as BLADE® managing editor.
I’d always liked knives and carried more than a few—including
several confi scated by Mom—but knew little about them. However,
that was exactly what Bruce wanted—a writer he could teach about
the industry rather than one infl uenced by preconceived notions,
no matter how right or wrong they might be. He also wanted
someone with weekly newspaper experience, because weekly
newspaper writers must deal with the same local people repeatedly
and develop lasting relationships with those people. Th e knife
industry then—and today, too, though to a lesser extent—was a
small community that required that same kind of ability.
Th e mid-’80s was the height of the Rambo knife craze, a craze I
felt comfy with thanks to my movie-history familiarity. Bruce and I
locked horns more than a few times back then, but a Dale Carnegie
course—one Bruce paid for—helped me deal with headstrong
knife personalities, of which Bruce was among the strongest. My
wife Susan’s advice not to quit BLADE aft er one especially heated
confrontation with Bruce was another pivotal turning point.
Bruce and such Cutlery Hall-Of-Famers as Bill Adams, Jim
Batson, Dan Delavan, Wayne Goddard, B.R. Hughes, Phil Lobred,
A.G. Russell and many others, including Wallace Fennell, Paul
Davis, J.W. Denton, Hank Reinhardt and more, taught me not
only about knives but also about knife people. By the time Bruce
sold BLADE to Krause Publications in 1994 I was well established
as editor, and it was his recommendation that Krause keep me as
such that provided the springboard to where I am today.Soit wasthatafterGunDigestLLC/BLADEGroupPublisherJim
Schlender called Bruce to the BLADE Magazine Awards Reception
stage, Bruce surprised me with my “induction by acclimation” into
the Cutlery Hall Of Fame (page 50). I almost lost it when it dawned
on me what he was doing as he inducted me, but, true to form, Bruce
talked long enough for me to regain my composure. Did I mention
he never met a microphone he didn’t like?
I thanked everyone in the reception audience for putting up
with me all these years. I said everyone in the industry wants to
be in the Cutlery Hall Of Fame, and I, of course, did too. Being
inducted in the same class with knife legends Tony Bose and Mel
Pardue was the icing on the cake.
Now let me thank you, the readers of BLADE. Without you,
I might still be painting houses. Th ank you for putting up with
me all these years too, and for supporting BLADE. As much as
anything, it’s the magic name of BLADE among knife enthusiasts
everywhere that got me my Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame plaque.
And, of course, to paraphrase the immortal words of B.R.
Hughes aft er he received his Hall-Of-Fame plaque in 1993, while I
might not deserve it, I’m not giving it back either.For the latest knives, knife news, trends and more visit blademag.
com, BLADE®’s popular Instagram page at @blade_magazine, and
on Facebook and Tw i t t e r.I’MI’M NOTNOT GIVINGGIVING IT IT
BACKBACK EITHEREITHER
The author (right) and Adam Drescher (left), winner of the BLADE
Magazine 2019 Publisher’s Award (page 32), bask in the glory. (im-
age courtesy of Adam Drescher)