Life gave me a special Christmas present this year. At 34, I was appointed assistant sporting director, which came with the task of managing Réjean Tremblay.
• Also read: Hello Rejean!
• Also read: 12 years of happiness… and hard work
To be honest, I didn’t find this part of the work that much of a gift.
A “kid” in Quebec who did not work in the sports department and had to give instructions to Réjean Tremblay, who has more than 50 years of experience …
Of course, I was intimidated and in awe of his achievements.
Lulu in Lance et compte was one of my idols when I was very young. I found Réjean sometimes like a little dog in my beautiful city of Quebec.
I knew it was a character. I knew he was a little over proud. I knew that one had to be careful not to get in his way if he chose this path.
I didn’t know him much before. I had met him a few years earlier. I was in an arena with my little nephews and I tried to explain to them that he was someone important, he, but they didn’t understand.
Réjean’s wife Julie had said to the children: “This is Santa Claus” to help me. It was easier that way.
Finally, working with Réjean wasn’t intimidating at all. He’s far from Santa Claus, but he’s not the famously gruff character we envision.
Rejean helps everyone. He asks our opinion. He asks me how to make a headline so it works well on the web. He reads everything and advises the youngest on their texts.
passion for his job
He still has the will to learn, to adapt. He has become a texting pro since he used to write at a typist.
He had an idea for a story he wanted to do in two months and called me at 7:15pm in a state of euphoria to talk about it.
A bit like a dapper young journalist who has just started his career. It’s crazy how passionate he is about this job. And that, in my opinion, is the key to its longevity.
I’m young to be writing about Réjean and I don’t pretend like many other people in the industry have had crazy stories with him.
But there’s something I can see very well, and that’s the changing nature of the profession and the way Réjean is adapting to all of that.
And that’s what impresses me most about him.
Imagine how he could have dropped everything and just rode a motorcycle in Florida.
There’s the immediacy of the internet, earlier deadlines, social networks that think he’s crazy almost every day, sports teams that control information, communicators that tell athletes what to tell the media.
Tell good stories
But for him, the job, whether it’s 1975, 2023, or 2045, is to tell a good story that readers will love. The rest is secondary.
You might think he’s drooling or arrogant. In fact, he is able to, but then he must be able to because he feels he is being deceived and therefore the reader is being deceived.
If he’s bold and carefree in his search for information, he’s not going to please everyone. But he doesn’t care. Réjean wants his readers to have answers.
He doesn’t write to please or displease. He doesn’t write to shock or reassure. He writes what he thinks, whether he likes it or not.
In 12 years at the journal, Réjean, you will have written columns that informed, disturbed, jostled and touched.
Be aware that we will continue to follow the path you have taken of thinking first and foremost about what the reader wants to know. And whether it’s fun or not.
Thank you Rejean
