Anthony Geronimo and Joe Taylor were co-sports editors at Hilltop Views for three years from 1999-2001. Now they cover the Super Bowl and Texas championship games.

Geronimo is a Omaha, Nebraska native who genuinely enjoyed covering sporting events on campus, and interviewing coaches and athletes while attending St. Edward’s University. Taylor is an Austinite who was an honor student and collegiate baseball player who would focus on adding commentary to sports articles.

The “open-door policy” with the coaches was what Geronimo said he appreciated most, adding that back then, certain sports were more successful than others, but that today all the programs have tremendous coaching staffs.

“There were a lot of great stories, but what stands out for me was the athletes and the coaches that allowed us the access…” Geronimo said. “They were always kind and gracious to allow us to spread their team goals and highlight their accomplishments.”

Taylor said that being involved with Hilltop Views felt like being a part of another “athletic team” because of how much time they spent practicing their craft of covering collegiate sports.

“It was really a fun time because everything was changing and there was a lot content,” Taylor said. “St. Edward’s was turning a corner, and becoming the university they had always envisioned.”

The turn of the millennium brought an influx of international student athletes, which amplified the sports culture on campus. In addition, the wake of 9/11 provoked a lot of memorable analysis and classroom discussions.

Together, the communication majors found a strong balance between content and commentary for Hilltop Views, and explored opportunities to learn about broadcasting on television and radio.

Geronimo interned at the local CBS affiliate KITV News and then traveled to New York for a summer dual internship with the Madison Square Garden Network and Fox Sports in 2001. Taylor interned for Fox 7 Sports and had a part-time job as a radio broadcaster. Both were also public address announcers for SEU Athletics.

Both have remained involved in Austin media, and pride themselves on being consistently passionate about sports for the last 20 years. In the world of broadcasting, you have to stand out – whether it be for being the most positive personality at a press conference like Geronimo, or being intensely entertaining over radio like Taylor.

Now, Geronimo is a sports producer with CBS Austin covering Texas athletics across the country, including Super Bowl LI. Taylor is the founder and director of Broadcasting for Number 9 Productions, while continuing to do play-by-play broadcasting at Texas sporting events.

Although the social media tools and other media resources they use for their jobs today were not available to them as student journalists, Geronimo said the duo always enjoyed being “young, hardworking journalists who had fun telling the truth.”