Say it ain’t so, Joe. KSTP’s long-time sports anchor and sports director Joe Schmit announced Monday that he’s leaving the station nearly 40 years after he arrived there.
“The decision is all about time,” Schmit wrote on Facebook. “It’s just time to have more time for my family, my passion projects and for myself. I have been the main sports anchor longer than anyone in the history of the station. I never took that responsibility lightly and always tried to inform, entertain and never be boring.”
Schmit said his last day on the air will be April 30.
One of those “passion projects” is sure to include Stages Theatre’s musical adaptation of “The Right Thing To Do: The Joe Mauer Story,” a children’s book he co-wrote with the Twins Hall of Famer.
Schmit left the station in 2006 to lead a foundation started by Wayzata businessman Tom Petters, who was later convicted of federal fraud charges. Schmit returned to KSTP in 2010.
Robert Hubbard, KSTP’s general manager, praised the veteran broadcast for keeping the community informed for so many years.
“We are thankful for Joe’s years of covering some of Minnesota’s greatest sports moments, from both the Twins World Series to NFL Super Bowls, his interviews with some of Minnesota’s greatest sports figures, not to mention bringing you high school sports coverage for the past 20 years on 45TV,” Hubbard said in a statement.
Plans for a successor have yet to be announced.
