By Zack Klemme
Ashland Daily Independent
Chances are good that if you’ve regularly read the sports section of a Tri-State newspaper at any point in the last 40 years, you’ve seen Kent Sanborn’s work.
Sanborn, who began shooting sports photos for the Ironton Tribune in 1982 and has since then provided art of generations of high school athletes, coaches and officials for newspapers from Pomeroy to West Union and Circleville to Ashland, died recently of liver cancer. He was 61.
Sanborn’s prodigious list of clips included The Daily Independent. His most prominent assignment for this paper was Ironton’s trip to the 2019 Division V state football championship game.
Sanborn, a 1977 Ironton alumnus, shot and shared without fanfare or discernible ego, which is certainly no given in our line of work. He also habitually refused payment for whatever work of his we requested or used.
That was typical of Sanborn’s relationship with other publications across southeastern Ohio and the Tri-State, said Herald-Dispatch sportswriter Tim Stephens and Portsmouth Daily Times scribe Paul Boggs. He simply loved photography and loved spotlighting local youth — which is why the primary photo with this column isn’t a photo of Sanborn, but one Sanborn shot. He would have preferred it that way.
That approach was noticeable also to those Sanborn covered.
“Kent Sanborn was one of the kindest people I’ve had the privilege of being around,” said Mark LaFon, the director of student services for Ironton City Schools. Before his current gig, LaFon interacted with Sanborn as a basketball coach at Ironton, South Point and Chesapeake and as the Fighting Tigers’ athletic director.
“He covered our community as far back as I can remember him,” LaFon continued. “Kent used his camera to capture us at our best, but when we came up a little short, he always found a way to cover us with dignity and class. He was extremely generous with his time and never said no to an opportunity to help the kids. Our sidelines will never be the same. He will be missed.”
Sanborn had only within the past couple of weeks been diagnosed with the cancer that took his life, Stephens said. He went to the Ohio State University Medical Center to begin treatment on Feb. 17.
The Daily Independent is blessed to have an excellent group of freelancers and contributors, without which we couldn’t do what we do. That group lost a valuable member on Thursday. More importantly, the Tri-State high school sporting community lost a friend.
