James Birle’s path into sports journalism didn’t begin under stadium lights or inside professional press rooms—it started in a high school newsroom. A graduate of WHS and Fordham University, Birle’s career displays a clear evolution from novelty reporting to the journalism industry.
At WHS, Birle was a contributor to Hi’s Eye, the school’s student newspaper. There, he learned the fundamentals of reporting: how to find a story, shape it for an audience and meet deadlines. Those early experiences had lasting lessons for Birle because they gave him his first taste of independent journalism. As Birle reflects, “There are many similarities and differences between the sort of journalism I do now and what I cut my teeth with for Hi’s Eye. Uniquely, I almost entirely focus on sports these days. While I did some sports reporting with WHS, I generally wrote about a wide-range of topics, from music to politics and I even wrote a limerick once, it was bad.”
That breadth mattered. Writing across genres allowed Birle to expand his view and experiment with different voices and genres. The lessons of Hi’s Eye weren’t just about content; they were about craft and consistency. “Most similarly, though, are the rudiments,” Birle says. “I still take the skills I learned in high school journalism with me to every game, event and press conference I go to. From properly writing a lede to keeping up my habit of always writing consistently, even if I have nothing to publish, I owe a lot of what I know and do to how I started.”
After graduating from WHS in 2021, Birle continued his education at Fordham University, where he deepened his commitment to journalism. While coursework provided a foundation, Birle’s most transformative experiences came outside the classroom—specifically through WFUV, Fordham’s flagship radio station. It was there that his interest in sports journalism became a profession-in-the-making.
“Ironically enough, I don’t feel like my college academics were what propelled me into this field of sports journalism, but rather my involvement with Fordham University’s flagship radio station, WFUV,” Birle explains. “Through WFUV, I was introduced to the world of professional sports reporting and what it takes to work at a professional-level media entity.” WFUV offered something textbooks couldn’t: real stakes. As a freshman, Birle was already reporting from professional games and contributing on-air to One on One, New York radio’s longest-running sports call-in show.
“When I was an 18-year-old freshman, I was already being sent to professional games and given air time,” he recalls. “I had great professors and courses that aided my journey to becoming a sports journalist, but nothing compares to throwing yourself into the fire and just doing it.”
That immersion shaped Birle’s understanding of journalism as something that demands adaptation and reactions on the fly. It also sharpened his appreciation for storytelling, the element that unites his work across formats. “My absolute favorite thing about written journalism and broadcast journalism is telling stories,” Birle says. “Whether it’s following the beat of a team as a reporter or shouting about a beautiful goal as a play-by-play broadcaster, there’s nothing like getting to be the mouthpiece for any given moment.” For Birle, while he has grown beyond the confines of Room 111, he still carries the same mission to tell the best stories he can.
Today, Birle works in sports journalism, focusing primarily on professional ice hockey and soccer. His bylines and reporting can be found at outlets such as Sportsnaut, as well as through his own soccer-focused work, where he covers teams, matches and broader developments in the sport. His current reporting reflects how each stage of his journalism career has allowed him to evolve into the reporter he is today. While reporting is his true love, he can’t deny the perks of sports reporting as he notes with characteristic understatement, “It’s also not so bad to have access to pro athletes and the media areas at places like Sports Illustrated Stadium and the Prudential Center.”
Birle’s story is a testament to the power of student journalism and experiential learning. From writing across topics for Hi’s Eye to reporting live from professional games, each step built on the last. His career underscores a simple but often overlooked truth: journalism isn’t learned all at once. It’s learned by doing—by writing consistently, asking better questions and showing up prepared to tell the story. For aspiring journalists, especially those starting in school newsrooms, James Birle’s path offers both inspiration and a roadmap: start where you are, master the basics and keep telling stories.
