Former Review-Journal prep editor honored by NIAA

When former Review-Journal prep editor Damon Seiters was waiting to interview an Eldorado football player after a game, a fan came up to the player and told him, “I’ll see you in the NFL in a few years.”

Immediately Seiters thought it was a “silly” thing to say to a high school kid, but he was wrong. The fan was talking to Steven Jackson, who went on to 12-year career as a running back in the NFL.

“Sure enough, (Jackson) was probably the first pro athlete that I got to cover here,” Seiters said. “That was pretty cool to watch him continue to just get better and better in college and watch him play on Sundays.”

Jackson was one of thousands of talented athletes Seiters covered in his two decades leading the RJ’s high school sports coverage. For his contributions to high school sports in the state, Seiters will be one of 11 individuals inducted into the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame on Tuesday at Orleans Arena.

Seiters said when he got the call from NIAA Executive Director Donnie Nelson about the honor he was in “complete shock.”

“It was a huge honor and not something I expected at all,” he said.

An Illinois native and graduate of Indiana University, Seiters joined the Review-Journal as a part-timer in 1996 covering football and basketball. He was hired as a sports agate clerk in May 1997 before being named preps editor in February 1998.

At the time of his arrival, Palo Verde and Mojave had recently opened to increase the number of large schools in the valley to 16. Those schools, which made up the Class 4A South, were the focus of his staff’s coverage.

As Southern Nevada grew in population, so did the number of schools. With more teams to cover, not all of the high school sports coverage could make it into print.

To find a solution, Seiters suggested a high school sports website that would include game coverage, roundups, schedules, standings and stats. The Nevada Preps website was launched in 2008.

“We tried to give everybody their due,” Seiters said. “We were able to produce more high school sports coverage … I think that’s great for the kids … and really good for high school sports in our state.”

Also with the growth in the city came a power shift from older schools to newer schools popping up.

“The power kind of trickled to the outskirts of town, and it’s continued to do that,” Seiters said. “Those newer schools seem to immediately take over in a lot of the sports as strong competitors.”

Seiters recalled runs Green Valley had in sports such as baseball and boys tennis as a prime example of such a power shift. Green Valley, which opened in 1991, won six straight baseball state titles (1993-98) and five consecutive boys tennis titles (1995-99).

After moving to the RJ’s digital desk in 2019, Seiters retired in April 2022 after 25 years with the paper. During his time covering high school sports, he said he’s most proud of telling interesting and unique stories about Southern Nevada athletes.

“There are great stories in their background,” Seiters said.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on Twitter.