Cory Collins of the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana has a journalism story definitely worth noting. He talks to Richard Clarkson, who is shooting his 60th Final Four.

Collins writes:

A 19-year-old Richard Clarkson drifted toward the rafters of Hec Edmundson Pavilion at the University of Washington, camera in hand. It was 1952. It was the start of a phenomenon. It was the first Final Four as we know it. And like all the greats in this tournament’s history, he took a shot.

The court was lit directly from above, a rectangle framed by more space than bodies. Sixty-two years later, he counts them. Six photographers. That’s it. He’d join them as one of seven.

And:

In the six decades since, things have changed. But there does exist a through-line, a theme: Clarkson captured moments that would define a sport.

There’s the image that defined crushing defeat –a portrait of Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats after losing to an all-black starting five from Texas Western in 1966.

“Kentucky was the odds-on favorite at the start of the season to win the championship,” Clarkson explains. “And there they are, defeated. To me, that was the obvious picture. The funny thing about that is, there were other photographers there, and I’ve not seen any one else that photographed them. They were all busy shooting Texas Western, the winners. To me, the other one is the better storytelling.”

Then there’s the picture that put in perspective an unbelievable body: Wilt Chamberlain sitting in a folding chair, his knees reaching for the sky as he ties his shoes.

“He had a very high waist. His legs were unusually long,” the photographer says.

After trying pictures of him dunking, standing tall, Clarkson dragged that chair beneath his lights. Chamberlain had to tie his shoe. Clarkson snapped the shot, his first to appear in a start-up called Sports Illustrated.

And…

So who is Rich Clarkson?

“Rich is a damn good photographer,” Mackson says. “He is a damn good artist…He was an auto-focus onto himself.”

But he is also a great adapter, a man willing to take a risk.

“Rich was open to try new things,” says Mackson. “He knew to get the picture you needed, because then you were safe, then he’d go off and take the risk, and he’d get something that was just unique or outstanding.”

That willingness also applied to new technologies that might have perturbed other industry veterans. Clarkson was never a man set in his ways, just a man who always wanted to capture the best image.

“He was an early adapter, an early adopter,” Mackson explains. “He wouldn’t necessarily invent the technology, but he was early to recognize its value. And he wasn’t afraid to try it.”

Clarkson talks about the early years, when “you would go to a sports event and everyone did the same thing,” a time when “not too many people were trying to be innovative, and they would stand or sit where someone told them to.” Clarkson was not one of these people. He moved when others sat.

But above all, perhaps, Clarkson is an educator, a man who’s left his mark.

Jeff Jacobsen, a photographer for the Kansas athletic department, worked with Clarkson at the Topeka Capital Journal from 1969 to 1979. He’s seen that education firsthand.

“I believe that Rich was a groundbreaking sports and news photographer,” Jacobsen says. “And I think his photography is often overlooked. Because another part of his legacy is how many photographers he helped to nourish, to help grow.

“He’s not always the easiest person to work for because he demands so much of you,” he adds. “But because of his demands, you’ll become a much better photographer and a much better person.”