Two eras in outdoor journalism in Utah ended recently, and the state will not be a better place because of it.

Since the 1970s, I have had the challenge of competing for stories and scoops with KUTV Channel 2's Reece Stein and the Deseret News' Ray Grass.

Reece found out last week that the half-hour outdoors program he inherited from the late Doug Miller is being axed and that a career that would have spanned 40 years on Sept. 17, one of the longest tenures in Utah television journalism at a single station, was ending.

Ray took a buyout from the News, which was reducing staff, ending a 47-year-career there. He will continue to do some freelance writing for the paper.

The three of us have close to 100 years' combined experience telling Utahns about all aspects of the outdoors. Add Brett Prettyman's 18 years of covering the outdoors for The Tribune, and I doubt there is a major media market in the U.S. where four journalists have competed for so long. While there is nothing Brett and I hated more than getting beaten by Reece or Ray, the competition made our outdoor pages stronger, and Reece's television features are among the best in the business.

Through it all, we remained friends. Reece, in many ways, was a mentor. When I was 11 and he was 17, he was my counselor at Camp Roger, where he was known for a good imitation of comedian Shelley Berman. For much of my 21 years in the Utah National Guard, Reece was my commanding officer. We traveled the world together.

I admired his work ethic, his friendliness, his curiosity and his passion. He and his wife, Marianne, counseled us about childraising because their kids were slightly older than ours. Like me, Reece loved the outdoors and high school sports. Because we often covered the same topics, I can't tell you how many times sources called me Reece. I always took it as a compliment.

It's a measure of Reece as a man that his favorite stories always involved kids who were underdogs, such as the 14-year-old hunter who had no legs or arms but bagged his first deer on Utah's legendary Paunsaugunt Unit six months before his death. Or the Millard High football captains who made disabled classmates a big part of their team.

I met Ray during my short stint as an 18-year-old rookie sportswriter at the Deseret News. Ray was a wonderful columnist, stating his views with clarity and passion. His love for the outdoors came through. His wife, Carol, was a delightful and friendly part of what looked to me like a team. We all have our favorite places and subjects in Utah, and, as a competitor, I always knew Ray loved Lake Powell, river rafting and skiing.

Ray, Reece and I had another thing in common. We are all University of Utah graduates and, while we remained impartial when covering other colleges as the job sometimes required, our paths often crossed at Ute games.

At this point, the many fans Reece and Ray entertained and informed over the years - and I'm one of them - can only thank them for wonderful memories and wish them the best.

wharton@sltrib.com