Panthers Tracks: Latest team news and tributes to David Foster III, Rick Bonnell
The past two weeks have been difficult for everyone at The Charlotte Observer, to say the least.
We have lost two respected journalists who graced our newsroom for decades, photographer David Foster III and Charlotte Hornets beat reporter Rick Bonnell.
While we have plenty of Carolina Panthers content to be read, it felt important and right to start on this note. This newsletter will be a bit different. The Observer has lost two valuable contributors.
Foster was a talented photographer who enjoyed shooting Panthers games and practices. He was beloved by many.
Bonnell was “the” Hornets beat reporter, covering the team from the very beginning and doing his job better than everyone else. He also was kind, honest and great mentor to younger reporters in The Observer newsroom and beyond.
Each is beyond deserving of their own tributes and recognition. Personally, they each hold special places in my heart for the mentorship they have provided and willingness to go out of their way to help me out. I will always remember my long conversations with Foster outside of training camp practice and him really listening.
On Wednesday, the day after Bonnell passed, I debated attending Panthers OTAs, but then I realized he would have been right there, covering it himself if no one else could have gone. The decision was simple.
There is a massive hole that will be impossible to fill without Bonnell, who worked at The Observer for the past 33 years. There was so much I learned from just watching him do his job. I can’t put it as eloquently as Scott Fowler did earlier this week, but his compliments meant the world, and I hope we can continue to make him proud.
— Alaina Getzenberg
David Foster III was one of the hardest workers I knew. Even though I didn’t work with him much, he was kind and he was good at his job.
One thing I always knew for sure was that he’d have the shot we needed for our stories. He made my stories look 10 times better.
Rick Bonnell was one of the first to reach out to me when I was hired to be one of the Panthers beat reporters last July. When he called, he told me how excited he was for me to join the staff. He seemed to have more confidence in my ability to do the job than I had. I had always admired Rick’s work from afar, but the more I got to know him, the more I admired him as a person.
He was kind, always willing to lend a helping hand and offered great advice unprompted. He challenged me to think critically. He made me a better journalist and a better person, and I’ll forever be grateful. We were supposed to have lunch soon.
I told a friend this yesterday: If there any lesson Rick taught us by his actions, it’s to be kind and give back to the next person because we wouldn’t be where we are if not for people like Rick.
Thanks, Rick.
— Jonathan M. Alexander
Panthers stories of the week
▪ Sam Darnold’s first practice as a Panther was a restart of what he knows as a QB
▪ Bank of America Stadium to open at full capacity for all 2021 stadium events
▪ Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis reunite as each takes next step in post-playing career
▪ Chancellor Lee Adams, the son Rae Carruth tried to kill, is now a man graduating high school
▪ Online fundraiser raises more than $6,000 for HEARTest Yard in support of TJ Olsen
▪ How Jeremy Chinn’s role may change for the Carolina Panthers in 2021
▪ Mick Mixon, voice of the Panthers, former UNC color analyst, to retire after 2021 season
▪ Panthers OTA observations: Ian Thomas’ ‘tremendous’ offseason, Robby Anderson returning soon?