My 51-year career at the Post-Dispatch almost ended before it even began.
In April 1971, I was invited in for a two-day tryout, consisting of desk work in the P-D sports department. That was a time when the Post-Dispatch still was an afternoon newspaper, so shifts for copy editors began at 2 a.m., 4 a.m., and 5 a.m. I was assigned a 5 a.m. starting time for my first day and made sure that I got plenty of rest the night before.
I had flown in from Colorado Springs, where I still was in the Army and moonlighting at the morning newspaper there.