It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Cade Hampton, and I am very excited to introduce myself as the new Ball State football and high school sports reporter for the Muncie Star Press, part of the USA Today Network.

I am a native of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, which is about 30 minutes east of Nashville. I was born and raised there by two University of Alabama alumni. Growing up in a Crimson Tide family deep in Tennessee Vols country created a ferocious sports fandom inside me. I quickly fell in love with football and basketball despite severely lacking the athletic skill necessary to participate.

My first venture into sports media was during my senior year at Mt. Juliet High School. That year, I served as the play-by-play announcer for our school news program’s football game livestreams. After one of these games, I filled in for an ill sportswriter by writing a postgame article for a local newspaper. I didn’t think for a second that I would one day be doing exactly that for my first full-time job.

After graduating from high school amidst COVID-19 lockdowns, I followed in my parents’ footsteps to the University of Alabama. There, I covered Alabama gymnastics and baseball as an intern with The Tuscaloosa News. During this internship, I also covered local high school sports, men’s and women’s basketball, legendary coach Nick Saban’s retirement, the Birmingham Stallions of the United Football League, and Major League Baseball at Birmingham’s historic Rickwood Field.