A Valpo Life in the Spotlight: Garrett Spoor

One of the staff members and Lifers at GreatNews.Life (GNL), Garrett Spoor is a contributing writer and editorial member for the online publication. He grew up in Valparaiso and attended Wheeler High School, where he graduated in 2019. He has possessed a knack for creating all of his life. He’s had a lifelong love for playing sports such as basketball, baseball, and soccer.

Spoor went on to attend Ball State University (BSU) in Muncie, Indiana. He pursued a double major in journalism and telecommunication news. Along with the classroom requirements for his major, he was associated with many newscasts, productions, and student media organizations on campus. He maintained roles on Ball State PBS and NewsLink Indiana as a producer, director, news anchor, and teleprompter operator. He helped produce a podcast called “Cardinal Compass”, managing roles as a technical director and graphics manager. He also was a part of both the video and podcast team for Byte BSU, a premier source of entertainment, tech, and culture news on campus.

His last year of college consisted of immersive learning courses and an internship with WANE 15, the CBS News affiliate in Fort Wayne. During his time at WANE 15, he served as a digital and news production intern, publishing articles that were shared across national stations in their market and fully producing some installments of the evening news. He also wrote articles about the NBA for Hoops Habit in 2023.

In 2023, Spoor graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Within a month of his graduation, he started out as a New Media Journalist at GreatNews.Life. He hit the ground running with it, hopping right into covering events, meeting company partners, and working out in the field. In 2025, he was promoted to become a member of the editorial team. He still works out on the field, but gets an opportunity to work behind the scenes as well. Managing roles as a writer, editor, and publishing articles has shown him what he finds best about being a journalist.

“The writing is the most fun part about my job,” Spoor said. “My internship really helped me to determine that. Once I started at GNL, the photography aspect was a little new to me. I had been doing writing, along with video and audio production, but the photography was something that I had to work on. I feel like every single day and every single event has helped me get better to the point where now I feel pretty good about what I’m doing.”

Spoor’s job has helped him meet with business leaders and partners throughout Northern Indiana. He’s written plenty of articles spotlighting people who are making a positive impact on local communities. One of his most memorable trips came from covering the Mascot Hall of Fame Class of 2023 induction ceremony.

“I’ve loved sports my whole life, so it was awesome to go in there and see all the mascots that you would see at the games including Benny the Bull,” Spoor said. “They inducted Otto the Orange of Syracuse University and Slugger of the Portland Sea Dogs. It was one of those events that brings out the kid in you, because the atmosphere was incredible there.”

Spoor isn’t always in the office, as it depends on what his duties may entail for the day. Some days require a whole shift from behind a desk, while others might call for him to spend the day covering an event. No matter what the day holds, he’s always putting his heart on the line, ensuring that he’s thoroughly connecting with co-workers and community members to push a mission of positivity. 

“You hear about the news all the time, but it’s not always about the positive news,” Spoor said. “One thing that I’ve heard more than anything since I’ve been at GNL is when people tell me, ‘The world need more positive news. We don’t hear about it enough.’ Spreading the good news in these communities about our leaders and the people making a difference is integral for the Region to grow. That’s exactly what I want to do here, and it’s nice when you’re surrounded by a team of people who share that same ambition.”

One of Spoor’s biggest passions that he does outside of work is creating content for his YouTube channel, Supermariohoops24. On it, he breaks down the latest NBA developments on his podcast called “Bullony Basketball,” plays basketball with his friends, organizes a variety of sports-related minigames and trivia games, and arranges tournaments for competitors and contestants.

“I’ve been watching the NBA and playing basketball pretty much my whole life, and my YouTube channel gives me an opportunity to express myself with it in the most creative way possible,” Spoor said. “Making videos for YouTube is a huge passion of mine.”

Spoor considers the channel tournaments to be some of the most exciting videos that he creates. Not only does he plan out the structure of each one, but he also gets to edit them. He frequently competes in them as well.

“The tournaments have been a big hit for the channel lately. We’ve done all sorts of basketball tournaments such as King of the Court, outdoor 2V2 basketball, indoor 2V2 basketball, and even some tournaments with my family members,” Spoor said. “I’ve always loved game shows, so I’ve done NBA trivia tournaments based on games such as GeoGuessr, solving riddles, and an NBA edition of the ‘Fast Money‘ minigame from Family Feud. We’ve even featured other sports in tournaments such as miniature golf and dodgeball. I’ve had hundreds of different contestants featured in many tournaments, and I’ve even won some of those tournaments myself.”

The channel helps Spoor hone his skills on video editing, graphic design, brainstorming ideas, and more. With his channel, Spoor has one goal in mind: lifting up others by using his love for sports and competition.

“Everyone always dreams about going pro in their favorite sport,” Spoor said. “I see it as a great way to give people a platform to come on my channel and showcase their knowledge and passion about sports. When it comes to the videos or tournaments where we play sports, it allows people to have those highlight plays that they maybe never had growing up or haven’t had in a very long time. I’ve had all sorts of people on the channel, whether it’s some of my best friends I went to grade school with, people who live in the Region, or people all across the country for videos that are recorded virtually and don’t need two people in the same location. I’ve even had some people on from other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom.”

During his free time, Spoor supports all of his favorite Chicago-based sporting teams such as the Bulls, Cubs, Bears, and Blackhawks. His favorite athlete is Derrick Rose, who is a big reason for his passion in basketball being so strong today. After Rose’s retirement in 2024, Spoor dedicated the following Bullony Basketball season to his favorite player, with a tournament to end the season themed around his career.

He credits his parents and his sister Kadie for helping mold him into the person he is today. His dad was his coach for many years of his childhood, his mom was his loudest fan in the stands, and his sister played the same sports as him growing up that it gave him plenty of guidance on not only sports, but life in general.

Outside of sports, he enjoys playing video games such as NBA 2K, MLB The Show, and any selection from the Super Mario franchise. His favorite game ever is Super Mario Bros. 3 and his favorite game series is Mario Kart, where he’s won three tournaments across various games in the series. He occasionally does gaming on his YouTube channel as well. Other hobbies includes going for walks, spending time with his family, and going to the movies.

Most of Spoor’s family lives in Northwest Indiana, which always makes for exciting holiday celebrations. Many of his closest friends still live in the area as well.

“My immediate family means the world to me, and I also get to see all of my cousins, uncles, and aunts for every holiday or major occasion,” Spoor said. “There’s about 50 people in the house every time for those. One of my favorite activities recently was being the best man for my best friend Zander’s wedding, because we’ve been best friends since the first day of kindergarten. The fact that I have so many local connections puts me at ease, because if anything ever happened or if I needed to turn to them, I wouldn’t have to go very far.”