Longtime KSTP-Channel 5 sports director Joe Schmit will retire at the end of the month, the and and the station announced in a release Monday.
Schmit’s last day on air will be April 30, just two months shy of his 40-year anniversary at the station. Schmit informed the station of his decision back in January.
In the release, 5 Eyewitness news general manager Robert Hubbard thanked Schmit for “his many years of keeping the Minnesota sports community involved and informed and we wish him the best in his retirement.”
“It’s not retirement, it’s reinvention,” Schmit said in the release. “The decision is all about time. It’s just time to have more time for my family, my passion projects and for myself. I am lucky, and I realize it. I was an average Joe who hit the lottery. I’m lucky to work for a station that cares about news. I’ve been lucky to work with some amazingly talented individuals who made me better professionally and personally. I witnessed sports history, met thousands of incredible people and had more fun than someone should while I was working. Yes, I have been lucky!”
