Following an Aberdeen girls soccer game in the mid-1990s, Bobcat coach Larry Fleming announced that future AHS Hall of Famer Darcy Steele had set a school record (if memory serves, for single-game scoring).

There was one minor problem. Steele hadn’t actually surpassed the previous record. The actual record-holder’s family and friends besieged both Fleming and The Daily World’s sports staff with calls and e-mails informing us of the error.

A couple of weeks later, however, Steele legitimately broke another school record. In reporting that accomplishment, Fleming added “… and this time, I mean it.”

For the second time in the past 3 1/2 years, I am set to retire. This time, I think I mean it.

When I stepped down as The Daily World’s sports editor in January of 2015, it was with the clear understanding I would continue as a part-time writer. The 2 1/2 years I spent assisting Rob Burns and Brendan Carl (two great guys and first-rate journalists) were among the most enjoyable of my journalistic career.

When Rob and Brendan left the paper almost simultaneously last August, I willingly agreed to increase my hours to help fill the gap. But this role proved far more time-consuming than I anticipated — and reminded me why I retired in the first place.

Primarily for that reason, I plan to pull the plug more emphatically this time. I hope to continue writing occasional sports columns and movie reviews and there’s a possibility I might assist with state spring sports coverage next month. Otherwise, I will end my 46-year association with The Daily World next Monday.

At the time of the first retirement, I wrote an approximate book-length column listing some of the fondest (in a couple of cases, not-so-fond) memories of my career.

Readers will be relieved to know that I don’t intend to do that this time. Instead, I will devote a future column to three wishes for Twin Harbors sports in the future.

First, however, a few thank-yous are in order.

• Thanks to my understanding bosses — John Hughes, Doug Barker and the late Ade Fredericksen — who put up with my quirks and seldom asked me to leave my journalistic comfort zone. I felt they always had my back.

• Thanks to the IT people at The Daily World (Dave Dutton, Martin Osburn and current Sound Publishing IT guru Steve “Radar” Rinehart are three who come to mind) who patiently guided me through my acknowledged technological hang-ups. Former City Editor Dan Jackson, a sort of an IT guy without portfolio, was another who helped more often that I could count.

• Thanks to Daily World news clerk Karen Barkstrom. Since the death of my sports writing colleague Ray Ryan, Karen and I were the most technologically challenged newsroom employees (the only two who don’t own a cell phone, for example). But she always seemed to know a little more about those things than I did. Whenever I needed assistance in such diverse areas as filling out electronic mileage forms or providing directions to a school outside the area, she invariably filled the bill.

Karen is also the world’s best in dealing with the public — not merely the best at The Daily World; the best on the planet. I always considered myself fairly decent in handling reader complaints, particularly from those who couched their criticism with a modicum of civility. After hearing Karen take calls from confused or disgruntled readers, however, I knew I had to take my game up a level to match hers. I can’t remember her ever losing her patience or temper in such situations.

Thanks largely to Karen’s influence, I did improve in handling reader complaints in recent years. If anyone wants advice in that area, my suggestions would be to always let the complaining party complete his or her thoughts before responding and never respond to a critical voice mail or email until you can do so without anger.

• Thanks to the coaches who called in games we didn’t staff — particularly those professional enough to report both wins and losses.

Former Hoquiam High and Grays Harbor College basketball standout Vivian Adderley (Bleecker), now a teacher at South Bend, scored her career high on her birthday in a Choker road game we didn’t cover. That feat never saw print, however, because her coach didn’t report the game, a Choker loss.

There’s a lesson in that. Even in defeats, there is usually something worth highlighting.

Fortunately for our readers, most Twin Harbors coaches have been pretty good at meeting their media responsibilities.

While coaching Hoquiam’s girls basketball team in 2013, current Grays Harbor College women’s coach Chad Allan called in a 72-11 regional loss to Lynden Christian.

Even more memorable, to my mind, was an episode a few years earlier. Competing in a holiday tournament, Raymond’s boys basketball team absorbed about a 60-point loss at the hands of a Wahkiakum team that was a state power at the time. South Bend was also entered in that tourney and then-Tribe coach Jon Pearson, in reporting his score, confidently predicted that we wouldn’t hear anything from Raymond coach Mike Tully that night.

Less than a minute after I informed co-workers Rob Burns and Susan Davis (then The Daily World’s sports clerk) of that development, the phone rang with a familiar voice on the other end. “This is Mike Tully from Raymond calling in tonight’s game at Wahkiakum.”

After that incident, I took particular pleasure when Tully-coached Raymond boys track teams won state championships in 2014-15.

Rob, in my view, did a superb job as sports editor in dealing with deadline and personnel challenges that I didn’t face. I also have high hopes that new Daily World Sports Editor Ryan Sparks will serve readers well.

Meanwhile, there are certain things I’ll never forget. After filing our stories on Aberdeen’s 1994 state boys basketball championship-game loss to a Franklin of Seattle team led by future NBA standout Jason Terry, my co-worker (and still close friend) Pam Blair wandered outside the Tacoma Dome to discover that ours were the only cars left in the then-vast Tacoma Dome parking lot.

No anecdote better reflects a sports writer’s life than that one. But it’s a life that I’ve happily embraced for 46 years.