He is familiar with the building, because he spent so much time there as a child. Henderson’s parents, Paul and Janet, met at The Seattle Times as reporters. He loved the newsroom’s atmosphere, so much so that he dreamed of being a journalist one day.

“That profession just seemed like the perfect marriage of [the newsroom] and sports,” Henderson said. “Like a lot of young boys, I was into sports.”

So, it was no surprise that a writing-inclined sports fan who grew up in the newsroom sought out a journalism degree when it was time to go to college. During his time at Western Washington University, Henderson chose the News/Editorial track with a minor in Spanish. 

While earning his degree, Henderson wrote for Klipsun Magazine. His story “The War Within,” which was his favorite, was published in the 2008 fall edition. The story profiles a student who served in Iraq and was diagnosed with PTSD. 

“It was not an easy story to tell, but it was an important one,” Henderson said. “It was important to kind of step out of my comfort zone and do something that wasn’t sports-related and something that actually matters because, sports don’t really matter compared to things like that.”

He also worked as a reporter, Sports Editor and Managing Editor on The Front. His first story covered basic recreation center news. 

“It’s one of those things where you look back on it and it’s not really all that interesting. But, it was a nice soft landing for somebody who was being published for the first time in their life,” Henderson said. “I think that that’s the only non-sports story I ever wrote [on The Front].”

Though his favorite sports growing up were baseball and football, Henderson learned about many others while writing for The Front, which he believes got him out of his comfort zone. After graduating in 2008, he met with Don Shelton, then Sports Editor of The Seattle Times.

“I just wanted to pick his brain and ask him how a young guy like me who is fresh out of college, who is certain that this is what they want to do, [has] a good career,” Henderson said.

Then, Shelton asked Henderson to write him a story for The Seattle Times. The opportunity arose because the Mariners were bringing Ken Griffey Jr. back, and Shelton wanted the ’90s kid perspective on what it’s like to have a Mariners star return.

“I remember being super nervous and I remember saying yes immediately and I remember going home and outlining what I was going to write,” Henderson said. “I just got to work on it right away because I thought it was this great opportunity.”

His first line is the epitome of every Mariners fan in the ’90s: “If a single image sums up my childhood, it would be a beaming Ken Griffey Jr. at the bottom of a pile of elated teammates.”

Shortly after, Shelton hired Henderson as a part-time clerk for The Seattle Times.

“He kind of stood out from a lot of the student candidates,” Shelton said. “You just could tell he was going to have a career in this business… he was smart and was passionate about journalism and sports.”

Shelton’s hiring process at The Seattle Times involved testing candidates by asking them to write a story based on game information he provided. He remembers being impressed with how much Henderson excelled at the test.

Henderson spent most of his time in the bullpen, answering phone calls and inputting high school sports scores, but he also covered some of the games as a freelancer. 

“It was a tremendous experience,” Henderson said. “To have your byline in The Seattle Times is obviously a big deal for a young journalist.”

In 2019, Shelton retired from journalism. “I knew I loved to work with young writers like Brady,” Shelton said. “And so I thought, ‘Well, what do I want to do?’ I decided that teaching was something I always enjoyed doing.”

Shelton taught a Newswriting class (J207) at WWU shortly after retirement. He also began teaching classes at his alma mater, University of Idaho. He hopes to return to WWU to teach again. 

After working at The Seattle Times for almost a year, Henderson applied for and was offered a full-time editor position at KIRO radio. He was responsible for running the sports website, editing content and covering the Seahawks. It was 2010, four years after they lost the Super Bowl to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Seahawks were getting popular, and Pete Carroll and John Schneider were new hires.

“I thought that I was going to cover baseball for a living. But, I realized at that time, the more I covered football, that that’s what I wanted to do,” Henderson said. “I played more football growing up than I did baseball, and so I think I just understood football more.”

Four years later, the Seahawks demolished the Denver Broncos 43-8 in the 2014 Super Bowl. The Seahawks were crushing it, and Henderson was along for the ride. He spent seven years with 710 ESPN Seattle, then transitioned to ESPN’s NFL Nation, where he continues to cover the Seahawks today.

Henderson still has all of his old clippings from The Front and Klipsun, as well as his personal essay on his favorite baseball player.

“I can’t imagine covering anything else now. It’s just sort of what I figure I’m going to do forever,” Henderson said. “My favorite part about the job is that every day is an opportunity to learn something that I didn’t know yesterday.”

There was once a kid wandering the halls of The Seattle Times. He liked the newsroom, football and Ken Griffey Jr. Now, he’s grown up and reporting for ESPN.

Tomorrow, he’ll learn something he doesn’t know today.