College Football America Yearbook/Encyclopedia, published by FWAA member Kendall Webb, includes information on all college football programs in the United States and Canada including all NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA and CIS programs along with an update on College Club Football, Postgraduate Prep Academies and One-Year Sports Academies, along with an annual update on Mexico’s college football scene. It covers the entire scope of North American College Football. The book is printed by Amazon.com and is available through major retailers, including Barnes & Noble. It’s also available in a digital PDF version.
Category Archives: Member News
Eddie Robinson Jr. dies after heart transplant
Eddie Robinson Jr.
DALLAS — Eddie Robinson Jr., 70, son of the late and legendary Grambling State University football coach Eddie Robinson, passed away on Wednesday evening at Baylor Hospital in Dallas after complications from a heart transplant.
Eddie Robinson Jr., is a former Grambling State football player and assistant coach and one of two children of Eddie Robinson, the winningest coach in Division I history. Eddie Robinson Jr. was a longtime friend of the Fiesta Bowl, which for 16 years has collaborated with the Football Writers Association of America to choose the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year.
“The Fiesta Bowl mourns the loss of a valued friend and extends its condolences to the Robinson family and Grambling State University,” the Fiesta Bowl said in a statement. “Eddie Jr. worked tirelessly to preserve his father’s legacy through the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, and his remarks were always a highlight of the annual award presentation.”
“With Eddie Jr., it was never if he would do something for his father’s legacy, it was always when and where,” FWAA Executive Director Steve Richardson said. “In his own right, Eddie Jr. was an astute football mind and had a keen interest in college football and the coaches who were selected as finalists for the award each year. His input was always welcome and will be sorely missed moving forward. Besides his influence on the award, he was a supporter of what was good in college football.”
Joe Doyle’s double life
By Eric Hansen/South Bend Tribune
Joe Doyle
For years, they talked every Monday over breakfast about almost everything but the thread that pulled them together in the first place, Notre Dame football.
Politics, world geography, family, life – and one day sorting through the news of a plane crash in some far off place.
That’s the first time Notre Dame coaching icon Ara Parseghian got a glimpse of Joe Doyle’s double life.
“It was years into our relationship,” Parseghian said of his longtime friend, who chronicled the College Football Hall-of-Famer’s 11 seasons in South Bend (1964-1974). “And it really came up in passing. But once he mentioned it, I had lots of questions for him, because I found it so fascinating, his double career.”
Comings and goings
Lenn Robbins
Immediate past FWAA president Lenn Robbins of the New York Post has left the newspaper to work for BrookylnNets.com and BarclaysCenter.com. He had worked 16 years for the New York Post. Among his assignments will be the Brooklyn Nets, New York Islanders and championship boxing and college basketball. “I have accepted the job with the understanding that I will have the independence that I’ve enjoyed to report and to analyze,” Robbins said upon accepting the position.
David Ubben has moved from espn.com to foxsports.com. … Danielle Moorman has resigned her post as executive director of the Davey O’Brien Foundation to accept a position as director of marketing and communications at Low T Center. … Olivia Kiespert has moved down the street in Irving, Texas, from the National Football Foundation to Conference USA. … Joe Galbraith, SID at Mississippi State, has accepted the position as Clemson University’s assistant athletics director for communications. … Herb Vincent left his post at LSU as vice chancellor for university relations to take a similar position at the Southeastern Conference. … Randy Riggs of the Austin American-Statesman has announced he is retiring after more than 35 years at the paper. In recent years he has been the paper’s beat writer for the Longhorn football team. Other recent retirements: Herb Gould, Chicago Sun-Times; Mike Pearson, Miami (Ohio) University; Marc Dellins, UCLA.
Buddy Davis recovering, winning awards
Long-time Ruston (La.) Daily Leader sportswriter and columnist Buddy Davis has been battling health problems in recent months since suffering a stroke on July 5 and has been in and out of Louisiana health facilities, but he is still writing!
He also is still winning awards. He is one of five individuals who will be inducted into the Louisiana Tech’s Athletic Hall of Fame on Nov. 9. He also has been recognized as the university’s College of Liberal Arts’ Alumnus of the Year. Davis, a 1969 journalism graduate, has spent nearly 50 years working as a sports writer for the same newspaper.
Remembering Gene Schill, FWAA member and University of Dayton administrator
Gene Schill
Gene Schill, 77, passed away on Oct.9. The former Dayton University sports information director and associate athletics director, had been an FWAA member for more than 30 years, joining in 1982. The following is a column by Tom Archdeacon of the Dayton Daily News.
When the funeral Mass ended Monday, Chris Schill left his pew in the front of St. Albert’s Catholic Church, walked to the lectern, turned around and looked past his dad’s casket.
He had his eulogy written out in front of him — and it would be a beautiful — but an even better one may have come when he got his first glimpse of the crowd.
University of Dayton coaching legend Don Donoher was there, as was former Flyers’ standout Leighton Moulton. UD Hall of Famers Pat Jayson and Dr. Art Bok were there, as was equipment manager Tony Caruso, UD’s Director of Media Relations Doug Hauschild, veteran broadcasters Tom Michaels and Tom Hamlin, former Wright State SID Dave Stahl and many others.
Member book: ‘Tigers vs. Jayhawks,’ by Mark Godich
“Tigers vs. Jayhawks: From the Civil War to the Battle for No. 1,” by Mark Godich
Foreword by Joe Posnanski
The book traces the bad blood between the schools and the states to the Civil War and before. It revisits the early years of the rivalry. It examines how Missouri coach Gary Pinkel and Kansas coach Mark Mangino built Big 12 doormats into championship-caliber teams.
It deconstructs the deal that was struck to move the 2007 game to Kansas City, Mo., denying the Jayhawks the opportunity to host the biggest game in program history. It explores the Orange Bowl’s head-scratching decision to invite Kansas over Missouri.
FWAA members: Tell us about new books you’ve written
FWAA Members are encouraged to send brief overviews of books you have written, beginning with releases in the calendar year of 2013. These do not have to be college football books per se, but have to be written by active FWAA members.
We would like:
● A brief synopsis of the book, not to exceed 300 words, with a link to where the book can be purchased on line.
● The retail price of book and where it may be purchased in a store.
● A .jpg or .pdf image of the cover book.
● A short history about the author, not to exceed 200 words.
Sherrod’s art auctioned for SMU scholarship
This story was published by The Dallas Morning News on May 28, 2013. Blackie Sherrod was president of the FWAA in 1963, when he worked for the Dallas Times Herald. He won the Bert McGrane Award in 1985, after moving to The Dallas Morning News.
By Corbett Smith
The Dallas Morning News
Blackie Sherrod
The irony was thick, she agreed. Wonder what Smiley — Blackie’s old moniker for Jones — would say about that?
That snippet of humor was something Sherrod rarely missed hitting on during his nearly 60-year career as a writer, working for The Dallas Morning News, Dallas Times Herald and Fort Worth Press.
Sherrod donated more than 200 pieces of his own artwork, sold at a silent auction Tuesday night for the creation of a scholarship for the Division of Journalism at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts.
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Former FWAA president Ron Higgins moves to NOLA.com/The Times Picayune
Ron Higgins
Higgins, a 28-year veteran of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, also is a frequent analyst on SEC sports for The Tim Brando Show on CBS, has written for the SEC’s official website and is a highly sought after guest on regional and national sports radio. A native of Baton Rouge and a graduate of LSU, Higgins will write commentary and special features about LSU sports for NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune, and will continue to appear on regional and national television and radio talking about the Tigers and SEC sports.
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The Fifth Down 