Zeke Smith, 1958 winner of the Outland Trophy.
Zeke Smith, winner of the FWAA’s Outland Trophy in 1958, died Friday at the age of 79.
Smith was a two-way player and a member of Auburn’s 1957 national championship team.
After Auburn, he played in the NFL in 1960 and 1961 and the CFL in 1962 and 1963. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1982.
Today Auburn’s top defensive player each season is given the Zeke Smith Award.
Three FWAA members — Herb Gould and former presidents Chris Dufresne and Mark Blaudschun — launched TMGcollegesports.com, a new website devoted to college football, on July 18.
The following is from an email blast Gould sent out to announce the site.
I want everyone know this “retired” sportswriter is involved in a new college football website, TMGcollegesports.com. I could not resisting teaming up with two old buddies–Chris Dufresne (former L.A. Times), Mark Blaudschun (former Boston Globe).
We launched the site today (Monday, July 18) with three columns that should give readers an idea of where TMGcollegesports.com is headed. … Chris explains how he was at Ground Zero when Jim Harbaugh’s coaching career took off. I take a look at why people shouldn’t sleep on the Seven Dwarfs of the Big Ten. And Mark delves into Big 12 expansion and how it will impact the college-football landscape.
We’re going the paysite route, asking people for $19.95 for the entire season, with an early-bird rate of just $14.95.
Please join us.
And please tell people who love college football about us.
Needless to say, we’re going to have fun with this. We remember when sports was less of a business and more of a game—and as aging Baby Boomers, we’re going to do everything we can to keep it that way.
We not only are going to give our views on the always-wild ride of a college football season. In the blog format, we will have ample opportunity to present background and personal experiences from the past.
With more than a century of experience, we have a lot of stories to tell. And this format is perfect for that.
Our web designer, Chris wife, Sheila, has given us a very easy-to-navigate site.
We want you to be involved, too. Questions, suggestions, ideas for columns are welcome.
Please check us out.
Thanks for reading.
Best Regards,
Herb
Call for Football Writing Talent: FootballMatters.org
The National Football Foundation’s flagship media property, FootballMatters.org, is looking to expand its writing staff for the upcoming 2016 college football season.
Created by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, FootballMatters.org is an online destination dedicated to promoting the power of amateur football through exclusive features, columns, interviews, videos, special reports and series’, as well as breaking news, award announcements and original Hall of Fame content.
The mission of FootballMatters.org is to focus on the stories that evoke the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal, character building and the drive for academic excellence that exemplifies many of the young men who play football and the families who support them.
Writers for FootballMatters.org will produce stories from all levels of college and high school football. You will be comfortable interviewing everyone from head coaches and athletic directors of the largest college programs on down to football moms at the small high schools. Our goal is to combine compelling writing, storytelling and interviewing with engaging topics that promote the good in the game of football.
Writers are expected to pitch 2-3 stories a week, as well as have an interest in covering one of the prime feature wells.
Ideal candidates will have extensive knowledge of amateur football, have a strong list of bylines, be very active on social media and be comfortable meeting deadlines. Recent college graduates with school paper experience are encouraged to apply.
This is a paid, freelance position.
Writers interested please send a cover letter, resume and links to relevant samples to: info@footballmatters.org.
Editor’s Note: This story appeared on kansascity.com on April 30, 2016. Bill Hancock, an FWAA member, is the Executive Director of the College Football Playoff. Author of the story, Vahe Gregorian, is also an FWAA member.
Bill Hancock of Prairie Village is one of the most influential men in collegiate sports, having run the NCAA Tournament as it was blossoming into a phenomenon and now as executive director of the College Football Playoff.
You’d never know that from the folksy, humble, kind and gentle demeanor of Hancock, who despite those high-profile and at-times controversial jobs, is one of the most popular and appealing people in the sports industrial complex.
But for all there is to admire about Hancock, the most amazing part of his life-affirming radiance is that it survived the unbearable tragedy of the death of his son Will in the Oklahoma State plane crash that killed 10 members of the Oklahoma State family on Jan. 27, 2001.
For all he has achieved, maybe nothing is more important to him now than being a symbol of hope for those in despair even as his own mourning never ends.
That’s why Hancock periodically speaks to groups grieving life’s calamities and why he wrote a book about his own path to coping.
The following dates and locations for 2016 football media days have been set:
SEC: July 11-14, Hoover, AL (Hyatt Regency-Wynfrey)
BIG 12: July 18-19. Dallas (Omni Hotel)
ATLANTIC COAST: July 21-22, Charlotte, NC (Westin Hotel)
BIG TEN: July 25-26, Chicago (Hyatt Regency McCormick Place)
AMERICAN: Aug. 1-2, Newport, RI (Hyatt Regency)
CONFERENCE USA: July 25-26, Irving, TX (C-USA Offices/Las Colinas Marriott)
MOUNTAIN WEST: July 26-27, Las Vegas, NV (Cosmopolitan)
SUN BELT: July 25, New Orleans (Mercedes-Benz Superdome/Omni Riverfront Hotel)
PAC-12: July 14-15, Hollywood, CA (Loews Hollywood Hotel)
MID-AMERICAN: July 28, Detroit (Ford Field)
DALLAS — The Football Writers Association of America has selected its seventh “Super 11” group of sports information departments deemed the best in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision for the 2015 season.
The winners: Clemson (ACC), Houston (American), Kansas State (Big 12), Louisiana (Sun Belt), Indiana (Big Ten), Mississippi State (SEC), Northern Illinois (MAC), Pittsburgh (ACC), USC (Pac-12), Utah State (Mountain West) and Western Kentucky (Conference USA).
USC is a six-time winner of the award and Clemson and Pittsburgh have won three times each. Houston, Northern Illinois, Utah State and Western Kentucky have been named Super 11 winners previously.
First-time winners of the award are Kansas State, Indiana, Mississippi State and Louisiana. Over the seven-year period, the FWAA has honored 49 different schools.
Blackie Sherrod, president of the FWAA in 1963.
Blackie Sherrod, president of the Football Writers Association of America in 1963 and winner of its Bert McGrane Award in 1985, died of natural causes Thursday afternoon at his home in Dallas. He was 96.
Sherrod, who was voted Texas Sportswriter of the Year a record 16 times and was honored with the prestigious Red Smith Award, was remembered by one of his former newspapers, The Dallas Morning News, as the greatest Texas sportswriter of his generation or any other.
Click here to read The Morning News’ obituary.
The Charlotte Touchdown Club in conjunction with the Football Writers Association of America and Florida East Coast Railway, proudly announced Tuesday that U.S. Naval Academy great Chet Moeller will be the recipient of the 2016 Bronko Nagurski Legends Award, which recognizes outstanding defensive football players from the past 40 years. The award will be presented formally during the annual Bronko Nagurski Trophy Awards Banquet presented by ACN on December 5th.
Chet Moeller
“Being recognized with the 2016 Bronko Nagurski Legends Award conjures up memories which will live with me forever. I’m thankful for the coaches who shaped me and the teammates who encouraged me and I’m overwhelmed to be considered in the same class of the past winners such as Bubba Smith, Randy Gradishar, Randy Rhino and others,” Moeller said.
“Congratulations to Chet Moeller on being named the 2016 Bronko Nagurski Legends Award recipient,” said James R. Hertwig, CEO of Florida East Coast Railway. “Chet’s performance on the field, in the classroom and in his service to our country in the United States Marine Corp was exceptional and this honor is well deserved. Florida East Coast Railway takes great pride in our support of the Charlotte Touchdown Club and its mission to promote Citizenship, Scholarship, Sportsmanship and Leadership.”
(Ed. Note: Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal became the FWAA’s 2016 President in early January in Scottsdale, Ariz. Below is speech that he gave accepting the position during the FWAA Awards Breakfast at the media hotel. Mark, who covered UNLV football for a number of years, has moved to the basketball beat but will still report football periodically during the fall while serving as the FWAA President.)
2016 FWAA President Mark Anderson
“Thank you all for this incredible honor. I am humbled to be so warmly welcomed by you not only the past few days, but the past two years after Tiger put me on the board. I remember how surprised I was at his invitation to eventually rise to president. Not only did I cover a team that wasn’t from a power conference, but I covered arguably the worst program in that league. Kirk Bohls (2014 FWAA President) later enlightened me on the importance of having diverse representation. Little did Tiger know, however, that I’m an SEC grad (from the University of Florida).
“This is a big day in many ways. It’s also my 17th anniversary at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and this has been a time for milestones. My wife and I each turned 50 in the fall, and our son — I mean, our straight-A student son — entered middle school. My paper was sold — twice. You might have heard about the second purchase. My 15th wedding anniversary is later this year.
“One of my colleagues, Ed Graney, takes over as President next year of the United States Basketball Writers Association. Another co-worker, Steve Carp, is a former USBWA President. To say I am proud of where I work would be an understatement.
“I’m honored to become the second Tallahassean to become President of the FWAA. The other one, Bill McGrotha (1990 FWAA President), was the long-time columnist of the Tallahassee Democrat, and I not only worked with Bill, I was his driver for Florida State football games. You knew you were walking with a celebrity when going through the Doak Campbell Stadium parking lot with Bill. He was almost as popular as Bobby Bowden.
“We all are a reflection of our upbringing, and I want to take a moment to talk about two great influences on my life and career.
“My dad is 96, and the past few months have been difficult with him going in and out of hospitals. But he’s the same fighter who survived pneumonia at the age of 12 or 13 after a doctor said he wouldn’t make it through the night. My dad also watched his parents lose all their savings in the Depression, and he never was able to get a college degree he so badly wanted. But my dad went on to become one of the world’s top civil engineers, overseeing the construction of dams all over the globe and giving my family the opportunity to experience so many cultures that most Americans miss out on.
“But the main influence on my career was my mom. She and I had season tickets for years to Florida State games before I later came to my senses and went to Florida. If the Seminoles happened to pull off a big victory, my mom would go downtown and buy the state papers. If she liked a particular passage — Hubert Mizell of the St. Petersburg Times was a particular favorite — she would read it aloud. I sometimes hear her voice when I write.
“We all know how important it is to have an understanding family with our crazy deadlines and constant travel, and I certainly have a wife and son who love and support me. Without them, it would be much more difficult to live out this crazy dream of writing about sports for a living.
“Thank you again for this privilege. I am excited about the challenges over the next year and about the opportunity to represent this great organization. You will get nothing but my best.”
The Fifth Down 