G r a d y F e l l o w s T r i b u t e E v e n i n g

Honoring The Grady Fellowship and Saluting Grady’s Sports Journalism Legacy

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Classic Center Athens, Ga. Grady Fellowship Tribute Evening Autographs By Grady, For Grady Program The Grady Fellowship Tribute Evening has been produced “By Grady, for Grady,” testifying to a remarkable quality of creativity and volunteer spirit among alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends. Grady College thanks the Grady Family and these individuals who have made the Tribute Evening possible. November 19, 2009 We salute their generosity, commitment and the many ways they exemplify “The Grady Spirit.” Karen Andrews, ABJ ’03, Tribute Evening event coordinator and graphic designer Welcome Cecil Bentley, All Fellows Day coordinator E. Culpepper Clark Dean, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Jody Danneman, ABJ ’88, and -ImageArts, executive producer of Grady Fellowship Tribute Evening Wingate Downs, ABJ ’79, Tribute Evening photography Remarks Debbie Ebalobo, ABJ ’10, Grady intern Swann Seiler, ABJ ’78 Professor Conrad Fink President, Grady Board of Trust Grady County Legends Grady Board of Trust Grady College Ambassadors Presentation of Fellows and Honor Roll Call of the Grady Fellowship Grady Society Alumni Board E. Culpepper Clark Rachel Hobgood, ABJ ’10, Grady intern Swann Seiler Dr. Ann Hollifield and Grady honors students

Cherie and Vance Leavy, Bulldawg Illustrated Salute to Grady’s Sports Journalism Legacy: Charlie McAlexander “The status of sports journalism in a 24/7 news cycle” Dr. Parker Middleton, director, All Fellows Day and Grady Fellowship Conrad Fink, moderator Tribute Evening Tony Barnhart, ABJ ’76 Furman Bisher Diane Murray, ABJ ’89, outreach and promotion Charlie McAlexander Dr. Horace Newcomb Mark Schlabach, ABJ ’96 Dr. Sherrie Whaley, publicity and photography Closing WNEG-TV The Grady Fellowship Grady Board of Trust

The Board of Trust of the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism Beverly Blake Brian Johnstone (ABJ ’68) Susan Rosenberg and Mass Communication congratulates The Grady Fellowship, the members of which, John S. and James L. Lockheed Martin UPS Public Relations by virtue of their accomplishments, friendship and service are members emeritus and Knight Foundation honoris causa of the Trust. On behalf of the Grady Board of Trust, join me Brian Brodrick Chris Jones (ABJ ’73) Dan A. Schafer and the faculty, staff, students and alumni of the Grady College in saluting them. Jackson Spalding Verizon Wireless Coca-Cola North America - E. Culpepper Clark, Dean Pamela (P.J.) Browning Tom Landrum (MA ’87) Swann Seiler (ABJ ’78) The Sun News The University of Georgia Power Company

Jean Cobb (ABJ ’74) Melissa Libby (ABJ ’85) Brad Shaw Freebairn & Company Melissa Libby & Associates The Home Depot

Claude Felton (ABJ ´70, MA´71) Bill Crane (ABJ ’84) Tim Mapes (ABJ ’86) Jennifer Sloan (ABJ ’86) C.S.I.: Crane Delta Air Lines Toronto, Ont. Claude Felton has held positions in the ’s Ath- letic Association since 1979, including associate athletic director and Richard Davis Burgett Mooney Mark Smith (ABJ ’66) sports communications director, a position he has held since July 2004. CNN News Group Rome News-Tribune Smith Communications During his career, he has served as media coordinator for 18 NCAA national championship events and was the host sports information di- Frank Denton Lauran Neergaard (ABJ ’89) Sam Starnes (ABJ ’89) rector for the 1977 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Atlanta. The Florida Times-Union Author, Freelance Writer He served on the press liaison staff for the U.S. Olympic Committee at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and was the press venue chief Jennifer Dorian Dink NeSmith (ABJ ’70) Lauri Strauss for soccer at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 2008, Turner Entertainment Community Newspapers, Inc. Atlanta Press Club he was awarded the Bert McGrane Award from the Football Writers Networks Association of America. Sherri Fallin Simmons (ABJ ’94) Donald A. Perry (ABJ ’74) Charles Van Rysselberge Duffey Communications Chick-fil-A, Inc. (ABJ ’68, MA ’71) Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Brenda Hampton (ABJ ´73) Rex Granum (ABJ ’72) Jere Pigue Julia Wallace Brenda Hampton is creator and currently writer and executive producer Prism Public Affairs Georgia Association of The Atlanta Journal- of the highly rated and widely-watched ABC teen drama series, The Broadcasters Constitution Secret Life of the American Teenager. Hampton was also creator, writer and executive producer of the hit series, , the longest run- Charles Hayslett (ABJ ’73) Condace Pressley (ABJ ’86) Richard Warner ning family drama in TV history. She has enjoyed sustained success Hayslett Group WSB Radio What’s Up Interactive since moving to Los Angeles in the early 1980s with writer, editor and producer credits in shows such as Sister Kate, Baghdad Café, Lenny, Betty Hudson (ABJ ’71) Robin Rhodes Chris Wood Blossom, Daddy’s Girls and Mad About You. Hampton was also co-cre- National Geographic Society Georgia Press Association (ABJ ’87, Ph.D. ’06) ator, writer and executive producer of the high profile Showtime series, JWA Public Communications Fat Actress, starring Kirstie Alley. She is the 2003 recipient of the Henry John W. ‘Jay’ Jacobs, III Gloria Ricks Taylor (ABJ ’66) Neely Young W. Grady Mid-Career Alumnus Award. JACOBS Media Corporation Hearst Corporation Georgia Trend magazine Teresa Edwards Lewis Gainey

Bill Stanfill

Bill Stanfill Bobby walden

Lewis Gainey

Bobby walden Teresa Edwards Ray Jenkins (ABJ ´51) Ray Jenkins began his career in journalism in 1951 as a reporter for The Grady Mission The Columbus Ledger. In 1954, he was one of two reporters who covered the Phenix City, Ala., upheaval, coverage for which the news- paper received a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Between 1959 and 1979 he served as city editor, managing editor, executive editor and vice-president of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser-Journal. Jenkins was special assistant for press affairs to President , 1979- 81. After 10 years as editorial page editor of The Evening Sun in Balti- The Grady College serves the state, nation and world by: 1) developing and dis- more, he retired from daily journalism in 1992. He has written exten- seminating knowledge about communication institutions and the processes and sively on Southern politics and culture for and role of mass communication in society; 2) preparing students to be critical thinkers other publications, and is the author of Blind Vengeance, a book about and outstanding communication professionals; and 3) creating and transferring the assassination of a federal judge in Alabama in 1989. knowledge about mass communication that informs and serves the public, communication professionals, academics, and policy makers. Gordon Smith (ABJ ´75 , JD ´78) Gordon Smith is executive director and chief operating officer of the Tennis Association (USTA). In this position, Smith Grady Society Alumni Board leads USTA’s effort to promote and develop the growth of tennis, and Gene Colter (ABJ ‘89) Jeff Jowdy (ABJ ‘83) oversees USTA operations. He has long been connected to tennis as PIMCO Lighthouse Counsel both a player and volunteer, playing competitively at UGA and serving as captain for a team that swept four straight SEC titles from 1971 Selwyn Crawford (ABJ ‘81) Eric NeSmith (ABJ ‘02) through 1975. Following law school, he clerked with the federal Dallas Morning News The Highlander (Highlands, N.C.) judiciary before joining the Atlanta-based international law firm of King and Spalding, where he was a senior partner in the 800-lawyer Jody Danneman (ABJ ‘88) Amanda Rosseter Schab (ABJ ‘90) firm. Smith is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and Atlanta Image Arts, Inc. Saint Joseph’s Health System has been listed in the publication, The Best Lawyers in America for many years. Chris Decherd (ABJ ‘90) Steve Sears (ABJ ‘90) Voice of America Barron’s and Barron’s Online

Valerie Elston (ABJ ‘04) Jennifer Sloan (ABJ ‘86), president Ruth Estes Trager (ABJ ´47) Levick Strategic Communications Toronto, Ont. Ruth Estes Trager pioneered the role of women executives in broad- cast programming and sales promotion, first with Atlanta’s WAGA Ra- Eddie Garrett (BA ‘06) (MBA Terry ‘08) Katherine Strate (ABJ ‘09) dio, then WAGA-TV. She was also part of the original staff of WLAC-TV Porter Novelli Jackson Spalding in Nashville, Tenn. In 1957, she became a media buyer at the Tucker Bryan Harris (MA ‘03) Scott Williamson (MMC ‘92) Wayne & Co. advertising agency where she remained for 21 years. Jackson Spalding Coca-Cola North America Her next stops were at Pringle Dixon Pringle as vice president, media director, and J. Walter Thompson Atlanta as vice president, associate Cynthia Harris (ABJ ‘94) Mesha Chance Wind (ABJ ‘90) media director. A mentor to many young women entering advertising, Microsoft Corporation The Cairo (Ga.) Messenger Trager helped shape the parameters of media buying and planning as Atlanta grew to claim its status as a major media market. Josh Jackson (ABJ ‘94) Paste magazine Salute to Grady’s Sports Journalism Legacy: Conrad Fink, professor of journalism, teaches newspaper management, contem- porary American newspapers, opinion writing, public affairs reporting and ethics “The status of sports journalism in at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communica- tion. For 21 years, Fink worked with The Associated Press as a reporter, editor, for- a 24/7 news cycle” eign correspondent and vice president. Subsequently he served as executive vice president of Park Communications, a newspaper and broadcast company. Fink has This evening’s sports panel features legends in sports journalism: Furman Bisher, published nine journalism textbooks and is the author of several books including who retired last month at age 90 after writing some 10,000 columns for The Sportswriting: The Lively Game, as well as books on ethics, business news writ- Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Tony Barnhart, who reveals the secrets of SEC ing and opinion writing. He has received UGA’s highest teaching honor, as well as football on CBS Sports; Mark Schlabach, a Grady College graduate and the Teaching Excellence Award from the University Board of Regents. In 2002, he football expert who made his way to ESPN via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and won the National Journalism Teacher of the Year Award from the Freedom Forum. Washington Post, and Charles (Charlie Mac) McAlexander of the Grady College who is known throughout the SEC as a television and sports radio Charlie McAlexander is the only play-by-play announcer in conference history to announcer and commentator. They will discuss crucial issues in sports today and the call the games for four SEC schools in four different states (Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, challenges facing journalists who cover them. Kentucky and South Carolina) and be honored as Sportscaster of the Year at each Professor Conrad Fink of the Grady College will be the moderator. one by the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters. McAlexander is a recipient of the Lindsey Nelson Award for his contribution to football, presented Tony Barnhart covered college football for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution each year by the All- Foundation. He has also been the host for the for 24 years and continues to write the popular Mr. College Football blog for ajc. nationally-syndicated radio show College Sports USA and the host of NCAA Today on com. The 2009 season marks Barnhart’s 33rd as a college football reporter for ESPN-TV. He has been the play-by-play voice of the men’s SEC basketball tournament the Internet, radio and television. He currently appears as a college football in- title game on two occasions and for numerous NCAA basketball tournament games. sider for CBS Sports on The Tony Barnhart Show. His insight is so well-recognized by football fans that he’s become known as “Mr. College Football.” Before going Mark Schlabach (ABJ ’96) joined ESPN.com in July 2006 as a college football and to CBS, Barnhart was a reporter for ESPN and also appeared on College Game- basketball columnist. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Grady College, Mark Day. His honors include recognition as the 1999 Georgia Sportswriter of the Year, spent nine years at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution covering Georgia and the SEC, past president of the Football Writers Association of America, past president of as well as the NFL and NASCAR. Before joining ESPN, Schlabach spent two years the United States Basketball Writers Association, the Jake Wade Award from the at covering college football and basketball, and boxing. He College Sports Information Directors of America, two Southern Regional Emmy Award is also the author of several books including Destiny's Dogs: Georgia's Champion- nominations, and the Bert McGrane Award from the National Football Foundation. ship Season; What It Means to be a Gator; What It Means to be A Hokie; What It Means to be A Seminole; and, most recently, Georgia Football: Yesterday & Today. Furman Bisher is a recently retired sports columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Con- stitution, where he once served as sports editor, and is a columnist for The Sport- ing News. Bisher has written for , The Saturday Evening Post, and many other national publications. After 59 years at the AJC, his final column was published on Oct. 11, 2009, less than one month before his 91st birthday. Bisher has covered every Kentucky Derby since 1950, and every but the first. He also held seniority for many years over the hundreds of golf reporters and other sports journalists who descend on Augusta each April for The Masters Tournament. Bisher was president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association from 1974-76 and president of the Football Writers Association of America from 1959-60. Grady County Stars The Grady Fellowship Grady County, Georgia, where I grew up, was named for Henry W. Grady, whose name this 2008 Inaugural Class college also bears. As the South’s chief journalist and publicist and ever the father to our ef- forts to advance journalism and mass communication education, Henry Grady remains a power- Jimmy Alston Eugene Methvin ful inspiration, a powerful brand. Grady County has produced a remarkable number of sports Bill Anderson Jim Minter legends from Jackie Robinson to A. L. Williams to the special Grady County guests with us this Neil Aronstam Pat Mitchell evening. Being reared on cane syrup may have something to do with it! Join me in welcoming Dennis Berry Frazier Moore, Jr. these Cairo High School Syrupmakers and UGA athletic legends. Conway Broun Powell A. Moore - E. Culpepper Clark, Dean Otis A. Brumby, Jr. Aubrey Morris Teresa Edwards was a two-time All-American for the Georgia Lady Bulldogs and the only Tyus Butler William S. Morris, III basketball player—male or female—to represent the United States in five Olympic Games. Don E. Carter W. H. “Dink” NeSmith, Jr. She is also the most decorated Olympic basketball player in the world with four gold medals Carolyn McKenzie Carter Deborah Norville and one bronze medal. The Cairo native owns the unique distinction of being both the young- Maxine Clark Eugene Patterson est (20 in 1984) and oldest (36 in 2000) U.S. Olympic women’s basketball player to win a Frank Compton Donald A. Perry gold medal. All told, Edwards was a member of 20 USA Basketball teams, including two World Carlton Curtis Gloria Ricks Taylor Championship gold medal teams, and overall, teams with Edwards as a member compiled a Carrol Dadisman Richard Riley 189-13 win-loss record. In August 2009, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Tom Dowden Deborah Roberts Lewis Gainey set Georgia records in the long jump, triple jump and 330-yard intermediate Miriam Drewry Don Rountree hurdles as a student athlete. After working with legendary track and field head coach Forest Jenny Duffey Neva Rountree “Speck” Towns as an assistant coach, Gainey took over the head coaching spot in 1976 and Lee Duffey Tom Russell held down the job until 1989. He directed the Bulldogs to one of their most successful pe- Bruce Finland Swann Seiler riods during the early 1980s. All-Americans, Olympic medalists and NFL stars such as Gwen Rex Granum Bill Shipp Torrence and Herschel Walker were among Gainey’s prized pupils. After that he moved into Millard Grimes A. Mark Smith UGA athletic administration where he served as both director and assistant director for event Bill Hartman Jay Smith management before his retirement in 2001. Charles Hayslett Loran Smith Betty Hudson Lessie Smithgall Bill Stanfill played at UGA from 1966 through 1968. He was awarded the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Paul Stone in 1968 and was named an All-American the same year. Voted All-SEC in 1966, John W. Jacobs, Jr. 1967 and 1968, Stanfill was the SEC Lineman of The Year in 1968. He played for the Miami Carolyn Caudell Tieger Dolphins from 1969 to 1976. As the NFL did not officially maintain sack records until 1982, he Tom Johnson Claude Williams unofficially led the Dolphins in sacks in 1969 with eight (still an unofficial team rookie mark Brian Johnstone Robert M. Williams, Jr. that was tied by Lorenzo Bromell in 1998), and picked off two passes and returned both for Chris Jones Jim Wooten touchdowns. Stanfill was voted to the 1969 AFL All-Star game and went to the AFC-NFC Pro Warren Jones Dick Yarbrough Bowl from 1971 through 1974. Tom S. Landrum Neely Young Rebecca Leet UGA VII Bobby “The Big Toe from Cairo” Walden was a who played for the University of Dan Magill for three years from 1958 to 1960. In 1958, as a sophomore, he led the Mike McDougald nation in average yards per punt. In 1960, he set an Orange Bowl record for yards per punt. After UGA, he led the in punting, rushing and receiving as a mem- ber of the Edmonton Eskimos in 1961 and 1962. He then enjoyed a 14-year career in the from 1964 to 1977. Walden was a part of the ’ Super Bowl IX and winning teams. He also led the NFL in punting in 1964 with a 46.4 yard average and was selected to the after the 1969 season.