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FWAA honors Pat Harmon with Bert McGrane Award February 2003 Vol. 42, No. 1 Pat Harmon, long-time Cincinnati was a young sports writer in Illinois. Post sports editor and current historian Harmon began covering events at age for the National Football Foundation and 17 at the Freeport (Ill.) Journal Standard Inside this issue: the Hall of Fame, has during the Depression era of the early won the 2004 Bert McGrane Award. 1930s. He would hitchhike to games, sleep on wrestling mats in gyms of teams New President Dick Harmon was selected as the winner 2 by a panel of previous McGrane Award he covered, and also break into the food- Weiss’ column winners. He will receive a plaque and lines of the teams. special recognition during a breakfast at But he will be forever remembered for LSU’s the College Football Hall of inaugurating the selec- named FWAA/Eddie 3 Fame in South Bend, Ind., tion of the Illinois all- Robinson Coach of the this coming August. state Year The Bert McGrane Award, and basketball teams. which serves as the Football Harmon moved to the Trophy Writers Association of Amer- Champaign (Ill.) News- goes to Southern 4 ica Hall of Fame, was estab- Gazette in 1934 when California lished in 1974. The award became a student at the honors an FWAA member University of Illinois. And Neil Parry of San Jose who has performed great he stayed in that central State wins FWAA 5 service to the organization Illinois town, married his Courage Award and the game of college foot- wife Anne, and built a ball. It is named after strong reputation before Garrett Holtz, son of McGrane, who was the ex- spending four years at Randy Holtz of the ecutive secretary of the or- the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Rocky Mountain News, 7 ganization from the early Gazette from 1947-51. wins Volney Meece 1940s until 1973. Harmon went to Cin- Scholarship Harmon, a father of 11 Pat Harmon cinnati in 1951 and children, was president of the served as a sports editor FWAA Freshman 7 FWAA in 1984. He has had an illustrious and columnist for the Post for 34½ years. All-America Team career as a sports writer and editor and After retiring and traveling for a year, covered such greats as , Harmon settled in his current job as his- Previous winners of the 7 Pete Rose, Casey Stengel, Arnold torian in 1986. Bert McGrane Award Palmer, Eddie Robinson, John Wooden, Harmon’s name also will be placed on , , Woody a plaque in the rotunda of the College Call for entries: Best Hayes, and Joe Louis. Football Hall of Fame with the previous Writing Contest rules, 8 Harmon’s career started when he McGrane Award winners. procedures Page 2 THE FIFTH DOWN

President Dick Weiss New York Daily News President’s column First Vice President NEW YORK — professionals who cover their teams. Alan Schmadtke The University of Orlando Sentinel We at the Football Writers Associa- is the "War tion can never condone that. We hope Second Vice President and Peace'' of foot- CoSIDA and the APSE feel the same Dennis Dodd ball media guides, way. It's tough enough for writers to CBS SportsLine running 591 pages. make their ever increasingly early dead- Executive Director Most beat writers in lines without running through unneces- Steve Richardson the Big 12 suggest sary hoops. We're also sure most, if not Dallas Morning News you can avoid a her- all, coaches would not be too pleased by

2004 Directors nia if you just rip out this development when they make a Mark Anderson 100 pages near the home visit and have to sell their school Las Vegas Review & Journal front and another by handing a recruit software for a com-

Jack Bogaczyk DICK 100 in the back. puter the prospect may not even own. Charleston Daily Mail WEISS Media attending We'd much rather buy into the idea of the Southeastern limiting media guides for football and Charles Durrenberger Conference two-day basketball to 300 pages and all nonreve- Arizona Daily Star preseason football kickoff in Birmingham nue sports to 75 pages and tone down Rob Daniels don't even try to lug home the heavy- the recruiting aspects in an effort to bring Greensboro News & Record weight guides they receive from 12 back some sanity.

Chad Hartley schools. They simply call UPS and ship But the idea of doing away with me- Reno Gazette Journal them to the office. What's a $100 bill dia guides is totally ridiculous. when it comes to your health? ● Steve Henson We can joke about the size of these A word of praise here about the books all we want. But the valuable infor- FWAA sponsored Eddie Robinson Todd Jones mation SIDs work so hard to supply in Coach of the Year dinner the Columbus Dispatch print is both helpful and necessary for us folks put on the week after the season at

Rich Kaipust to do our jobs properly. the Phoenician in Scottsdale. John Omaha World-Herald At least, that's what I thought before Junker and Shawn Schoeffler, who have hearing that the ACC athletic directors always been good friends of this organi- Steve Kiggins voted 8-1 recently to do away with them Casper Star-Tribune zation, outdid themselves with this one. all together and are passing along the So did the three finalists — Nick Saban Malcolm Moran results to the NCAA Management Coun- of LSU, Paul Johnson of Navy and Gary USA Today cil, which may attempt to put an to Patterson of TCU — who all handled the Joseph Person media guides all together in the future, interviews they did during the course of The State (S.C.) replacing them with CDs that can be the sold-out event with class and dignity.

Michael Pointer downloaded into personal computers. Saban, the winner, took the time to Indianapolis Star I can only imagine a writer trying to do his homework about Robinson and look up pertinent facts on deadline in the his impact in both the state of Louisiana George Schroeder BCS championship game and an SID and the college football landscape and Daily Oklahoman handing him a CD. You'll have that infor- came across as a gracious winner. It's a Chip Scoggins mation in 30 minutes. shame he and his wife couldn't stick Minneapolis Star-Tribune It started out as an innocent sugges- around, but he had to fly out to meet with

Jeff Shain tion from North Carolina Associate Ath- the ' organization about a letic Director for Communications Steve job he eventually turned down. Kirschner, one of the most respected Our association with The Eddie Rob- Bob Thomas people in his profession, to his AD Dick inson Coach of the Year Award has be- Florida Times-Union Baddour to consider limiting the size of come one of the best things we do to Keith Whitmire these books in effort to curtail what has help promote the best efforts in the sport. Dallas Morning News become an out of control arms race in I want to thank executive director

Ex-officio recruiting. But that suggestion has taken Steve Richardson, for attending the Out- Chris Theisen on an unforeseen twist. This is just an- land Trophy dinner honoring Robert Gal- Big 12/BCS liaison other example of athletic administrators lery of Iowa for us and Wally Hall of the Jon Jackson worrying more about cost cutting than Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for leaving Duke/CoSIDA. taking a common sense approach to the this organization in such good shape. Page 3 THE FIFTH DOWN Saban named coach of year Louisiana State coach Nick Sa- Tigers’ only blemish was a 19-7 loss ban, whose Tigers claimed a share to Florida on Oct. 11. LSU defeated of the 2003 national championship, , 34-13, in the SEC title has been named the winner of the game to vault into the . 2003 FWAA/Eddie Robinson Coach This is LSU’s first 13-victory season. of the Year Award. With the victory, Saban was be- Saban, Texas Christian’s Gary lieved to become the highest paid Patterson and Navy’s Paul Johnson coach in college football at more attended the banquet, which is spon- than $2.3 million a season. In four sored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl seasons at LSU, Saban has com- and America West Airlines. piled a 39-13 overall record and won Other coaches considered for the two SEC titles. award were Southern California’s Saban became the 31st head , Oklahoma’s Bob coach of the LSU Tigers in 2000 Stoops and Tulsa’s Steve Krag- following a five-year stint at Michi- thorpe. gan State. His first LSU team fin- Saban’s Tigers (13-1) won the ished 8-4 after beating title and in the . The following then defeated Oklahoma, 21-14, in season he took the Tigers to their the Nokia Sugar Bowl to claim the first SEC title since 1986 with a vic- national tory over Tennessee in the SEC title championship. game. And in 2002, the Tigers FWAA president Dick Weiss Saban is a first time winner of the capped off another fine season by FWAA award and only the second playing Texas in the Cotton Bowl presents the Eddie Robinson LSU coach to win it. In 1958, LSU before winning it all this past season. Trophy to Nick Saban, coach coach won the FWAA The FWAA has presented a of the BCS champion LSU Ti- award in the second year of its exis- Coach of the Year Award since 1957 gers. tence. and annually selects the winner by a LSU had not won a national title vote of its entire membership. name of Grambling State Univer- since 1958, when the Tigers finished Stoops won the FWAA award in sity’s s Eddie Robinson, the win- 11-0 and also won in the Sugar 2000, when the Sooners compiled a ningest Division I in col- Bowl, 7-0 over Clemson. 13-0 season by defeating Florida lege football history. The banquet Saban led the Tigers to a 12-1 State in the . also helps support the Eddie Robin- record going into the Sugar Bowl The FWAA honors an out- son Foundation, which is based in showdown with the Sooners. The standing coach each year in the . FWAA COACH OF THE YEAR WINNERS 1957 , State 1973 , Pittsburgh 1989 Bill McCartney, 1958 Paul Dietzel, LSU 1974 , Baylor 1990 , Georgia Tech 1959 , Syracuse 1975 Woody Hayes, Ohio State 1991 Don James, Washington 1960 , Minnesota 1976 Johnny Majors, Pittsburgh 1992 , Alabama 1961 , Texas 1977 , Arkansas 1993 , Auburn 1962 John McKay, USC 1978 , Penn State 1994 , Oregon 1963 Darrell Royal, Texas 1979 , Ohio State 1995 , Northwestern 1964 , Notre Dame 1980 , Georgia 1996 , Arizona State 1965 , Michigan St. 1981 , Clemson 1997 , Washington State 1966 Tom Cahill, Army 1982 Joe Paterno, Penn State 1998 , Tennessee 1967 , Indiana 1983 , Miami 1999 , Tech 1968 Woody Hayes, Ohio State 1984 LaVell Edwards, BYU 2000 , Oklahoma 1969 , Michigan 1985 Fisher DeBerry, Air Force 2001 , Maryland 1970 , Northwestern 1986 Joe Paterno, Penn State 2002 , Ohio State 1971 , Nebraska 1987 Dick MacPherson, Syracuse 2003 Nick Saban, LSU 1972 John McKay, USC 1988 Lou Holtz, Notre Dame Page 4 THE FIFTH DOWN

USC wins FWAA’s The University of Southern California Trojans are the winners of the 2003 Grantland Rice Trophy after finishing atop final Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll. It was the fifth time in the 50-year history of the trophy that USC has been named the FWAA’s na- tional champion. The Trojans also were declared the national champion by the FWAA in 1962, 1967, 1972 and 1974. "It's an extreme honor for the 2003 USC football team to win the Grantland Rice Trophy," said USC coach Pete Carroll. "We are very appreciative that the Football Writers Association of America has re- warded our successful season by presenting us with a trophy that has such a prestigious history to it. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work, preparation and focus by those involved with our program. On behalf USC coach Pete Carroll accepts the FWAA’s of our players, coaches, staff and the entire Trojan Grantland Rice Trophy from the FWAA’s Family, the 2003 Trojans are honored to win USC's Steve Henson of the Los Angeles Times. fifth-ever Grantland Rice Trophy." USC edged out LSU for the trophy by virtue of its FWAA SUPER 16 POLL 11 first-place votes. The Trojans completed their Rank School 1st Pl. Votes Record 2003 season with a convincing 28-14 win over Michi- 1. Southern California 11 12-1 gan in the . LSU, which finished the sea- 2. LSU 5 13-1 son 13-1 with a 21-14 win over Oklahoma in the 3. Oklahoma 12-2 Nokia Sugar Bowl, was second in the poll and gar- 4. Ohio State 11-2 nered the remaining five first-place votes. The Tigers 5. Miami 11-2 were among four Southeastern Conference teams in 6. Georgia 11-3 the final Super 16. 7. Michigan 10-3 Oklahoma and Ohio State were ranked third and 8. Iowa 10-3 fourth, respectively, leading the Big 12 and Big Ten, 9. Washington St. 10-3 which each featured three teams in the final poll. 10. Florida State 10-3 11. Miami (Ohio) 13-1 The Grantland Rice Trophy has been presented 12. Kansas State 11-4 to the national champion by the FWAA since 1954. 13. Texas 10-3 For the past two seasons, the winner has be decided 14. Ole Miss 10-3 by poll voted on by 16 regionally balanced writers. 15 Boise State 13-1 16. Tennessee 10-3 GRANTLAND RICE TROPHY WINNERS 1954 UCLA 1966 Notre Dame 1979 Alabama 1992 Alabama 1955 Oklahoma 1967 USC 1980 Georgia 1993 Florida State 1956 Oklahoma 1968 Ohio State 1981 Clemson 1994 Nebraska 1957 Ohio State 1969 Texas 1982 Penn State 1995 Nebraska 1958 Iowa 1970 Nebraska 1983 Miami (Fla.) 1996 Florida 1959 Syracuse 1971 Nebraska 1984 BYU 1997 Michigan 1960 Mississippi 1972 USC 1985 Oklahoma 1998 Tennessee 1961 Ohio State 1973 Notre Dame 1986 Penn State 1999 Florida State 1962 USC 1974 USC 1987 Miami (Fla.) 2000 Oklahoma 1963 Texas 1975 Oklahoma 1988 Notre Dame 2001 Miami (Fla.) 1964 Arkansas 1976 Pittsburgh 1989 Miami (Fla.) 2002 Ohio State 1965 Alabama 1977 Notre Dame 1990 Colorado 2003 USC Michigan St. 1978 Alabama 1991 Washington Page 5 THE FIFTH DOWN San Jose State’s Neil Parry wins FWAA’s second Courage Award

NEW ORLEANS — San Jose State's Neil Parry received the 2003 FWAA/ESPN The Magazine Cour- age Award on during the associa- tion's annual awards breakfast in conjunction with the Nokia Sugar Bowl at the Hyatt hotel. Parry suffered a broken right leg as a sophomore against Texas-El Paso in 2000. He lost the lower part of his right leg after an infection. But he underwent 25 surgeries during the following two seasons and was fitted with an artificial limb. Parry returned to play this sea- son, mainly on San Jose State's long punt return team. He completed his inspirational comeback when he played his first game since the am- putation on Sept. 18 against Ne- vada. Sixteen athletes, a student man- ager and an assistant coach, each with a special story of accomplish- ment in the face of difficult circum- stances, were nominees for the 2003 FWAA/ESPN The Magazine Courage Award. San Jose State’s Neil Parry accepts the FWAA’s Courage The award honors someone in Award from 2003 president Wally Hall. college football who shows great courage in the face of adversity. was shooting golf in the mid 80s. He back just after Labor Day. Candidates must display a coura- also was lifting weights and worked He suffered discomfort at the geous action on or off the field, over- out on a treadmill by April 2001. end of his right leg. The prosthetic fit come an injury or physical handicap, Neil returned to the team in Au- was no longer fitting properly and he prevent a disaster or live through a gust 2001. He participated in non- could not run at full speed. So he did lifetime of hardship. contact drills and he had his own not play in games. He continued the Toledo William workout regimen with the San Jose weight training directed by the San Bratton, who endured a blood disor- State University strength and condi- Jose State strength and conditioning der and great pain but still played tioning coaching staff. . staff. Parry was only a spectator at football, won the inaugural award Parry spent game days in 2001 2002 home football games before after the 2002 season. keeping charts for the San Jose the attachment was improved and Nominations for the award were State defensive coaches. In prepara- he could play in 2003. solicited by the FWAA. A panel of tion for his return to competition, San Inspired by the story of Jekelsy nearly three dozen members re- Jose State University received writ- Johnson, an Alcorn State viewed the nominees and selected ten clearance from the NCAA allow- who was murdered while coming to Parry. ing Neil to participate with his medi- the aid of a woman being harassed Parry was fitted with a prosthetic cally approved prosthetic leg. by four non-students on campus, the leg for the first time in November But before the 2002 season, award was created by ESPN The 2000. After several surgeries, he Parry suffered a season-ending set- Magazine's Gene Wojciechowski. Page 6 THE FIFTH DOWN Snapshots from the FWAA’s annual meetings during Sugar Bowl Week

Big East commissioner and 2002-03 BCS boss FWAA executive director Steve Richardson is Mike Tranghese fields questions from FWAA flanked by 2004 president Dick Weiss and members in New Orleans. 2003 president Wally Hall in New Orleans.

Shawn Schoeffler of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (left) and Bernie Kish of the College Football Hall of Fame (right) join former FWAA presidents Mark Blaudschun of the Bos- ton Globe, Tony Barn- hart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Kelly Whiteside of USA Today at the an- nual Past Presidents Dinner in New Orleans. THE FIFTH DOWN Page 7 FWAA Freshman All-America Team

The third annual Scripps/FWAA Freshman All- The 26-member team was selected by an 11-man American Team included two players from the FWAA’s committee representing each of the NCAA’s Division I-A national champion USC Trojans and two more from the football conferences. More than 70 players were nomi- BCS’s national champion LSU Tigers. nated and evaluated by the committee.

OFFENSE DEFENSE SPECIAL TEAMS QB — Chris Leak, Florida *DL — Jason Berryman, Iowa State PK — James Wilhoit, Tennessee RB — Justin Vincent, LSU DL — Ray McDonald, Florida P — Brandon Fields, Michigan St. RB — Robert Merrill, TCU DL — Brian Smith, Missouri All-Purpose — Willie Idlette, Wake RB — Laurence Maroney, Minnesota DL — Mario Williams, N.C. State Forest *OL — Leroy Harris, N.C. State *LB — Channing Crowder, Florida KR — , USC OC — Kyle Young, Fresno St. *LB — Ahmad Brooks, Virginia *PR — Ryne Robinson, Miami, Oh. OL — Samson Satele, Hawaii LB — Nick Bunting, Tulsa OL — Justin Blalock, Texas DB — Brandon Browner, Oregon St. First-Year Coach OL — Robert Turner, New Mexico DB — LaRon Landry, LSU , Tulsa WR — Steve Odom, Toledo DB — Darnell Bing, USC WR — Steve Breaston, Michigan DB — Eric Weddle, Utah * Indicates unanimous selection

Garrett Holtz wins BERT McGRANE AWARD WINNERS Winners of the FWAA’s Bert McGrane award for outstanding service to the organization and the writing profession:

Meece scholarship 1974 Charley Johnson, Minneapolis Star 1975 Wilfrid Smith, NEW ORLEANS — Garrett Holtz, a freshman at the 1976 Paul Zimmerman, Los Angeles Times University of Colorado, is the seventh winner of the Vol- 1977 Dick Cullum, Minneapolis Tribune ney Meece Scholarship. 1978 Wilbur Evans, Cotton Bowl Athletic Association The scholarship is awarded by the Football Writers 1979 Tom Siler, Knoxville News-Sentinel Association of America and named for the late Volney 1980 Maury White, Des Moines Register Meece. Meece served 22 years as the FWAA’s executive 1981 , Nashville Banner director and was the organization’s president in 1971. 1982 , Atlanta Journal The scholarship is a $1,000 annual grant for four 1983 John Mooney, Salt Lake City Tribune 1984 Si Burick, Dayton News years. It is given to a deserving son or daughter of an 1985 , The Dallas Morning News FWAA member. 1986 Raymond Johnson, Nashville Tennessean Holtz is the son of FWAA member Randy Holtz, a 1987 Tim Cohane, Look Magazine staff writer for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. 1988 Dave Campbell, Waco Tribune-Herald Garrett Holtz is a 2003 graduate of Mullen High 1989 Jim Brock, Cotton Bowl Athletic Association School, where he maintained a 3.27 grade point aver- 1990 Jack Hairston, Gainesville Sun age. In his junior and senior years, Holtz was a member 1991 Murray Olderman, Newspaper Enterprise Association of Mullen track team, which won consecutive Colorado 1992 Volney Meece, The Daily Oklahoman/FWAA state championships. 1993 Bob Hentzen, Topeka Capital-Journal 1994 Edgar Allen, Nashville Banner Holtz was heavily involved in Mullen’s theater depart- 1995 Dick Herbert, Raleigh News & Observer/AFCA ment, where he acted in more than a dozen plays and 1996 Bob Hammel, Bloomington Herald-Times musicals and won the school’s Best Actor Award his sen- 1997 Bill Lumpkin, Birmingham Post-Herald ior year. He will major in drama in college, where he has 1998 Don Bryant, University of Nebraska just completed his first semester at CU. 1999 Field Scovell, Cotton Bowl Athletic Association Previous Meece Scholarship winners include: Bret 2000 Jimmie McDowell, All- Foundation Goering, Topeka, Kan.; Kelley Brooks, Denver, Colo.; 2001 , Miami Herald James Butz, Schaumburg, Ill.; Sara Barnhart, Atlanta, 2002 Orville Henry, Morning News of Northwest Arkansas Ga.; Patrick Davis, Coventry, Conn., and Jacqueline 2003 Dan Foster, Greenville News 2004 Pat Harmon, Cincinnati Post O’Toole, Laytonville, Md. Page 8 THE FIFTH DOWN

Best Writing Contest Rules, Procedures

Categories 4. Entries must be e-mailed to con- Game/Event (Immediate deadline) [email protected]. Send MS Word or text files only. Game/Event (Loose Deadline) Do not send HTML files or links to stories on the Inter- Feature Story/Profile net or electronic libraries because links sometimes be- Enterprise/Investigative come inactive. Make your entry easy to read by taking Column/Commentary/Analysis out unnecessary carriage returns at the ends of lines. The carriage returns can give your entry an odd You can begin sending entries now. You MUST BE an look when opened by the judge's word processing pro- FWAA member in good standing. If you did not pay your gram. dues for 2003, you must submit 2004 dues of $40.00 5. At the top of each entry, this information should (payable to the FWAA at the national office in Dallas) at be included: publication (on-line service), writer(s), cate- the time of your entry. gory, date of publication, plus an email address 1. Deadline: June 15, 2004 and telephone numbers for the writer(s) of the entry. 2. Limit: One (1) article per category. The entries will be sorted and stripped of identifying 3. Entries had to appear in print or on-line between information and forward to the judge. Feb. 1, 2003, and Jan. 31, 2004. 6. Only entries sent electronically will be accepted.

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