COLLEGE PARK — Kevin Blackistone, a national sports columnist for The Washington Post and professor of the practice at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism, has been named the winner of the 2024-25 Sam Lacy-Wendell Smith Award.
Established in 2015, the Lacy-Smith Award is presented annually by The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism to a sports journalist or broadcaster who has made significant contributions to racial and gender equality in sports. Past winners are Claire Smith, James Brown, William Rhoden, Michael Wilbon, Bob Costas, John Smallwood, Christine Brennan and Jim Trotter.
Blackistone will receive the award at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, in Eaton Theater at Knight Hall on the UMD campus. The award presentation will be followed by a Q&A with Blackistone and by a free screening of "Imagining the Indian," an award-winning documentary film co-produced by Blackistone on the history of — and fight against — Native American mascots in sports and beyond.
The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required and seating is limited. REGISTER: https://go.umd.edu/LacySmith2025
The award is named after Sam Lacy and Wendell Smith, Black sportswriters who spent much of their journalism careers advocating for fairness, equality and justice in sports.
“I was fortunate enough to know Sam Lacy,” Blackistone said. “We'd chat over the phone from time to time after I became a sports columnist in Dallas, usually about the Negro Leagues or some other moment in history of particular interest to Black folks that transcended society at large. Lacy and Smith cut the swath I've been walking in. But all these years later I'm still hacking away at it hoping as they did that everyone can see the light.”
Blackistone was selected by a committee appointed by the Povich Center. Members, who also serve on the Povich Center Advisory Board, are committee chair Nick Pietruszkiewicz ’00, Robert Klemko '10, Monica McNutt ’13, Daniel Oyefusi '19, Roxanna Scott, David Steele ’85 and Danielle Stein ’19.
“Kevin Blackistone has been a staple of sports journalism across decades and platforms,” Pietruszkiewicz said. “His contributions are too many to count. So, too, are his contributions to the next generation of journalists as an educator and mentor in Merrill College and at the Povich Center. He is the embodiment of what this award should be about.”
Steele added: “Kevin has been everything that the namesakes of this award exemplified, not just to the world of journalism and the cause of justice and equality but to the next generation and to his colleagues and friends. Being his colleague and friend has enriched my life, made me a better journalist and pushed me to strive for all I’m capable of. I’m proud to share a profession, a university and a hometown with him.”
Blackistone started his journalism career as a reporter investigating social and racial issues for The Chicago Reporter, as a city reporter at the Boston Globe, then, following a second stint in Chicago, as a news and economics reporter at The Dallas Morning News. In 1990, after covering Nelson Mandela’s U.S. tour, he moved to The Dallas Morning News sports desk as a columnist. He continues to provide incisive sports commentary, for The Washington Post as well as NPR and ESPN.
"Kevin has been a clarion voice on issues of sports, race and equity for decades,” Povich Center Director Mark Hyman said. “His columns, podcasts, academic research — and a powerful documentary — have raised the consciousness of too many people to count. How lucky am I not only to learn from him but teach alongside him.”
Maury Povich — son of Shirley Povich, for whom the center is named — also applauded Blackistone, saying: “This is such a deserving honor for Kevin. He has been front and center in breaking down the barriers that remain in sports and sports journalism.”
ABOUT SAM LACY AND WENDELL SMITH
Sam Lacy worked at his craft for more than 80 years, primarily as sports editor of the Baltimore Afro-American. He was the first African-American member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Lacy died in 2003 at the age of 99. Wendell Smith covered the Negro Leagues for a number of newspapers, including the Pittsburgh Courier, The Chicago Defender and Chicago Herald-American.
For many years, Lacy and Smith attended MLB meetings where they worked from hotel lobbies interviewing owners and writing columns about the need for integration. Lacy and Smith were each honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) for their lifelong contributions to sports journalism with the Red Smith Award — Lacy in 1998 and Smith in 2014.
ABOUT THE POVICH CENTER
The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism prepares students to be innovators and leaders in all facets of sports media. The center's unique, experiential curriculum and public programs elevate and amplify discussion of race, gender, politics and the world — just as Shirley Povich did each morning in The Washington Post.