Gala News as it Happens
(2-9-10) Boston, Mass - Sport in Society is proud to announce exciting new additions to the 25th Anniversary Gala. The additions include: NU Athletic Director Peter Roby will receive the Richard Lapchick Sport and Social Justice Innovation Award; Bob Ley will be awarded the Dick Schaap Exellence in Sports Broadcast Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award. NU senior Josh Trautwein will be presented the Kevin Fitzgerald Giving Back Award; and David Zirin to return as Emcee.
TOP STORIES
Northeastern University Athletic Director to Receive Inaugural Award
(2-9-10) Boston, Mass - Northeastern University Athletic Director and former Sport in Society Director Peter Roby will receive the first ever Richard Lapchick Sport and Social Justice Innovation Award. The award recognizes leaders who have dedicated their lives and careers to moving social justice forward through sport. Richard Lapchick, the award’s namesake, will present Roby with the award at the 25th Anniversary Gala on April 15, 2010 in Matthews Arena.
Throughout his illustrious career, Roby has shown leadership and a longstanding commitment to the values of social justice, sport, healthy development, and education. As steward of Sport in Society, Roby was a forceful national leader, championing the role sports can play in bringing about positive social change through research, education, and advocacy. He has also been outspoken in decrying the use of performance-enhancing drugs, competitive pressures placed on children, permissive attitudes toward professional athletes, and a number of other sports-related issues.
It is fitting Roby receive the award named for human rights activist, pioneer for racial equality, internationally recognized expert on sports issues, scholar and author Richard E. Lapchick.
Often described as "the racial conscience of sport," Lapchick helped found the Center for the Study of Sport in Society in 1984 at Northeastern University. He served as Director for 17 years and is now the Director Emeritus. Sport in Society has attracted national attention to its pioneering efforts to ensure the education of athletes from junior high school through the professional ranks. In addition he oversaw the development of innovative programming that addressed issues of diversity, men’s violence against women, conflict resolution, and the healthy development and physical activity of urban youth.
Bob Ley Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast
(2-10-10) Boston, Mass -If Richard Lapchick is the social conscience of sport, Bob Ley is its watch dog. On ESPN's "Outside the Lines" Ley demonstrates the highest journalistic integrity while sharing some of the most human and powerful stories in sports. On April 15, he will accept the Dick Schaap Exellence in Sports Broadcast Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award.
Ley nobly follows in the legacy of greatness established by the late Dick Schaap. It is more than fitting that he be recognized with the lifetime achievement award named for the legendary sports journalist.
Ley, who joined ESPN as a SportsCenter anchor on the network's third day of operation (September 9, 1979), spearheads ESPN’s aggressive coverage of breaking news and issues. Ley is ESPN’s longest-serving commentator from either studio or remote production, and in addition to SportsCenter has hosted Outside the Lines since its inception in May 1990. The award-winning series, which focuses on issues beyond the playing field, has evolved from a series of periodic special to today when it is aired six days a week (Sunday – Friday). He co-anchors ESPN’s Sunday-morning block of sports/news programming (9 a.m.-noon ET), which includes SportsCenter and Outside the Lines, in addition to serving as the primary host for the weekday version of OTL.
With Ley as host, Outside the Lines has captured 10 Sports Emmy Awards and three CableACE Awards as cable’s top Sports Information Series. Ley's efforts earned him Northeastern's 1995 Excellence in Sports Journalism Award from the University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, together with the University's School of Journalism. Additionally, Outside the Lines won New York Festival Gold (Sports/Recreation) and Silver World Medals (Sports behind Bars) in 2001, and a Gold World Medal (Sports/Recreation) in 2002. In 2000, Outside the Lines received third-place recognition in the Social Issues, Documentary and Sports categories at the International Film and Video Festival.
Throughout his career at ESPN, Ley has been equally comfortable leaving the studio to cover a variety of events on site as a host or handling play-by-play. A passionate life-long soccer fan, Ley has handled play-by-play for ABC & ESPN's coverage of World Cup soccer games (including serving as the lead commentator for World Cup ’98). In 2010, Ley will serve as host of ESPN's on-site studio coverage of the FIFA World Cup from South Africa (June 11 - July 11, 2010), anchoring pre-, halftime and post-match shows and SportsCenter segments. For his work on soccer, he received the Honorary All-America Award by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America for his contributions to the sport in January 1999.
Ley also hosted ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage (1980-89) and the NCAA basketball tournament studio show (1980-89) which perfected the "whip-around" format that helped to raise the tournament to its current status. He has also covered several NCAA basketball Final Fours, hosted live special events for ESPN, and done play-by-play commentary for college basketball, boxing, soccer and CBA basketball.
Over the years, Ley has become identified with ESPN’s coverage of major stories, breaking news and cases where world issues overshadow the world of sports. From Magic Johnson’s AIDS announcement to leading ESPN's coverage of Pete Rose's suspension by Bart Giamatti to many other times when sports stories land on the front page, ESPN viewers have benefited from Ley’s smooth and steady delivery and his keen ability to find the right phrase and put issues in perspective. When an earthquake struck San Francisco during the 1989 World Series, it was Ley who provided the first national news coverage live from the site (ESPN’s production facilities were not dependent on local electrical power). When on September 11 ESPN returned to its programming at 6 p.m. after simulcasting ABC News’ coverage all day, Ley anchored the network’s extended studio program, putting a sports perspective on the impact of the day’s terrorist attacks. He has interviewed four U.S. Presidents (Ford, Clinton, G.H.W.Bush aboard Air Force One and G.W.Bush).
A 1976 magna cum laude graduate of Seton Hall University with a bachelor of arts degree in communications, Ley began his career in television as an undergraduate. He was a production manager at WOR-AM in New York (1975-77) and also served as public address announcer for the Cosmos of the North American Soccer League, and as a sportswriter for the Passaic (N.J.) Herald-News. In 1976, Ley joined Suburban Cablevision (East Orange, N.J.) as director of sports/public affairs. During his three years there, Suburban Cablevision won four local CableACE Awards for both sports and overall programming.
Ley, born March 16, 1955, was valedictorian at Bloomfield (N.J.) High School, class of 1972. The married father of two daughters , he was inducted into the Bloomfield Athletic Hall of Fame for his contributions to sports journalism in May 1987.
NU Senior Tapped for the Kevin Fitzgerald Giving Back Award
(2-9-10) Boston, Mass - Northeastern University senior sociology major, Josh Trautwein, will be presented with the Kevin Fitzgerald Giving Back Award. Trautwein epitomizes the spirit of community service and giving back which Sport in Society’s dear friend Kevin Fitzgerald held so dear.
Trautwein graduated from Milford High School in 2005, where he worked as a youth councilor in Milford and volunteered with special needs programs including Best Buddies, Passion Plunge, Circle of Friends, and The Special Olympics. Trautwein has a passion for soccer and played for the Mass Premier Soccer club program through high school into college, eventually becoming a youth academy coach for for the league. In 2008, he spent 8 months as the Assistant Director of Leagues and Tournaments with Mass Premier Soccer.
Trautwein spent a month in South Africa studying social entrepreneurship. The trip inspired him to begin a social business venture called Soccer1, which seeks to build the programming capacity of inner city soccer teams and/or programs and create grassroot soccer programs and events in the city. In the summer of 2009, Soccer1 was selected to be the beneficiary of the US Soccer Foundation Passback program, and the organization was given over 5,000 items of soccer equipment to be distributed throughout inner city soccer programs in Boston, with the remainder being shipped to Ghana. Through Soccer1, Trautwein is also working as a consultant to the World Cup Boston 2010 initiative, where he is charged with the planning and implementation of two youth soccer tournaments and an 8 week soccer clinic.
Trautwein has been an intern at Sport in Society since January 2009, where he helped to begin the East Boston youth soccer program. Trautwein is the chair and founding member of the Sport in Society student group, Huskies for Sport in Society. Trautwein also worked as a research assistant to Eli Wolff and contributed to the establishment of the International Sport Development and Peace Association in association with the United Nations.
Trautwein and his Soccer1 initiative have been nominated for the McMahon and Pratt cooperative education awards for excellence in innovation towards a social cause.
Until his death in 2007, Kevin W. Fitzgerald devoted his life and career to helping the children of Massachusetts. To honor his dedication, Sport in Society created the Kevin Fitzgerald Giving Back Award. In the tradition of community service and giving back, the award is presented each year to a young person or group of young people who exemplify his values.
David Zirin to Host 25th Anniversary Gala
(2-9-10) Boston, Mass – Sport in Society is thrilled to welcome back David Zirin as the Emcee of the 25th Anniversary True Heroes of Sport Awards Gala.
Named as the UTNE Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World", Dave Zirin writes about the politics of sports for the Nation Magazine. He is their first sports writer in 150 years of existence.
Zirin is also the host of Sirius XM Radio's popular weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. He has been called "the best sportswriter in the United States," by Robert Lipsyte.
Zirin is, in addition, a columnist for SLAM Magazine, the Progressive, and a regular op-ed writer for the Los Angeles Times. He was Press Action's 2005 and 2006 Sportswriter of the year.
His latest book is "A People's History of Sports in the United States," part of Howard Zinn's People's History series for the New Press. As former Yankee and Ball Four author Jim Bouton said of this work, "Finally, the long-awaited prequel to all the sports books you've ever read. Put this first in the line of sports books on your shelf. It will help make sense of all the others."
He is also the author of "Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports" (with a foreword by the immortal Chuck D.). Sports Illustrated wrote that Terrordome is "a provocative, sometimes chilling, look at sports and society right now."
His first book "What's My Name, Fool?" Sports and Resistance in the United States" (Haymarket Books) has entered its third printing and is available in stores and at haymarketbooks.org.
Zirin has brought his blend of sports and politics to multiple television programs including ESPN's Outside the Lines, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, ESPN Classic, MSNBC's Morning Joe, CNN's The Campbell Brown Show, MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, Comcast Sports Network's Washington Post Live, Al-Jazeera's The Riz Khan Show, C-SPAN's BookTV, and Democracy Now with Amy Goodman.
He has also been on numerous national radio programs including National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered; Air America's 'On the Real' with Chuck D; The Laura Flanders Show; ESPN radio; Stars and Stripes Radio; The Joe Madison Show; Pacifica's Hard Knock Radio, and many others.
He is also a weekly commentator for Canada's Hard Core Sports Radio.
Zirin has debated FOX Sports prent Ed Goren on college football's Bowl Championship Series for National Public Radio, Bridgestone Firestone President Dan Adomitis in the pages of the LA Times on whether his company should be the "official tire of the Super Bowl" while in court for using child labor in Liberia, and the issue of steroids in sports with Jose Canseco and John Rocker.
His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, New York Newsday, the Baltimore Sun, the Houston Chronicle, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Pittsburgh Courier, The Source, and numerous other publications.
He loves the Mets, Jets, and Wizards.