The Sports Journalism Institute is set to welcome its 20th class this summer in Columbia, Mo. A group of seven men and four women (seven African-Americans, two Asian-Americans and two Latinos) make up the Class of 2012, which will be in residence at the University of Missouri School of Journalism from June 1-9, after which students will move on to internships around the country.

The work experience that awaits the Class of 2012 is as diverse as the class, with interns placed at APSE-member newspapers, ESPN.com, MLB.com and the Wall Street Journal. And while the WSJ will be hosting its first SJI intern, the Houston Chronicle will be hosting its 20th—yes, the Chronicle has been part of the SJI family since Day 1. This year, the paper is one of two (The Virginian Pilot is the other) that will host an intern chosen through APSE’s partnership with Scripps Howard, which provides students with a stipend that pays their summer expenses.

Another first this year is the institute conducting its boot camp at Missouri. SJI’s first few classes were in residence at universities (beginning with Norfolk State in 1993), after which the institute moved its boot camp to hotels where APSE conventions were held. Then, in 2006, SJI began a partnership with the Poynter Institute that saw SJI hold its classes in St. Petersburg, Fla. with teaching assistance from Poynter faculty (led by Kenny Irby) and editorial help and guidance from the Jack Sheppard and his staff at the St. Petersburg Times.

Last year, however, SJI and Missouri began a partnership in which SJI students will work out of the Missouri print and digital newsroom for their boot camp, and the university will nominate a Missouri Scholar to the institute each year. The first student chosen was senior Gary Cotton, who will be an intern at MLB.com.

“I spoke with Gary and I know he was excited to get this opportunity,” said Greg Bowers, associate professor at Missouri. “He also understands that this could be a continuing opportunity for minority students at the J-School and I think he’s proud to be the first one through this new door.

“Gary and I are both looking forward to June, when SJI gets to Missouri. ”

Once again, SJI thanks its partners at the Asian-American Journalists Association (which selects one member of the class each year), the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (which promotes our program in email newsletters to student members educators nationwide) and the National Association of Black Journalists (whose President is Gregory Lee Jr. a 1994 SJI alum, and which faithfully promotes and works with SJI).

As SJI prepares to turn 20, we thank our funders and partners (old and new), including APSE, the Chicago Tribune Foundation, ESPN, MLB.com, the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism and the Poynter Institute. With their help, we’ve added roughly 250 women and minorities to the staffs of the nation’s sports media.

Ros Dumlao of Illinois is the 2012 Association of Women in Sports Media Scholar and Jack Wang of California at Berkeley is the AAJA scholar, both chosen through SJI’s partnerships with those organizations.

The Class of 2012

• Mariah Baylor, Hampton University, junior, Virginian Pilot
• Nick Creegan, University of Albany, junior, ESPN.com
• Gary Cotton, University of Missouri, senior, MLB.com
• Ros Dumlao, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, senior, Denver Post
• Maya Jones, Xavier University of Louisiana, senior, Detroit News
• Olivia Lewis, Hampton University, junior, Houston Chronicle
• Craig Malveaux, Loyola University of New Orleans, senior, Minneapolis Star Tribune
• Antonio Morales, San Diego State University, senior, MLB.com
• Antonio Olivero, Syracuse University, senior, Wall Street Journal
• Jack Wang, University of California at Berkeley, senior Salt Lake Tribune
• RJ Young, University of Oklahoma, senior, Oklahoman

The Emmy was awarded for “Outstanding Live Sports Special.”

Greg Lee was elected NABJ president Friday, defeating Deirdre Childress and Charles Robinson.

Lee, who will take the reins from Kathy Y. Times, received 294 votes in Friday’s election. Childress trailed Lee with 168 votes, followed by Robinson who tallied 50 votes.

“I feel very overwhelmed, very privileged and I value everything because NABJ members recognize me,” Lee said after hearing he was elected president.

Lee, who at age 37 becomes the youngest president of the organization, said during a news conference that he was “honored” to be elected as NABJ’s 19th president.

“I’m so very honored and humbled by this awesome responsibility that I have and with my team for the next two years,” he said.

Lee, senior assistant sports editor at the Boston Globe, said his next course of business is to begin planning the 2012 convention in New Orleans and to fill NABJ’s three empty board seats.

Shortly after, Childress posted on her Facebook page that the election results were announced. “I lost the election, but UNITY lives on. I am proud to embrace people of all races.”

She later posted, “And the NABJ president will have to honor the people’s will.”

Childress told an NABJ TV reporter that she thought there were voting irregularities and she plans to call for a recount. She later told the reporter “[expletive] NABJ.”

After hearing the news, Robinson wished Lee well.

“It’s been a great process, challenging each others’ ideas, but we’re all great friends and whoever leads this organization will need the support of everyone,” he said.

Robinson said, “NABJ will survive” and “we should not settle for mediocrity; we should build exceptional journalists, people who are leaders in the newsroom, people who dare to dream.”

Earlier Friday, the candidates were making their last push, handing out literature, shaking hands and urging members to vote before polls closed at 5 p.m.

During his campaign, Lee told the membership he was a good fit because he possessed the ability to challenge NABJ to stay in constant motion through leadership development, meeting membership needs and honoring NABJ’s founding principles.

Lee acknowledged that he will have plenty of challenges ahead as president. In addition to planning the New Orleans convention, Lee will have to work with the executive director and the board to find ways to boost membership and steer NABJ on a progressive path as the industry continues to evolve.

“We have a lot of work to be done and everyone knows based on my past that I work hard for you,” Lee said during a news conference. “I’ll continue to do so, so that you can get the best services possible and make sure that I fight on your behalf with jobs in the industry — but not only jobs but opportunities to become managers and to run newsroom.”

Lee, NABJ’s 19th president and first sports journalist, will also have to deal with NABJ’s decision to withdraw from UNITY: Journalists of Color. It will be up to Lee to lead discussions about reunification with the alliance.

Turnout in this election was low compared with the 2008 election in Tampa, Fla. There were about 515 total votes Friday, according to NABJ election officials. In Tampa, 1,326 votes were cast.

NABJ has 3,500 members with an estimated 2,500 attending the Philadelphia convention.

“I have been a member since 1983,” said NABJ member Kelly Williams. “There are always people who will be disappointed when their favorite candidate doesn’t win. This organization needs strong leaders. The fact that so many seasoned journalists want to lead is something we should all be proud of.”

NABJ TV reporter Modupe Idowu contributed to this story. This story was originally published by NABJ’s student-run convention newspaper, The Monitor.

The day I found out I was moving to Utah for the summer I immediately though of two things — Brandon Davies and Starbucks.

Rick Majerus’s 1998 Final Four run with the Utes, the Jazz, and the combination of Urban Meyer, Alex Smith and Utah winning in the 2009 Sugar Bowl were pretty much all I knew about the state. So when I got the news that I’d be working this summer at The Salt Lake Tribune intern, I wondered if I’d be without the services of a Venti Strawberries & Cremé Frappuccino all summer as the do’s and don’ts of BYU’s honor code glared at me from my TV screen.

In case you hadn’t heard — though I’m pretty sure most of you have — there are a lot of stereotypes associated with this state. But when I stepped off the plane for the summer, my plan was to come here and work.

That’s exactly what I’ve done. I put in over 70 hours during my first week on the job, and I’ve since been all over in covering racing events at Miller Motorsports Park, the Wasatch Back relay, Bees and RSL games, the grueling run-up to the start of the prep football and volleyball seasons.

Now, as my internship now comes to a close, I leave having learned that Salt Lake City is just like any other large metro area — except for the weekly fireworks celebrations and the discovery that pedestrians really have the right-of-way. It’s the other way around back east. I also learned that Salt Lake City has some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life; people who even tell the truth when they’re playing pickup basketball. I still haven’t gotten over that one.

My initial Utah culture shock centered on the time change and the landscape. I was born and raised in Michigan, then spent eight years in Atlanta, followed by another year in New York.

All I know is flat land and Eastern Standard Time. So you can imagine my confusion upon being surrounded by mountains at every turn and wondering why none of my favorite TV shows came on at the right time.

The race factor was also an issue, at least at first. I’ve lived in big, predominantly African-American cities for 26 of my 27 years. It was weird living in a place where everybody hiked, rock-climbed and rode their bikes. Black people don’t hike.

And last call came at 12:30 a.m., when I was just walking in the door. But I soon got over that because my focus was on work, not happy hour.

So as I prepare to leave, I have to confess, I’m still not big on mountains. But I can say that I spent the summer with one of the best and most diverse sports desks in the country, and I want to thank them for all of their help. I will never forget my time here, especially my week on the justice desk. I just hope you all won’t forget me and remember to keep the nicknames I gave everyone.

And I’m forever addicted to Café Rio.

Carron J. Phillips just graduated with a masters degree from Syracuse University.

Willie Lyles

Willie Lyles rolls up his sleeve to show burn marks from his job baking bread at a downtown Houston store.
“It pays the bills,” Lyles said.

Not long ago, before he became the key figure in the ongoing NCAA investigation into the University of Oregon football program, Lyles had other career plans. He was the owner of a fledgling scouting service he ran out of his home in southeast Houston.

Then his name was linked to a $25,000 payment by Oregon — he alleges the school did not pay for his scouting services but for his access and influence with top recruits, most notably Lache Seastrunk and LaMichael James.

Because of the national attention, Lyles said he had no choice but to close his business. Since then, he has been turned down for non-football-related jobs as well for “being unethical.”

“I feel in a lot of ways my business is a dead business because of how my personal name and my business name will attract terms like street agent, pimp, slimeball, sleezebag, among other things I’ve been called,” Lyles said. “In a lot of those instances, I think people judge me unfairly because they said things and didn’t even know the full story.”

Lyles’ role as a mentor to prospects, while at the same time being a paid contractor to Oregon, is believed to be paramount to the NCAA’s investigation, according to Yahoo Sports.

The NCAA interviewed Lyles for several hours as part of its investigation into the Oregon football program in early May. Lyles expects the NCAA to speak with him again after the latest disclosures. If found to have violated NCAA rules, Oregon could face sanctions; Seastrunk and James could face risks to their eligibility.

Read the entire story on the Houston Chronicle’s website.

2011 SJI Bulletin

After 17 years of working with UNITY: Journalists of Color to bring together minorities in the field, the National Association of Black Journalists voted April 10 to end its participation, citing financial disputes as a reason.

The UNITY coalition was started to bring together NABJ, the Native American Journalists Association [NAJA], the Asian American Journalists Association [AAJA] and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists [NAHJ].

NABJ, according to a statement on its web site, did not believe that Unity’s method of dividing Unity Convention funds represented the best interests of NABJ’s 3,000-plus members, (who made up more than half of Unity participants). The NABJ board also had questions about Unity’s mission.

“As a board, we wanted to know what UNITY’s needs are and how the leadership would address the needs of the alliance partners, and what their role would be moving forward,” according to NABJ’s website. “It was time to revisit UNITY’s core mission because there were written correspondence from UNITY that referred to UNITY as a 5th organization. That was problematic for NABJ because it would potentially force us to compete with UNITY for funding.”

NABJ President Kathy Times did not respond to questions sent to her about the issue. UNITY executive director Onica Makwakwa did not respond to emailed requests for an interview.

On its website, NABJ said it looked at the 2008 convention, where its members made up 53 percent of the total paid registrants—amounting to $574,407—as well as $1.8 million of the $6 million made in revenue in 2008, and took that into account when asked to provide funding for UNITY 2012. NABJ said on its website that it asked for specific line-by-line expenditures related to the 2008 convention, as well as projected budgets for 2011 and 2012, that had not received as of March.

“Quite frankly, it did not make sense for us to split our hard-earned funds with a group when we couldn’t get an answer on how the money would be spent. There was no accountability and transparency, and that was unacceptable,” according to the website.

“UNITY wanted to stay with the same formula, which was in effect in 2008, and between 2008 and 2011 there were changes in the economy, and everyone suffered change within their organization,” said NABJ treasurer Gregory H. Lee. “[NABJ] made changes to how we approached our finances based upon the current economic climate and how we governed. From there, we decided that we wanted to end our relationship with UNITY. Something that worked in the past did not work with the structure NABJ had developed in the past three years.”

NABJ, which is hosting its 2011 NABJ Convention & Career Fair Aug. 3-7 in Philadelphia, is still deciding where to hold its 2012 convention, after opting out of Unity.

NAJA president Rhonda LeValdo-Gayton pointed out what she sees as disadvantages that come with NABJ’s withdrawal. “I don’t think it really affects our working relationship, and their main priority is still to change the minority numbers in the newsroom, but I’m disappointed that they’re not going to be at the UNITY conference,” LeValdo-Gayton said. “I’ve worked on student projects and with college kids together in a newsroom, and it’s exciting because we all had to step out of the box and see the students from other groups working on something we weren’t necessarily aware of. So that’s the disappointing part of it for UNITY—we’re going to be missing NABJ, and I think that takes away from our students’ learning experience.”

Anthony Witrado

Anthony Witrado observed 5-month-old Makayla Davidson for some time while watching Montrell Davidson play football at Bay View High School in Milwaukee.

The young prep sports reporter was writing a story on Davidson, the 17-year-old team captain on the school’s football team and father to Makayla, in 2007.

Witrado was profiling Davidson and three other members of the team who were also teenage fathers.

The story, which focused on the players’ lives as they juggle school, sports and fatherhood, was featured on the front page as the centerpiece of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“(The story) definitely was fulfilling because it showed I could really go through with (a big project),” Witrado said. “I’ve had my hand in it since the beginning, and it really felt like it was mine.”

Witrado, 29, a 2002 graduate of the Sports Journalism Institute, is now a national baseball columnist for the Sporting News and attributes hard work, dedication and surprisingly, apprehension, which he said served as motivation for him.

“The same fear I had at the (SJI) when I was around nine other students, I still have that today, and it’s a constant motivator for me,” he said. “It constantly progresses, but that fear never leaves you, at least for me.”

The Fresno State graduate said the SJI helped him overcome the intimidation factor and building the necessary confidence to be successful.

The road to the Sporting News, the so-called “Bible of Baseball,” has been a long one, starting with The Fresno Bee as an 18-year-old.

Witrado went on to the SJI as a sophomore. He was the youngest member of the class at age 19.

Melody Gutierrez, who was in Witrado’s SJI class, said Witrado set the tone for the group.

“What stood out about him is that he was one of the first that picked up on everything that they were teaching. He was a clear reader among our group,” said Gutierrez, who now works as an education reporter at the Sacramento Bee.

As part of the SJI program, Witrado interned at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He worked at a weekly publication upon returning to Fresno, Calif. He then returned to the Fresno Bee.

Witrado said one of the most important people he met coming out of the SJI was Garry D. Howard, who then was assistant managing editor/sports at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Howard hired Witrado to write for the Journal Sentinel after college and was impressed by the quality of work he produced, which included the story on the parent football players.

When Howard decided to leave Milwaukee for the Sporting News as its editor-in-chief, one of his first hires was Witrado.

“He’s very approachable, and he’s generally a really nice person. He’s a great reporter, and if you add that to the combination of his talent as a writer, then you have somebody who has no limits,” Howard said. “ It’s been a wonderful relationship that I hope lasts forever.”

Julie Engebrecht, local news director at the Cincinnati Enquirer and one of Witrado’s editors at SJI in 2002, remembers Witrado as naturally curious and a hard worker who was very open to feedback from editors.

The 19th edition of the SJI has started its journey of sports checks, writing deadline stories and trying to understand Sgt. Carter-isms.

The 11 students from around the country have come together at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. to learn more about the sports journalism industry.

Follow the week’s activities at http://2011sji.blogspot.com/

The new Sports Journalism Institute logo which was designed by University of Missouri senior Ashley Cummins.

Throughout its 18 years of placing women and minority journalists in sports departments across the country, the Sports Journalism Institute has been without a logo to identify its unique mission.

So as SJI prepares for the 2012 relocation of its 10-day crash course to the Missouri School of Journalism, it only seemed fitting that a brand-new visual come along for the ride, courtesy of a Missouri student.

Designed by Mizzou senior Ashley Cummins, the new logo features the SJI acronym in blue serif typeface atop a white circular background, as well as SJI’s motto, “Helping women and minority journalists into newsrooms since 1993.”

Cummins had her design chosen as SJI’s new visual by winning a competition held in a Missouri School of Journalism advanced magazine design class, beating out 17 other students in the process. The contest was open to all students in the class. The students submitted multiple designs, and SJI officers made the final selection after the field was cut to 40 by a class vote.

“I was very surprised to win, actually,” said Cummins, a magazine design major who also works as a page designer for the Missourian and the music department designer for Vox. “I’m very proud to go from 360 logos, the whole class, down to them picking mine. It’s very exciting to be able to win.”

Greg Bowers, associate professor at Missouri and sports editor at the Missourian, approached Sandy Rosenbush, co-founder and co-director of SJI, with the idea of establishing a contest for a logo. Cummins’ winning design, he said, will help facilitate recognition of the SJI program.

“A logo is really helpful as a brand,” Bowers said. That is you, that is your organization … I was surprised [SJI] didn’t have one already. I think this is sort of the first manifestation of Missouri and SJI working together, and I think it could end up being a really good partnership.”

Cummins altered the winning logo throughout the competition, switching the colors, changing the font and adding SJI’s full name to create the final product.

“I wanted something that was sophisticated, because the Sports Journalism Institute is a necessity for newsrooms, and I strongly believe in diversity,” she said. “As a woman … I know being in the newsroom is definitely a challenge, and I’ve definitely experienced that before. … To say I’ve been a part of that even though I haven’t participated in the program, that I’m helping assist with it, I’m very proud to do that.”

Read the University of Missouri’s story on SJI’s new logo here.