SJI alum: Carter well-deserving of NABJ Hall of Fame

Leon H. Carter will be one of eight journalists inducted into this year’s NABJ Hall of Fame. Carter is Editor at Large at The Athletic. He’s also the former VP/executive editor at ESPN New York and the former sports editor New York Daily News. In 2022, he won APSE’s Red Smith Award, the highest honor in sports media. He is known as an innovative editor, but perhaps his greatest impact has been his commitment to increasing diversity, which has changed the sports journalism landscape.

In 1992, Carter and Sandy Rosenbush started the Sports Journalism Institute to diversify newsrooms and equip young journalists with the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing industry.

This year marks the 33rd class of SJI, boosting its alumni ranks to more than 400. Some alumni recently spoke about Carter and his impact on them and the industry.

‍ESPN NBA reporter Ohm Youngmisuk, a 1994 alum, was one of the first program participants to work with Carter. He joined him at the Daily News and later at ESPN New York. Youngmisuk says Carter’s fingerprints are all over journalism. 

“If you see a woman or person of color in this business anywhere between the ages 22-55," Youngmisuk said, “it is a good chance they came through SJI and Leon’s vision.”

Arizona State Professor Shemar Woods, a 2010 alum, said Carter has always been there when he has needed him.

“It is easy to have a relationship when times are good," Woods said. “The true meaning of a mentor is: Who is there when you are going through adversity?”

‍The Athletic's Colton Pouncy, a 2017 alum, is grateful for how Carter and SJI prepared him as a journalist. 

“Everytime I see him, he goes, ‘Question No. 1,’ referencing his sports checks (quizzes) he gives to SJI students,” Pouncy said.

‍The Athletic's Tashan Reed, a 2018 alum, said that the two have stayed in touch from the time he met Carter as a freshman at the University of Missouri to working together at the Athletic. 

“We talk pretty much daily,” Reed said. “As much as he is a mentor and a coworker, we are friends at this point.”

‍Monumental Sports’ Damon Brooks Jr., a 2023 alum, said Carter and SJI have given needed confidence to succeed in journalism. 

“He has opened doors for me and helped me in ways I didn’t know were possible,” Brooks said. “He pushed me by saying, ‘you are an inspiration yourself’ and can do this.” 

In 2023, NCAA digital fellow Lawrence Price III was selected into SJI and received the NABJ Larry Whiteside scholarship. 

Whiteside was a Black sports journalist who started the Black List to give sports editors nationwide a list of qualified Black journalists to hire. For Price, Carter has taught him to appreciate the journalists who have paved the way for him.

“Mr. Carter was the first person to push me to do my research on who Larry Whiteside was,” Price said. “It pushed me not only to do research on him but also asking those important questions in journalism.” 

Dhani Joseph, a 2024 alum, is part of the 2025 Leon H. Carter Newsroom Internship Program at the Athletic. 

“For me to be considered to be on that path of people I look up to, that's all you can ask for, ” Joseph said. “Took a chance on me, that is what Mr. Carter has done for me.”

That’s what Mr. Carter has done for many – and why he is being inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame.