Sportswriter Rick Reilly To Receive “Great Ones” Award From Jim Murray Memorial Foundation
Award will be presented at Santa Anita Park on October 25th during the foundation's “Day at the Races/Monte Carlo Night event.
August 1st, 2014 (Pasadena, CA) On October 25th, Rick Reilly will officially have his name affixed to one of his idols when his name is inscribed upon the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation’s Great Ones Trophy, a bust of pulitzer prize winner, Jim Murray. Reilly, who announced his retirement from sportswriting this year, will be presented with the award for his meritorious career in covering the world of sports. Previous winners have included “Great Ones” Luc Robitaille, Joe Namath, Arnold Palmer, Bobby Rahal and Chris McCarron.
“The Great Ones Award is our Stanley Cup. Each year we affix a new name to it for that person’s individual contribution to their sport. In the past it has been athletes Jim Murray wrote about but this year, we felt it necessary to recognize Rick (Reilly) for his outstanding body of work and contribution to the field of sportswriting. He embodies the style and dedication to the craft that Jim Murray did,” said Bill McCoy, President of the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation (JMMF).
In addition to the Great Ones Award presentation, the JMMF will present awards for Athlete of the Year, Team of the Year and recognize their 2014 class of Murray Scholars.
Reilly is a member of the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame. He was presented into it by legendary quarterback John Elway. He was voted National Sportswriter of the Year 11 times over a career that began in 1979. Reilly is second only to Jim Murray (14) in number of times winning that award.
USA Today called Reilly “the closest thing sportswriting ever had to a rock star.” The Sherman Report called Reilly “easily the most read sportswriter of his generation.” The New York Daily News described him “as one of the funniest humans on the planet.” Publishers Weekly called him, “an indescribable amalgam of Dave Barry, Jim Murray, and Lewis Grizzard, with the timing of Jay Leno and the wit of Johnny Carson.”
On June 10, 2014, Reilly wrote his final column as a sportswriter, for ESPN.com.
The Jim Murray Memorial Foundation (JMMF) was established by Linda Murray (Hofmans) in 1999 following the death of her husband, Jim Murray, the Los Angeles Times sportswriter and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. The JMMF awards college scholarships to the nations top college journalists through a national essay competition. To date, the JMMF has awarded 87 scholarships totaling over $450,000. Thirty-one (31) colleges and universities across the United States participate in the competition.