DECEMBER 19, 2008 -- By a vote of the officers and board members of the Boxing Writers Association of America, the "Courage in Overcoming Adversity Award" has been named for the late Bill Crawford. The first Crawford Award will be presented at the 84th annual BWAA Awards Banquet in New York City on April 17, 2009.
Bill Crawford, who was 81 when he died in his hometown of Palmer Lake, Colo., in 2000, was a native of Pueblo, Colo., and former Golden Gloves boxer who dreamed of one day becoming a professional world champion. But his fighting skills were used for a higher purpose during World War II.
Crawford was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry for his actions during heavy fighting in September 1943 near Altavilla, Italy. On three separate occasions, and on his own initiative, he raced through intense enemy fire to detonate hand grenade on enemy gun sites.
Captured by the Germans during the same engagement for which he eventually earned his Medal of Honor, he was listed as "presumed dead." His father was presented his CMH in 1945.
Later in 1945, Crawford was among a group of soldiers rescued from German control. He remained in the Army and retired in 1967 as a master sergeant, later serving as a custodian at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Until his death, he spoke modestly, if at all, of the fact he was the recipient of the highest military honor his country can confer.
"I was just glad I was doing my part," he once said in an interview. "I figured it was just a normal call of duty."
The BWAA is proud to name its "Courage in Overcoming Adversity Award" in honor of a true American hero. A veterans group has advised the BWAA that a living Medal of Honor recipient will be in attendance at the BWAA Awards Dinner to present the first Crawford Award.
Images from the BWAA Awards Dinner
May 1, 2008
Mayweather 2007 Fighter of the Year
Taylor-Pavlik I is Fight of the Year
Sneddon takes Fleischer;
Peterson brothers, Atlas, Collins, Dunkin, Enzo Calzaghe & Nick Charles also honored
WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and longtime Reno Gazette-Journal boxing writer Steve Sneddon head the list of honorees who were recognized at the 83rd annual Boxing Writers Association of America Awards Dinner May 1, 2008, in Los Angeles.
Mayweather, widely recognized as boxing’s finest pound-for-pound performer, received the Edward J. Neil Award as 2007’s Fighter of the Year. Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs), who scored a split decision over Oscar De La Hoya (in the highest-grossing pay-per-view fight of all time) and knocked out the previously undefeated Ricky Hatton in 10 rounds in his two ring appearances last year, narrowly staved off WBC/WBO middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, whose 2007 resume included victories over Jose Luis Zertuche (KO8), Edison Miranda (TKO7) and Jermain Taylor (TKO7).
"It's always a blessing to get an award of this magnitude,” Mayweather said when informed of the BWAA vote. “Just to be mentioned in the same breath with the Sugar Ray Robinsons and Muhammad Alis (two of the previous Neil Award winners) is truly a blessing.
“The date of the banquet is also kind of special. It’s like I always say, May is for Mayweather. My ultimate goal was to be the best fighter of my era, and my two fights last year took me to the next level.”
Pavlik, however, didn’t come away empty-handed. He was cited along with Taylor for their participation in the Fight of the Year, and they jointly received the Harry Markson Award. As was the case with balloting to determine Fighter of the Year, that outcome also came down to the wire, with Taylor-Pavlik I barely outpolling the rematch between Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez, in which Vasquez reclaimed the WBC super bantamweight title from Marquez on a sixth-round stoppage.
Sneddon becomes the 35th recipient of the Nat Fleischer Award for excellence in boxing journalism, the highest award the BWAA presents to one of its own. The award is unique in that, unlike other honors conferred by the BWAA, it is determined by a vote of living Fleischer winners and not by the general membership.
Sneddon, who will retire this spring, was a sportswriter in Nampa, Idaho, and Casper, Wyo., before going to the Gazette-Journal, where he has been for the past 37 years.
“It is an honor and I’m humbled thinking of the writers who received the Fleischer in the past,” Sneddon said.
Other BWAA awards went to Nigel Collins, the longtime editor of The Ring magazine (the James J. Walker Award for long and meritorious service to boxing); Enzo Calzaghe (the Futch-Condon Award as Trainer of the Year); Cameron Dunkin (the Al Buck Award as Manager of the Year); Teddy Atlas (the Marvin Kohn Good Guy Award); Nick Charles (the Sam Taub Award for excellence in broadcast journalism), and Lamont and Anthony Peterson (the Pat Putnam Award for perseverance in overcoming adversity).
Hauser, Fernandez Top Barneys
Noted author Thomas Hauser and Philadelphia Daily News boxing writer Bernard Fernandez were were top winners in the 7th annual Boxing Writers Association of America writing contest, called the “Barneys” in tribute to the late Barney Nagler, a former president of the BWAA.
Hauser, whose 35 published books include Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, was the only double first-place winner. He won in the Investigative Reporting category, for a piece on the behind-the-scenes machinations that resulted in Larry Merchant remaining with HBO, and shared first place with Fernandez in the Boxing News Story category, for a piece on Shannon Briggs. Fernandez wrote about the rift in the relationship between former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier and his daughter, Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, now a Municipal Court judge in Philadelphia.
With two thirds, in Boxing Event Coverage and Boxing Features under 2,500 words, Fernandez is the only person to place in three categories.
Tim Dahlberg of The Associated Press placed in two categories, finishing first in Boxing Features under 2,500 words for his story on Muhammad Ali turning 65, and in a tie for third in Boxing Event Coverage. Ron Borges, writing for Boxing Monthly, and Don Stradley of The Ring each scored a pair of seconds. Borges placements were in Boxing News Story and Investigative Reporting, Stradley’s in Boxing Event Coverage and Boxing Column.
Other first places went to Steve Farhood, Boxing Monthly, in Boxing Event Coverage; Thomas Gerbasi, Maxboxing.com and Rochelle E.B. Gilken, the Palm Beach Post, who tied in Boxing Column, and Carlo Rotella, Boston Magazine, Boxing Features over 2,500 words. For a complete Barney awards listing please click here.
January 5, 2009
Now accepting 2008 Barney submissions
With the BWAA Awards Dinner scheduled earlier than it has been the last several years (April 17, 2009 in New York), submissions for the "Barneys" writing contest, for articles written in 2008, should be sent as soon as you can get them together -- and postmarked no later than Jan. 8 -- to BWAA-Barneys, P.O. Box 1082, Drexel Hill, Pa. 19026 (box was very temporarily offline but remains correct).
All boxing writers, even those who are not members of the BWAA, are eligible to submit stories to the Barneys, although all are urged to join the organization and maintain membership in good standing. The categories are as follows:
Event Coverage: A story which appears in print or on the Internet within 36 hours of a specific boxing match.
Column: Preferably one that expresses an opinion or point of view.
News Story: Coverage of a beaking news story.
Feature under 2,500 words
Feature over 2,500 words
Investigative Reporting: Reportage that goes beyond the standard feature or news event, that reveals the story behind the story.
Only one entry per category, please, and make sure that all submissions include not only the name of the writer, but the publication or web site in which the story appeared, and the date on which it came out.
I am asking each and every member to enter your best work in as many categories as you feel are deserving of consideration. The purpose of the Barneys is to acknowledge and reward the best boxing writing and writers, and for that to happen there must be widespread participation. Please go through your clip files. Six superb judges from across the nation have been selected.
For all of you who have done whatever you could to assist me during the five years, of the past seven, I have been president of the BWAA, I thank you.
-- Bernard Fernandez
NOW IN SESSION
What should serious boxing journalists
avoid
-- and embrace? How are the Internet
and
other media forces changing the profession?
How did some of the top boxing writers
get
started?
