William Forrest "Blackie" Sherrod ( ;
/ref> November 9, 1919 – April 28, 2016) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

who wrote for the ''Temple Telegram'', ''Fort Worth Press'', '' Dallas Times Herald'' and ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the '' Galvest ...

'' in a career that spanned more than sixty years. Voted Texas Sportswriter of the Year a record sixteen times, he was called "the best writer I ever read" by

Don January Donald Ray January (born November 20, 1929) is an American retired professional golfer, best known for winning the 1967 PGA Championship. Early life Born in Plainview, Texas, January graduated from Sunset High School in Dallas. He was a member ...

and "the best newspaperman I ever knew" by Felix McKnight who hired Sherrod at the ''Times Herald'' in 1958. Despite not being as well known nationally as he was in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, he was the mentor to both

Dan Jenkins Daniel Thomas Jenkins (December 2, 1928 – March 7, 2019) was an American author and sportswriter who often wrote for ''Sports Illustrated''. He was also a high-standard amateur golfer who played college golf at Texas Christian University. Ear ...

and Bud Shrake.Sherrington, Kevin. "Legendary News sportswriter Blackie Sherrod dies at 96," ''The Dallas Morning News'', Friday, April 29, 2016.
/ref> Sherrod attended

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

for the 1937–1938 academic year, but transferred to

Howard Payne University Howard Payne University is a private Baptist university in Brownwood, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Howard Payne College was founded by Reverend Noah T. Byers and Dr. John David Robnett in 1889. The institu ...

where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in English in May 1941.Blackie Sherrod, ''The Dallas Morning News'', Class of 2011 – Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame.
/ref> He was the color analyst with

Bill Mercer William A. Mercer (born February 13, 1926) is an American sportscaster, educator and author. Originally from Muskogee, Oklahoma, he has retired to Durham, North Carolina after a long residence in Richardson, Texas. In 2002, he was inducted in ...

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

radio broadcasts on KLIF-AM from 1967 to 1969. Sherrod relinquished his duties to

Verne Lundquist Merton Laverne Lundquist Jr. (born July 17, 1940) is an American sportscaster. Biography Early life and career Lundquist was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He graduated from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, before attending Texas Lutheran U ...

after he was disgusted over a piece of ice that hit his hat while he was standing next to the press box elevator at

Pitt Stadium Pitt Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in the eastern United States, located on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1925, it served primarily as the home of the un ...

in December 1969.Engel, Mac. "Verne Lundquist returns to his roots as Cowboys’ radio voice," ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', Friday, September 11, 2015.
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherrod, Blackie 1919 births 2016 deaths The Dallas Morning News people Howard Payne University alumni People from Belton, Texas Sportswriters from Texas Red Smith Award recipients American radio sports announcers