Kevin Blackistone (born October 17, 1959) is an American sports journalist and professor for

Philip Merrill College of Journalism The Philip Merrill College of Journalism is a journalism school located at the University of Maryland, College Park. The college was founded in 1947 and was named after newspaper editor Philip Merrill in 2001. The school has about 550 undergr ...

at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, as well as a frequent panelist for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's ''

Around the Horn ''Around the Horn'' (''ATH'') is an American sports roundtable discussion show, conducted in the style of a panel game, produced by ESPN. The show premiered on November 4, 2002, as a replacement for ''Unscripted with Chris Connelly'', and has ...

''. On radio, he appears as a frequent guest co-host on the Sports Reporters on DC's ESPN980. As of May 6, 2019, Blackistone has 301 wins on Around the Horn.

Career

Blackistone was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and raised in

Hyattsville Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and also a close, urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States Census. History Before Europeans reached the area, the upper A ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He is a graduate of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. Blackistone started his career in journalism as a city side reporter at ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' newspaper in 1981, after graduating from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the Unite ...

. In 1983, he wrote for ''The Chicago Reporter'', a monthly investigative magazine on

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

's racial and social issues. In 1986, Blackistone joined ''

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 ...

'' as a reporter in the City section; he later moved to the Business section covering economics, and the Metropolitan section covering city events and issues. After covering Nelson Mandela's U.S. tour in 1990, moved to ''SportsDay'' to cover sports business and write columns. A year later, he became a full-time ''SportsDay'' columnist. He continued until September 2006, when Blackistone was one of 111 journalists to accept a buyout offer from the ''News'', forcing his departure from the newspaper on September 15, 2006. Editor Bob Mong, in an article on the buyouts, wrote of Blackistone: "His thoughtful and probing journalism almost always stimulated response from readers, and, in this hyper-busy world, that's saying something." Blackistone recently has served as a contributing writer to the web sit
Politico.com
He served as a columnist for the sports–oriented website ''

FanHouse FanHouse was a sports website owned by AOL. Launched in September 2006, FanHouse was considered the Internet's most linked sports blog by aggregator BallHype won Editor & Publisher's 2008 EPpy Award for "Best Sports Blog", and was named as a final ...

'' from October 2007 – March 2011; Blackistone left the website when it was bought by the '' Sporting News''. He is currently an independent columnist, and contributes to the

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...

-only newspaper The Daily. In August 2008, he accepted the position of the Shirley Povich chair of the

at the

, where he now teaches sports journalism. In addition to his teaching position and his frequent appearances on ''Around the Horn'', Blackistone delivers analysis on sports for the ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events. Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the pro ...

'' from time to time. In 2020, he joined ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' as a sports columnist.

Awards

Blackistone's several honors include first- and second-place awards for sports column writing from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors (APME), a Chicago Newspaper Guild award for investigative reporting, and a

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality p ...

award for enterprise reporting. He was also a member of a team that won a Texas APME award and, several times, a finalist for a Press Club of Dallas Katie Award.

References

https://www.washingtonpost.com/pr/wp/2015/05/14/kevin-blackistone-to-write-commentary-for-sports-section/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/kevin-b-blackistone/

External links

Dallas Morning News biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackistone, Kevin American sportswriters Medill School of Journalism alumni The Dallas Morning News people 1959 births Living people University of Maryland, College Park faculty