Vanderbilt Sportswriters: From Coast to Coast 2/7/02
By ANDREW DERR Originally appeared in the "Flagship"

Within the fraternity that is college football, fans often refer to Penn State simply as "Linebacker U". Closer to home here in the South, the Florida Gators are aptly deserving of their title: "Wide Receiver U".

But did you know about Vanderbilt's new moniker - "Sportswriter U"?

Indeed, from coast to coast, an elite group of former Vanderbilt students occupy the sports desks of America. They write for such papers as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The San Jose Mercury News, and The Commercial Appeal, just to name a few. One is a three-time author and syndicated columnist, another is the beat-writer for the Baltimore Orioles, and yet another is the beat-writer for the New York Yankees. The list, quite literally, goes on and on.

And interestingly enough, they all got their start right here at Vanderbilt, gracing the campus community with their journalistic presence. Learning on the job while writing for The Vanderbilt Hustler, this group of Commodore sports writers covered it all: from Whit Taylor to Barry Goheen, from Will Perdue to Joey Cora, and from Billy McCaffrey to Sheri Sam.

The Scholarship
For many of these Vanderbilt alumni now covering sports on the national scene, their reason for coming to Vanderbilt University was the Fred Russell-Grantland Rice Scholarship for Sports Journalism. Grantland Rice, a 1901 Vanderbilt graduate, was one of the most celebrated sportswriters of all time, and he will forever be remembered for immortalizing the famous 1924 Notre Dame backfield as "The Four Horsemen." Perhaps one of the most quoted sports phrases of all time also belongs to Rice: "For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes - not that you won or lost - but how you played the Game."

Fred Russell, a letterman for the Commodore baseball team in 1927, wrote for nearly seven decades with The Nashville Banner (1929-1998) and he was one of the most gifted journalists of his era. Mr. Russell's name was added to the scholarship in 1986, and he currently resides in Nashville, TN.

The scholarship was first awarded in 1956, two years after Rice passed away, and for over 40 years, the scholarship has attracted some of the finest talent in the country.

Skip Bayless was the 1970 recipient of the scholarship. After writing weekly columns for The Hustler, Bayless went on to become a nationally syndicated columnist with The Dallas Morning News, The Chicago Tribune, and now currently with The San Jose Mercury News. "I would not be where I am today without that scholarship," Bayless said recently in a phone interview. "I actually wanted to do athletics in college, but my high school journalism teacher sent my stuff in secretly, and I got the scholarship."

Despite a rough start, Bayless remembers with fondness his first year at Vanderbilt. "Like so many freshman, I was having a hard time getting adjusted to college. But the great joy of my day was to hear the Nashville Banner hit the hallway outside my door, because I knew Fred Russell would be there waiting for me."

Bayless is not the only former scholarship winner who made sports reporting a career. Dave Sheinin (Class of '91) is the Baltimore Orioles beat-writer with The Washington Post; Tyler Kepner (Class of '97) is the New York Yankees beat-writer for The New York Times; and Lee Jenkins (Class of '99) writes for The Orange County Register as the beat-writer for UCLA football and basketball. Also, Dan Wolken, (Class of '01) recently landed his first beat, covering sports at The Colorado Springs Gazette.

"The significance of the scholarship didn't become clear to me until later, when I realized how well-known and well-respected it was," Sheinin said.

"What has been very unique is that when I tell people that I covered sports at Vanderbilt, many people ask me, 'oh, did you get that scholarship?'" Kepner added. "The fact that I get that question tells me that people are aware of the scholarship and some of the writers who have come before me."

From Tiger Woods to Cal Ripken to Dale Earnhardt
Perhaps most interesting about these Vanderbilt writers now covering events on the national scene is hearing about some of the personalities they have covered since leaving college.

"One of the most memorable events I have covered was when I was with The Miami Herald," Sheinin said. "I covered Tiger Woods' first Master victory in 1997, and you could sense that the entire sport had just changed. He just overwhelmed the course, and he overwhelmed the field."

During the 2001 baseball campaign, Sheinin was also the reporter who initially broke the story about Cal Ripken retiring. "He was the biggest story that season for the Orioles, and he really was bigger than the franchise," Sheinin said. As the Orioles beat-writer for The Washington Post since 1999, Sheinin said he "just made a conscious effort to get to know Cal and have a good relationship with him.

"I just started to sense he had made up his mind about it all," Sheinin continued, noting that he got to know Ripken more through their off-the-record chats outside his locker before and after games. "I brought out my notebook one day when we were alone and I just asked him. I said, 'are you hanging it up?' He said that he was, and I wrote the story that night. It was the best story of my career, easily."

In just under five years since graduating in 1997, New York Times beat-writer Tyler Kepner has skyrocketed to one of the top beat-writing positions in sports: the New York Yankees. Kepner will begin his first year with the Yankees this spring; prior to his Yankees beat, he covered the Anaheim Angels, the Seattle Mariners, and most recently, the New York Mets.

"Covering the Mets in 2000 when they went to the World Series was a real thrill for me," Kepner said recently when asked about special memories since leaving Vanderbilt. "Everybody talks about the 'Subway Series' that year, but for me, the NLCS was almost more exciting when the Mets beat St. Louis. I was the main reporter on that for the Times, and being in the champagne-celebration in the locker room and still trying to work, that was something."

Interestingly enough, Kepner is just half of a Vanderbilt duo working for The New York Times. 1988 graduate Buster Olney has been with The Times since 1997, and like Kepner, he too started out covering the Mets. The coincidences do not stop there: Olney's beat the past four seasons has been the Yankees; this year, he will cover the NY Giants as Kepner picks up the Yankees beat.

"If you think about it, it's truly amazing," former Sports Illustrated writer and Hustler Sports Editor Dana Gelin (Class of '90) said. "To have both the Yankees and Mets beat-writers at The New York Times come from Vanderbilt - a university that doesn't even have a journalism school - that's incredible."

Prior to his current position with The Times, Olney earned his stripes all over the country, writing for the San Diego Union (1990-1994) and then for the Baltimore Sun (1995-1997). It was during his time in Baltimore that Olney covered Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's streak of consecutive games played.

"I have been unbelievably lucky," Olney admitted recently. "Getting the Baltimore beat when Cal broke the record, and then being with the Yankees during their run the past few years. I feel as if I have packed a whole career into the past 10 years."

Olney is just one of many outstanding sports journalists who attended Vanderbilt but did not win the Fred Russell-Grantland Rice scholarship. Mike Jensen (Class of '84) is with The Philadelphia Inquirer; Dana Gelin wrote for eight years with The Nashville Banner and Sports Illustrated before taking her current media-relations role with the University of North Carolina athletic department; Mark Bechtel (Class of '93) currently writes for Sports Illustrated; and Zack McMillin (Class of '94) covers University of Memphis basketball for The Commercial Appeal.

"I really do a little bit of everything," Bechtel said, when asked about his duties at SI. "One thing that will be out soon is a story I did on the Zamboni driver for the Carolina Hurricanes - he's a hockey nut, who lives outside the arena in his RV."

Regarding memorable events with SI, Bechtel counted the 1998 baseball season when he was able to cover Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as they chased home-run history that summer. "Also, this past year at the Daytona 500 when Earnhardt died," Bechtel said. "It was a very strange and intense day, and that story just became huge. I'm not sure when I will cover something that big again."

The Influence of "Mr. Russell"
If you talk to one of the recipient winners long enough, you will undoubtedly hear words of praise for the man whose legacy they have continued: Fred Russell. To these winners of the scholarship named in his honor, the winner of the 1966 Jake Wade Award and 1981 Bert McGrane Award will always be "Mr. Russell."

Tena (Bozicevic) Herlihy (Class of '86) is the only female winner in the 46-year history of the scholarship. In addition to writing for The Hustler, Herlihy wrote for The Nashville Banner during her tenure at Vanderbilt.

"When I got to Vanderbilt, it was interesting being the only female to ever win the scholarship," Herlihy said recently from her Concord, Massachusetts home. "I felt a little more pressure to prove that I could write well, to show that I deserved it. Mr. Russell definitely took me under his wing and he was a great mentor to me."

Andrew Maraniss (Class of '92) came to Vanderbilt in 1988 on the scholarship and worked his way up to Hustler Sports Editor. He shared similar praise for Mr. Russell.

"Meeting Mr. Russell was incredible," Maraniss recalled of his first meeting with the legendary sportswriter in 1988. "He is one of the most special people I have ever met. As accomplished as he is, he always takes the time to make you feel important."

"Mr. Russell truly and genuinely cared for people," Herlihy added. "I remember when I was a student I wasn't always able to go home for holidays, and he and his wife had me over for Thanksgiving dinner one year. That was just who he was - a very special man."

Many of the former Vanderbilt writers still keep in contact with Mr. Russell. "I called him after I got the job here at The Times," Kepner said. "I told him how special it was to carry on that tradition of sports-writing, and he seemed very touched, very proud. That is a very nice memory to have."

Vanderbilt Beginnings: Humble and Humorous
Before Skip Bayless could write a nationally syndicated column, before Buster Olney and Tyler Kepner could get their bylines on the pages of The New York Times, and before Dave Sheinin could stand outside Cal Ripken's locker and casually chat off-the-record, there had to be a starting point. That starting point was Vanderbilt, where writers and editors would stay up all night two times a week at The Hustler, trying to make deadlines and, above all else, learning how to write.

"Sometimes, it was the blind leading the blind," Lee Jenkins (Class of '99) said. "In a way, that was good, because there was the opportunity to make mistakes. But the lessons I use now I picked up as a student-reporter at The Hustler."

Needless to say, the memory of their "first story" stays with many of these writers.

"It was about two rookie offensive lineman, and it was maybe the worst story I have ever written in my life," Olney admitted. "Actually, it was the worst story I have ever written. It was horrendous."

Zack McMillin remembers Andrew Maraniss being the Sports Editor and handing out assignments when he showed up his freshman year in 1990.

"I took the Tennessee story, but I didn't know that much about Vanderbilt and Tennessee football, other than the fact that UT beat us almost all the time," McMillin recalled with a laugh. "So there I am, this freshman peon at Vanderbilt, calling Coach Johnny Majors at Tennessee, trying to get an interview.

"Well, I didn't really know what to do, so I proceeded to talk to him for about 25 minutes," McMillin continued. "And I asked him about everything, about his back-up tight ends - all sorts of meaningless stuff. It ended up being this ridiculously long story that Andrew must have just cracked up laughing at when he read it."

And good or bad, there are plenty of memories to go around with this group of Vanderbilt sports addicts.

"My favorite memory, and definitely my favorite game was when we beat Kentucky my senior year," Bechtel recalled about the 1992-1993 basketball season. "Billy McCaffrey just had this amazing game, but there's no cheering in the press-box of course. At the end of the game, we (the media) were in the hallway between the court and the locker rooms. There I was trying to be all professional as the players went by, but when Billy Mac went by, I just had to give him a quick high-five."

"When we beat Florida at home 31-29, that was my favorite memory," Olney said, remembering the 1982 season. "Vanderbilt had a great team that year, with Whit Taylor at quarterback. That game, and then the shot Barry Goheen made against Pittsburgh in the '88 NCAA tournament - I was just bouncing around the house that night."

While those days of Whit Taylor, Barry Goheen and Billy McCaffrey are distant memories, like all good sportswriters, this group of journalists can recall them with ease. Having moved on to the professional ranks, these sportswriters are having the time of their life.

"It's not the most lucrative job, but it's very rewarding," Kepner said. "Growing up, I just wanted to do something that I liked, and this is something that I have always wanted to do."

"It's a grind, but it is a great grind," Bayless commented. "For me, all I have ever known in this business is writing a column. And I have never written a column where I said 'I nailed that one.' I have loved that challenge, the chase of it all. I'm addicted to it."

As for the scholarship, it continues to be awarded each year. The impressions it leaves are undeniable.

"I think I almost cried I was so excited," Maraniss recalled about his feelings when he found out that he had won. "I remember feeling really, really lucky. I felt as if I had used up my one piece of great luck for my whole life.

"The scholarship made me feel like I owed something to the school," Maraniss added. "So I wanted to give something back, and it is something I will always be thankful for. It has shaped my life ever since that day my Mom came up to me and told me I had won."

Author's Note: It has been 10 years since I received a call from Vanderbilt University, informing me that I had been awarded the 1992 Fred Russell-Grantland Rice Scholarship for Sports Journalism. In the 46 years of this scholarship, I have to believe my reaction is one of a kind: believing wholeheartedly that a friend of mine was prank-calling me, I not-so-politely told the person on the other end of the phone that if he really was serious, then he could just call me back in ten minutes. All I can say is this: Charlie, thank you for calling me back.