4 jewels in BJ’s crown
A glorious reminder of Ol' Blue Walls' fabulous past:

1968: Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for John S. Knight, for a selection of his Editor’s Notebook weekly columns, largely opposing the Vietnam War and defending the public’s right to protest. He had begun the column in 1936 and wrote it for four decades, “in a style that would range from the wistfully poetic to the angry and agonizing,” according to Knight biographer Charles Whited.

1971: Pulitzer Prize for General Local Reporting for coverage of the National Guard shootings that killed four students and wounded nine at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. It included seven pages of stories and photos in the May 5 paper, and ongoing stories in the following weeks that attempted to answer questions about the shootings and the decisions that led to the confrontation.

1987: Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting for “The Goodyear War.” The special section reconstructed the attempt by investors, led by Sir James Goldsmith, to take over Akron’s biggest employer and loyal corporate citizen, Goodyear. It examined the potential effects on 13,000 local employees, schools, thousands of retirees, the United Way, churches and many other facets of community life.

1994: Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for “A Question of Color,” a series that urged readers to examine and discuss race relations, attitudes and how race plays a part in housing, crime, business and education. It led to the formation of Coming Together, an organization that promoted racial harmony and cultural awareness, and President Bill Clinton came to Akron to take the community’s dialogue to the rest of the country in a televised town meeting.

 

I credit Pat Englehart for being the driving force behind the Pulitzer for the Kent State coverage and Larry Williams for being the same for the Goodyear coverage.