MEET BJ'S FAB FOUR

 

The University of Michigan had the Fab Five – Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, the first team in NCAA history to compete in the championship game with all-freshman starters and advanced to the title game in 1992 as freshmen (!) and in 1993 as sophomores. "The Fab Five" is the highest rated documentary in ESPN history.

Well, the BJ has its Fab Four!  

Education reporter Jennifer Pignolet was named best news writer by the Ohio Associated Press Managing Editors for Division V, which included the state’s largest newspapers and websites.

Reporter Amanda Garrett won first place for best explanatory reporting for her in-depth reporting on “How the FBI claims Larry Householder corruptly parlayed $60M into a $1.3B energy bailout for Ohio Edison. $60 million and Larry didn’t think anyone would notice? Householder has become a household name for corruption, bribery and stupidity.

Reporter Mark J. Price won first place for best headline writer for his work on the copy desk during 2020, but I admire Mark even more for his articles about long-ago events and landmarks in the Akron area. Nostalgia always is big with me, even if it does show my age of 88.

 

Retired columnist Bob Dyer took top honors for best columnist. I don’t know why anyone else even applies because Bob has won it a zillion times (he has memorized the number -- 12 -- but I haven’t). It is most appropriate that Bob won the year that Ernest Angley, con man from the pulpit, passed away. Bob skewered Angley’s sins fantastically. Nailed the Reverend to the cross of deceitful humanity!

 

Bob and I spent about 2 decades eating Blue Room food together for lunch or dinner . . . and survived although we both put on a lot of pounds doing it. Within a year of my retirement, and not eating Blue Room food, chocolate candy and drinking chocolate milk, I lost FIFTEEN POUNDS! Never got it back. Welcome departure. I like my 160-pound weight much better. Easier to get around on the golf course for 100+ rounds every year, if there’s not a pandemic.

 

Other BJ winners:

Best Explanatory Reporting, second place: BJ, “Remembering the Kent State Shootings 50 Years Later.”

Best Special Sports Section, second place: BJ, “Browns 2020 Preview.”

Best Digital Project, third place: Stephanie Warsmith and Paula Schleis, “Exhumations Can Help Uncover Secrets.“

Best Feature Writer, third place: Craig Webb.

Best Sports Feature Writer, third place: Nate Ulrich.

Best Sports Photo, third place: Jeff Lange.