DALLAS (FWAA) – FWAA Executive Director Steve Richardson has been named the recipient of the 2005 Bert McGrane Award and will receive the plaque in early August at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

Richardson has been executive director of the 64-year-old FWAA since 1996 and is the organization’s fourth person in that position, following McGrane, Volney Meece and Bob Hammel.

The McGrane award is presented to an FWAA member who has performed great service to the organization and the writing profession. It is named after McGrane, who was the executive secretary of the FWAA from the early 1940s until 1973.

Richardson, also a Dallas-based freelance writer, has covered sports since the late 1970s. He worked at the Kansas City Star and The Dallas Morning News for more than 20 years combined. He serves as a special correspondent for college basketball for several publications and is currently writing the Greatest Moments in Missouri Valley Conference History, which is his fourth book.

His other works are Ricky Williams: Dreadlocks to Ditka, Kelvin Sampson: The OU Basketball Story, and Tales from the Texas Longhorns. He also collaborated with Rare Air Media for ABC Sports’ College Football All-Time All-America Team book in 2000.

For 25 years, he has been a correspondent for Sports Illustrated and written freelance articles for numerous publications.

Richardson, a 1975 graduate from the Missouri School of Journalism, has collected writing awards while working in three states. He has covered 24 Final Fours, all the traditional major bowl games, major professional sports and two Olympics. He was the president of the United States Basketball Writers Association in 2002-03.

Richardson's name also will be placed on a plaque in the rotunda of the College Football Hall of Fame with the previous McGrane Award winners.

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• Bert McGrane Award