Blackie Sherrod
Blackie, 85, is one of the most revered names in sports journalism in America, not just in Texas. When you talk about Red Smith, Grantland Rice, Jim Murray and Mickey Herskowitz, you also have to mention Blackie's name. He is a 16-time winner of the Texas Sportswriter of the Year Award, and won the national Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement. Blackie began in newspapers at the Temple Daily Telegram near his native Belton, went to the Fort Worth Press and then the Dallas Times Herald before the Dallas Morning News hired him away from the Herald in 1985. Some suggest that was the key move that allowed the News to survive and the Herald to fold in their bitter cross-town rivalry. At the Fort Worth Press, he hired and helped shape Dan Jenkins, who is also being honored by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. But Sherrod's skills weren't just in writing. He thought he achieved more satisfaction from editing than writing. Hundreds of thousands of people, if not more, disagree. Sherrod was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.