Christine Brennan

Last updated
Christine Brennan at the Tokyo Olympics, August 2021 Christine Brennan at Tokyo Olympics.jpg
Christine Brennan at the Tokyo Olympics, August 2021

Christine Brennan
Born (1958-05-14) May 14, 1958 (age 65)
Toledo, Ohio, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Northwestern University (BA, MA)
OccupationSports journalist
Years active1981–present
Known forFirst president of the Association for Women in Sports Media
Notable workBest Seat in the House (memoir) and national bestseller Inside Edge, the first journalistic book on the sport of Olympic figure skating

Christine Brennan (born May 14, 1958) is a sports columnist for USA Today , a commentator on ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour and NPR, and a best-selling author. She was the first female sports reporter for the Miami Herald in 1981, the first woman at the Washington Post on the Washington Redskins beat in 1985, [1] and the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media [2] in 1988. Brennan won the 2020 Red Smith Award, presented annually by the Associated Press Sports Editors to a person who has made "major contributions to sports journalism."

Contents

Career

Brennan received bachelor's and master's degrees from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. [3] After graduating, she began working for the Miami Herald , becoming the Herald's first female sports reporter in 1981. She covered the Miami Hurricanes during their trip to the 1984 Orange Bowl national championship game, after which she wrote her first book, The Miracle of Miami. [4] At the game, she connected with former classmate Michael Wilbon, who recommended her to his Washington Post editors; she joined the Post's sports staff shortly thereafter. [5] She covered the Washington Redskins beat for three years, [6] then moved on to covering the Olympic Games. She worked for the Post for 12 years before joining USA Today as its national sports columnist in 1997. [7]

She has written seven books on sports, including best-selling Inside Edge, about Olympic figure skating, which was named one of the top 100 sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated in 2002. [8] She is an on-air commentator for ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour, and NPR. [1] She has covered every Olympic Games, summer and winter, since the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Advocacy

In 1988, Brennan was elected the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media. [2] A longtime advocate for women in sports journalism, she started AWSM's scholarship-internship program for female journalism students, which has now honored 200 students. She funds two of the scholarships, which are named after her late parents. [9] In 2023, she came back to AWSM's leadership as chair of the board.

Brennan, a nationally known speaker, has written and spoken on issues ranging from the importance of Title IX to the behavior of professional athletes to the scourge of performance-enhancing drug use in sports. Her USA Today columns on Augusta National Golf Club helped trigger the national debate on the club's lack of female members. [10] She has broken several major Olympic stories over the length of her career.

Brennan is a leading voice on many topics involving sports in society, including the empowerment of women in sports, sexual abuse in the Olympic world, domestic violence in the NFL and other sports, and athlete activism. She is among the sports journalists to publicly pledge to no longer use the Washington Redskins name in her columns. [11]

Personal life

Brennan is from Toledo, Ohio. [12] Her relationship with her father in the context of sports fandom is covered in her memoir, Best Seat in the House. [13] Brennan is a member of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University and is a former national trustee at the University of Toledo. [14]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medill School of Journalism</span> Constituent school of Northwestern University

The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the United States. Medill alumni include over 40 Pulitzer Prize laureates, numerous national correspondents for major networks, many well-known reporters, columnists and media executives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Povich</span> American journalist, sports reporter and columnist (1905–1998)

Shirley Lewis Povich was an American sports columnist and reporter for The Washington Post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Val Ackerman</span> American sports administrator

Valerie B. Ackerman is an American sports executive, former lawyer, and former basketball player. She is the current commissioner of the Big East Conference. She is best known for being the first president of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), serving from 1996 to 2005. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Meyers</span> American basketball player

Ann Meyers Drysdale is an American former basketball player and sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and the professional levels.

Lesley Candace Visser is an American sportscaster, television and radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Figure Skating Championships and the U.S. Open network broadcasts. Visser, who was voted the No. 1 Female Sportscaster of all time in a poll taken by the American Sportscasters Association, was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association's Hall of Fame in 2015 and the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna de Varona</span> American swimmer, sport commentator

Donna de Varona Pinto is an American former competition swimmer, activist, and television sportscaster.

Helene Elliott is an American sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times who is a general sports columnist. She is the first female journalist to receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 2005 for bringing "honor to journalism and to hockey". She served as president of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association from 1999 to 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Rizzotti</span> American basketball player and coach

Jennifer Marie Rizzotti is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player, and former Division I coach at George Washington University. She is the president of the Connecticut Sun. Rizzotti was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly O'Donnell</span> American journalist

Kelly O'Donnell is an American journalist. She is a political reporter for NBC News as White House and Capitol Hill correspondent. She appears on NBC Nightly News, Today, Meet The Press, and MSNBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Schefter</span> American sportswriter and reporter (born 1966)

Adam Schefter is an American sports writer and reporter. After graduating from University of Michigan and Northwestern University with degrees in journalism, Schefter wrote for several newspapers, including The Denver Post, before working at NFL Network. He has worked as an NFL insider for ESPN since 2009.

Nan C. Robertson was an American journalist, author and instructor in journalism. Her awards included a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

Todd Robert Bowles is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the New York Jets. Bowles has also served as the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals and Buccaneers and as the secondary coach for the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, and Philadelphia Eagles. Bowles played eight seasons in the NFL as a safety, primarily for the Washington Redskins, and started in Super Bowl XXII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Hogshead-Makar</span> American swimmer

Nancy Hogshead-Makar is an American swimmer who represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics, where she won three gold medals and one silver medal. She is currently the CEO of Champion Women, an organization leading targeted efforts to advocate for equality and accountability in sports. Her areas of focus include establishing nationwide equal play, such as traditional Title IX compliance in athletic departments, protecting athletes from sexual harassment, abuse and assault, as well as combatting employment, pregnancy, and LGBT discrimination. In 2012, she began working on legislative changes to ensure that club and Olympic sports athletes were protected from sexual abuse. In 2018, the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017, which she co-wrote, was enacted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Garber</span> American sportswriter

Mary Ellen Garber was an American sportswriter, who was a pioneer among women sportswriters. She received over 40 writing awards and numerous honors in a sports-writing career that spanned seven decades, the most prestigious of which was the 2005 Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) Red Smith Award. Garber, the first woman to win the APSE award, also became the first woman to be inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2002.

Mary Camille "Kamie" Ethridge is a former American basketball player and current basketball coach. She was an All-American point guard at the University of Texas at Austin and won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. She is considered one of the best women's basketball players in history and was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. Ethridge is currently the head coach at Washington State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Brennan</span> Australian rower

Kimberley Jean "Kim" Brennan is a retired Australian rower. She is a sixteen-time national champion, two-time World Champion, three-time Olympian and Olympic gold medallist.

Terry Jones, nicknamed Large or Jonesy, is a Canadian journalist and author based in Edmonton, Alberta. He is currently a sports columnist with the Edmonton Sun.

Rochelle Riley is the Director of Arts and Culture for the City of Detroit. She formerly was a nationally syndicated columnist for the Detroit Free Press in Detroit, Michigan, United States. She was an advocate in her column for improved race relations, literacy, community building, and children.

Dave Kindred is an American sportswriter.

Ellen Marsha Zavian is an American sports agent and attorney. She was the first National Football League (NFL) female attorney-agent. She is a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. She is also the founder and owner of EZ Negotiation, a sports agency based in the Washington, D.C. area.

References

  1. 1 2 "My Washington: Christine Brennan" . Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Chambers, Deborah; Steiner, Linda; Fleming, Carole (June 17, 2004). Women and Journalism. Routledge. ISBN   9780415274456.
  3. ↑ "USA Today columnist Christine Brennan speaks about the role of women in sports media". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Forever Entwined". tribunedigital-sunsentinel. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  5. ↑ "George Solomon and the Washington Post Sports Section Have Had Influence Everywhere in Media". The Big Lead. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  6. ↑ Frantz, Bryan. "Manley, Ewing Among 2016 D.C. Sports Hall of Fame Class" . Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Still No Cheering in the Press Box: Christine Brennan". Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  8. ↑ "The Top 100 Sports Books Of All Time". www.si.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  9. ↑ "The growth of women in sports journalism is stagnant". Poynter. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  10. ↑ Shipnuck, Alan (July 27, 2007). The Battle for Augusta National: Hootie, Martha, and the Masters of the Universe. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN   9780743255011.
  11. ↑ Kogod, Sarah (September 12, 2013). "Christine Brennan to stop using 'Redskins' in USA Today column". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  12. ↑ Ross, Betsy (November 9, 2010). Playing Ball with the Boys: The Rise of Women in the World of Men's Sports. Clerisy Press. ISBN   9781578604609.
  13. ↑ "Dad Was Christine Brennan's Biggest Fan". NPR.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Journalist Christine Brennan, Coca-Cola executive Steven Cahillane among 7 named trustees". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  15. ↑ "The Billie Awards". women's sports foundation. Archived from the original on June 30, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.