Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Dave Smith, APSE’s first president and the only living “founding father” of the organization, is expected to attend this year’s conference in July, along with about 20 other former leaders of the organization, current president Jorge Rojas confirmed.
“Can't tell you how thrilled everyone will be to see you and to hear this news,” Rojas said in an email to Smith. “This is huge.”
Other well-known editors who are expected to join Smith in Las Vegas include former APSE presidents Bill Dwyre, Henry Freeman and John Cherwa. Rojas said he hopes some of the past presidents who attend the conference will participate in sessions and workshops while being recognized for their contributions to the organization.
On July 11, following the Red Smith Award luncheon, a general session called “APSE at 50” will honor former presidents by the decade of their involvement. Rojas said APSE legends such as George Solomon, Joe Sullivan and Jack Berninger will be included in the ceremony, and the late Ed Storin will be remembered.
Since Smith and his cofounders—Storin, Joe McGuff, Wayne Fuson and Earl Co—began the organization five decades ago, APSE has had 48 presidents (Smith was president twice). Naila-Jean Meyers of the Minneapolis Star Tribune will make it 49 when she takes over at the conference, becoming the fifth woman in the role.
Freeman and Dwyre participated in the APSE at 50 video series that has been publishing testimonies of former presidents throughout 2023. In reflecting on the organization’s progress since its inception, Freeman (who was president from 1987-88) praised its ability to adapt to modern industry standards.
“It would have been very easy for APSE, which started out as an organization for print daily journalism, to have suffered with a lot of the other things that plagued that part of the business,” Freeman said. “The fact we have reached out and embraced digital journalists as well, the organization can be proud of that.”
Dwyre, who followed Freeman as president in 1988-89, spoke about the relationships he formed thanks to APSE with Smith, Solomon, Storin and more, and how those relationships motivated and shaped the way he ran both his sports section at the L.A. Times and APSE.
“Their thoughts became your thoughts,” Dwyre said. “You didn’t steal them, but you used them to polish what you were doing. The friendship was there and the individual personnel skill was there and you thrived on it. I think it probably is the same way today.”
Once Rojas received Smith’s positive response to his invitation, he knew more would follow. Now, the old guard and the new will meet in Las Vegas to discuss and celebrate sports journalism and share thoughts on the state of the industry with some of the brightest minds in the business.