The journalism college’s new sports center will cater to students and faculty committed to the same high caliber of journalism as its namesake, Shirley Povich, whose career as a Washington Post sports writer spanned 75 years.
Announced Monday, the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism will allow sports-minded students to choose from more classes and connect with a wider array of leading industry professionals. A $1 million donation from Povich’s children — Maury, Lynn and David — will help this university’s journalism college stay competitive with other programs across the country, according to center director and journalism professor George Solomon.
“I think any time a college puts an emphasis on something that students are interested in, the goal is to try and make things better for the students,” he said. “All you have to do is take a look at the growth of sports in the culture, and you see the need for it.”
More than 25 working professionals in the sports field make up the center’s advisory board, which boasts the likes of ESPN writers, NFL officials, national newspaper reporters and public television broadcasters.
“We have drawn on so much experience … in a whole breadth of aspects of people involved in sports,” Maury Povich said. “It is maybe the most powerful advisory board I’ve ever heard of when it comes to a journalistic center.”
This aligns with the center’s overarching goal of helping students looking to become sports journalists succeed on the professional playing field, according to several college administrators and professors.
“It becomes a place for people to gather together and talk and explore,” said journalism dean Kevin Klose. “It invites both the public and researchers and it invites people who are simply interested in sports — it extends the reach of the commitment of the college to sports journalism.”
The Povich children said their father would not want his legacy honored any other way.
“He would have had a very bad taste in his mouth if we honored him by putting his name on some building — he didn’t believe in that,” Maury Povich said. “But what he did believe in, in terms of journalism, is what we feel that the center is going to produce. … [It] has the chance to be the premiere sports journalism center in the country.”
In 2007, the Povich family donated $1 million to create the position of Shirley Povich Chair, which allows a notable sports journalist to teach students in a classroom environment and created a sports writing workshop for high school and college students offered at this university every spring.
Although the exact plans for the center have not yet been determined, many students said they were excited that it will incorporate classroom components with opportunities to learn from professionals.
“As a journalism major who’s trying to focus in sports, something like this is obviously very beneficial in terms of looking for internships that are focused in sports and taking more sports-focused classes,” said freshman journalism major Daniel Popper.
Several students — such as junior journalism major Chris Trevino — said the announcement shows the journalism school’s commitment to helping better equip students to meet the challenges of multimedia sports coverage.
“I think giving us the center is a step forward in showing us that sports journalism is serious business,” Trevino said.
marcot@umdbk.co
