Rick Cleveland: “They Didn’t Seem to Have as Much Fun as Sportswriters.”

Press Box Access: A Sports History Podcast

We head down South on this episode with Rick Cleveland, who has been named Mississippi Sportswriter of the Year a record 14 times. He discusses how sports helped to finally end segregation in his home state during his career of nearly 60 years. Rick shares anecdotes about Walter Payton, Brett Favre, and Archie Manning – father of Peyton and Eli – before and after they left Mississippi and became NFL stars. He recalls witnessing Tiger Woods winning the Masters for the first time. He tells us about point guard Ruthie Bolton, one of 20 children in her family, winning an Olympic gold medal. And Rick shares memories of the bitter and historic Egg Bowl rivalry between Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

Cleveland, a native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, has received more journalism awards than any sportswriter in Mississippi history. In January, he received his record 14th honor as the state’s best sportswriter from the National Sports Media Association. Rick was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 and into the Hattiesburg Hall of Fame in 2018. He received the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence in 2011 and was inducted into the University of Southern Mississippi Communications Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2000, he was honored with the Distinguished Mississippian Award from Mississippi Press Association.

Rick has covered sports since 1966. His first story was published at age 13 for the Hattiesburg American, where he worked throughout high school and college. After earning bachelor’s degrees in journalism and history from the University of Southern Mississippi, he joined the Monroe (La.) News Star World for one year. Rick then returned to Mississippi at the Jackson Daily News before moving to that city’s Clarion-Ledger as a beat reporter covering Ole Miss and Mississippi State. He later became the paper’s sports editor and columnist. Since 2016, Cleveland has been writing a syndicated sports column for Mississippi Today after serving four years as executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Rick has covered 29 Super Bowls and has chronicled the NFL careers of Mississippi natives such as Payton, Favre, Manning, Jerry Rice, Steve McNair and Ray Guy. He has also covered several Masters tournaments, the 1996 Summer Olympics, the U.S. Open in golf, and Finals Four and College World Series appearances by Mississippi teams.

Three generations of Rick’s family have covered sports in Mississippi since 1946. His father, “Ace” Cleveland was a longtime sportswriter and editor at the Hattiesburg American before spending 33 years as sports information at Southern Miss. Ace worked 325 consecutive football games for the Golden Eagles, and he’s enshrined in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Rick’s brother, Bobby, spent 30 years as the outdoors writer for the Clarion-Ledger. Rick’s son, Tyler, has covered Mississippi sports for more than a decade.

Cleveland and his son, Tyler, host the podcast “Crooked Letter Sports,” which centers on Mississippi sports talk and stories. New episodes come out each Thursday. https://mississippitoday.org/crooked-letter-sports-podcast/

Rick has authored four books:

· “It’s More Than a Game” – a collection of Cleveland’s columns.

· “Vaught – The Man and his Legacy” about Ole Miss football coach Johnny Vaught.

· “Boo – A Life in Baseball, Well-Lived” about former Boston Red Sox player Boo Ferriss.

· “Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes”

Follow him on Twitter: @rick_cleveland

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