NEW YORK, NY and SPRINGFIELD, MA – Famed photographer Rich Clarkson and broadcaster of more than 40 years Woody Durham are the 2015 Curt Gowdy Media Award recipients. The two will be acknowledged for their contributions to basketball during the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement events September 10-11 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Curt Gowdy Media Award is named in honor of the late Curt Gowdy, a legendary sports broadcaster and former Hall of Fame Board member and President. This prestigious award is presented annually to members of the print and electronic media whose longtime efforts have made a significant contribution to the game of basketball.
Rich Clarkson, one of the most influential sports photographers and innovators in the history of the profession, has been documenting the sport of basketball for over sixty years. At age seven, he attended a Kansas Jayhawks basketball practice and was introduced to Dr. James Naismith which led to his lifelong passion for the sport.
Throughout his professional career, Clarkson has held the positions of director of photography and senior assistant editor at National Geographic, assistant managing editor/graphics of The Denver Post and director of photography of The Topeka Capital-Journal. He has also been a regularly contracted magazine photographer for Sports Illustrated, TIME and LIFE. His work with Sports Illustrated has been featured on the cover of the magazine over 30 times.
Clarkson photographed seven Summer and one Winter Olympics, organizing all photo coverage for TIME in Munich in 1972 and Montreal in 1976 and for Sports Illustrated in Moscow in 1980. He was a consultant to the Los Angeles Organizing Committee in 1984 and was manager of all photography at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Clarkson founded Rich Clarkson and Associates in Denver in 1987, where he manages fine photography projects for clients such as the NCAA. He continues to share his knowledge and passion for photography through continuing education seminars and workshops.
Woody Durham, known as “The Voice of the Tar Heels,” announced University of North Carolina football and basketball games for forty years from 1971-2011. He made his broadcasting debut at the age of 16 in his hometown of Albemarle, North Carolina and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1963 with a Bachelor’s degree in Radio, Television and Motion Pictures.
During Durham’s forty years behind the microphone he called over 1,800 football and basketball games including 23 bowl games, 13 Final Fours and four basketball national championships (1982, 1993, 2005, 2009). He was there for 28 of 36 seasons that legendary coach Dean Smith was at the helm of Tar Heels basketball.
Durham was named the North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year thirteen times, most recently in 2009. In 2012, he received the first-ever Lombardi Excellence in College Broadcasting Award. Durham has been inducted into the North Carolina Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame (2004) and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame (2005).
Now retired from broadcasting, Durham is enjoying time with his wife, Jean, and their sons, Wes and Taylor. His sons have followed in his footsteps - Wes is a five-time Georgia Sportscaster of the Year and play-by-play announcer for ACC football, while Taylor is an account executive with IMG Sports Marketing in Winston-Salem, NC.
Previous Curt Gowdy Media Award Winners:
Year - Print/Electronic
1990 - Dick Herbert/Curt Gowdy
1991 - Dave Dorr/Marty Glickman
1992 - Sam Goldaper/Chick Hearn
1993 - Leonard Lewin/Johnny Most
1994 - Leonard Koppett/Cawood Ledford
1995 - Bob Hammel/Dick Enberg
1996 - Bob Hentzen/Billy Packer
1997 - Bob Ryan/Marv Albert
1998 - Larry Donald & Dick Weiss/Dick Vitale
1999 - Smith Barrier/Bob Costas
2000 - Dave Kindred/Hubie Brown
2001 - Curry Kirkpatrick/Dick Stockton
2002 - Jim O’Connell/Jim Nantz
2003 - Sid Hartman/Hot Rod Hundley
2004 - Phil Jasner/Max Falkenstien
2005 - Jack McCallum/Bill Campbell
2006 - Mark Heisler/Bill Raftery
2007 - Malcolm Moran/Al McCoy
2008 - David DuPree/Bob Wolff
2009 - Peter Vecsey/Doug Collins
2010 - Jackie MacMullan/Joe Tait
2011 - Alexander Wolff/Jim Durham
2012 - Sam Smith/Bill Schonely
2013 - John Feinstein/Eddie Doucette
2014 - Joe Gilmartin/John Andariese
About the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was invented, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame promotes and preserves the game of basketball at every level – professional, collegiate and high school, for both men and women on the global stage.
For more information:
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