Congratulations to our 2017 Sam Lacy Pioneer Award Honorees!
Deuce McAllister is a former American football running back who played eight seasons for the New Orleans Saints in the National Football League.
Chanda Rubin is an American tennis player. Winning seven WTA Tour singles titles, she reached her highest ranking at World No. 6 on April 8, 1996, after reaching the semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open. Rubin achieved a career high ranking of No. 9 in doubles, winning the Australian Open in 1996 with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. She is also a three-time Grand Slam singles quarterfinalist, having reached that stage at the French Open in 1995, 2000 and 2003.
Collis Temple Jr. is an American former professional basketball player.
Arthur Triche (STF Journalist of the Year) is the Executive Producer of 92-9 The Game's afternoon program, "Dukes & Bell".
ABOUT SAM LACEY
Samuel Harold "Sam" Lacy (October 23, 1903 – May 8, 2003) was a multi-media journalist well before it became a catch-all description for journalists of this era, African-American and Native American newspaper sports writer, reporter, columnist, editor as well as a television/radio commentator.
His work spanned parts of nine decades which included him being the first black member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America in 1948 and later, inclusion into the writer and broadcaster's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.
So in that pioneering spirit, we acknowledge and recognize annually at the national convention's host city some of the greatest athletes and journalists whose impact goes beyond their profession.