Bill Nunn Memorial Award

Bill Nunn Memorial Award
SportAmerican football
Awarded for"In recognition of long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football."
LocationPro Football Hall of Fame
Canton, Ohio
Presented byProfessional Football Writers of America (PFWA)
History
First award1969
Most recentJim Trotter (2023)
WebsiteOfficial website

The Bill Nunn Memorial Award is bestowed annually by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA) to a reporter for their "long and distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage". It is named after Bill Nunn Jr., who worked for 22 years at the Pittsburgh Courier.[1]

The award was created in 1969 and was originally named the Dick McCann Memorial Award, after Dick McCann, the first director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[2] However, the name was changed in 2021 due to McCann's association with the segregationist policies of the Washington Redskins when he was the team's general manager.[3]

Presentation of the award is made annually at the Pro Football Hall Enshrinement Ceremony. Prior to 2014, the presentation was made at the Enshrinees Dinner. While the list of Nunn Award honorees is sometimes referred to as the "writer's wing" of the Hall of Fame, they not actually hall of famers and do not get gold jackets or bronze busts like hall of famers do and as of 2024, so far none of the Nunn Award winners have gotten inducted.[4]

  1. ^ "Bill Nunn Jr. Award". Pro Football Writers of America. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  2. ^ "Mini-Bio: Dick McCann" (PDF). profootballresearchers.org. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  3. ^ Johnson, Keshawn; Glauber, Bob (2021). The Forgotten First. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781538705476. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  4. ^ "John Clayton bio". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2010.