There's a connection. APSE is honoring the late Tim Wheatley, former sports editor at the Baltimore Sun, and Roy Hewitt, soon-to-be-retired sports editor of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, by naming two of its four college scholarships after them. The 2011 winners of those scholarships, Chris Eckerd of the University of Maryland, and Stephanie Kuzydym of Indiana, are both familiar with the men their grants are named after.
Eckerd will be a senior at Maryland this year and will serve an internship at the Baltimore Sun, Wheatley's paper, this fall term. He did not know Wheatley personally but knew of him as the sports editor of the Sun.
Kuzydym knows Hewitt well. He has served as a mentor to Stephanie after meeting her at the Salt Lake City Conference, where she served as official photographer. . "He's been absolutely incredible in helping me,'' she said
The winners of the other two scholarships are Kyle Fredrickson of Oklahoma State and Aaron Smith of Kentucky. The winners were chosen by the APSE Scholarship Committee based on journalistic achievement, academics and need.
Eckerd is working at a camp in New York this summer before his internship starts at the Sun. He'll also be covering the Terrapins men's basketball team for the Diamondback, the school's newspaper, for the second consecutive season. He's intent on a career in sports journalism. "It's my passion,'' he said. "I love writing and always loved sports. What gets me jazzed up is following a team for a year, getting to know the coaches and players, then tell their stories. It doesn't feel like a job.''
A lot of APSE members will remember Kuzydym for the great job she did as convention photographer in Salt Lake City in 2010 and at judging in Indianapolis in 2011. She's an intern at the Orlando Sentinel this summer. This fall she will be one of the sports editors for the Indiana Daily Student.
APSE members may associate her with photography but Stephanie's true love is writing. "After this internship I still want to write,'' she said. "My first love is writing but if I'm going to make it I can't say I'm only going to do writing. I still want to take photos and do videos for my stories.''
As a sophomore Smith was thrown into a big-time beat for the Kentucky Kernal, the school's newspaper. He assumed the men's basketball beat. "It's kind of crazy to think people want to read my stuff but people can't get enough of Wildcats basketball,'' he said. He's spending his summer as an intern at the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. His application included video and he's keenly aware that multi-media skills will make him more valuable.
Fredrickson will be the editor-in-chief of the Daily O'Collegian at Oklahoma State after completing his summer internship at the Tulsa World where he covered a lot of golf, including the NCAA Championships. He's certainly happy to get the APSE scholarship since infamous Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens isn't slipping him any money. "I've never spoke to him in person,'' he said. "I've been in press conferences with him. I'm sure all 20,000 Oklahoma State students wouldn't mind if Boone passed a few dollars their way.''
The scholarship committee is chaired by Joe Sullivan of the Boston Globe and is comprised of Judy Connelly of the Middletown, N.Y. Times-Herald Record; David Sell of the Philadelphia Inquirer; Mike Sherman of The Oklahoman; Mike James of the Los Angeles Times; and John Bednarowski of the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal.
