Executive Committee and General Membership Closing Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011
University Place Conference Center and Hotel
Indianapolis
Called to order by president Phil Kaplan at 12:02 p.m. Motion to open meeting by Ruben Luna, seconded by Mike James.
Executive Committee roll call:
President Phil Kaplan
First Vice President: Michael Anastasi
Second Vice President: Gerry Ahern
Third Vice President: Ben Brigandi
Executive Director: Jack Berninger
 
Past Presidents:
Garry D. Howard, Sporting News
Jerry Micco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Glen Crevier, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Regions (Chairs, or the Vice Chair or other recognized representative in their absence):
*Northeast: Joe Sullivan, Boston Globe
*Atlantic Coast: Larry Graham
Mid-Atlantic: Josh Barnett
Great Lakes: Paul Skrbina
Great Plains: Reid Laymance, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Southwest: Absent
Northwest: Absent
Canada: Absent
 
General membership:
Paul Skrbina, Chicago Tribune
Josh Barnett, Philadelphia Daily News
Garry D. Howard, Sporting News
Jeff Maillet, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Larry Graham, Fayetteville Observer
John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal
Ruben Luna, Detroit News
John Turner, Huntsville Times
Mary Byrne, Associated Press
Reid Laymance, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Jim Lefko, Indianapolis Star
Jim Luttrell, New York Times
Carlos Ayulo, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Glen Crevier, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Mike James, Los Angeles Times
Ron Fritz, Baltimore Sun
Brad Engel, Times of Northwest Indiana
Kevin Winters Morriss, Southeast Missourian
Chris Korman, Baltimore Sun
Greg Brownell, Glens Falls Post-Star
Roy Hewitt, Cleveland Plan Dealer
Joe Baird, Salt Lake Tribune
Toby Carrig, St. Genevieve Herald
Tim Stephens, Orlando Sentinel
Jerry Micco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Joe Sullivan, Boston Globe
Drew van Esselstyn, Newark Star-Ledger
Jorge Rojas, Miami Herald
 
Executive Director's Report – Jack Berninger
Boston convention is June 22-25. Room rate is $209. Registration packets will go out on April 1. Those who expressed an interest in Red Sox tickets will receive email when they become available. Sox game Tuesday as well if anyone is interested.
 
Note of thanks to Tim Franklin, IUPUI – Phil Kaplan
Special thanks to Tim Franklin of National Sports Journalism Center for putting together the wonderful program this week.  
 
OLD BUSINESS
Honoring memory of Tim Wheatley – Phil Kaplan, Glen Crevier, Ron Fritz
Tim Wheatley, former APSE officer and former SE in Baltimore and Indianapolis was killed in a car accident on Oct. 5, 2009. His daughter, Sarah, was seriously injured but has recovered from the accident. Crevier and Fritz are part of a committee working on this project. The group will name one of APSE’s scholarships after Wheatley with specific emphasis on leadership. These scholarships are the ones that Joe Sullivan’s group awards. Crevier notes that we need to craft the language around the scholarship. Should be done in a few weeks, he said. Kaplan notes we may do it in Boston or Orlando. Fritz provided an update on family. Family doing as well as can be expected. Sarah’s rehabilitation is down to twice a week. The doctors are calling her a miracle. Baltimore Sun has established the Tim Wheatley Award for sportsmanship. Select an athlete in the Baltimore area. The main criteria is giving back to the community. First recipient was Dominique Foxworth of the Ravens. Kaplan notes APSE has three other scholarships that could be named for other deserving candidates in the future.
Contest judging update – Phil Kaplan, Michael Anastasi, Gerry Ahern
Running a little behind due to issues with access to judging HQ. Will work on that in the future in Indy. Twelve categories yet to be posted. Will post on website, Twitter, Facebook as available. Anastasi added we made some notes on clarifications to the rules that need to be ironed out. That responsibility will fall on Ahern, next year’s contest chair. Web contest worked well. Two days deemed sufficient by membership. Multimedia contest went well but with limited entries. Will see if interest picks up. Anastasi notes that sports editors should take responsibility for their entries. Many editors stepped up and took on more work during judging. Greatly appreciated. Ahern notes being surprised by the number of entries that were not prepared properly. We need to make the general rules and procedures more obtrusive, particularly for newer members. It’s a great idea to double check your entries yourself if you have someone else in your office preparing them. When we redo the online flier we will make the rules and preparation instructions very obvious. Kaplan notes that niche publications that are not part of the paper but available at newsstands were entered this year but ruled ineligible, according to contest rules. This is one issue that needs to be clarified to avoid confusion.    
Second Vice President nominations – Phil Kaplan
Josh Barnett of Philadelphia Daily News accepts nomination
Ron Fritz of Baltimore Sun declines nomination
Tim Stephens of Orlando Sentinel accepts nomination
Joe Sullivan of Boston Globe nominated by Garry D. Howard and seconded. Sullivan declines
Mike James of Los Angeles Times nominated by Michael Anastasi, and seconded. James accepts nomination
Jeff Rosen of the Kansas City Star nominated by Gerry Ahern and seconded. Rosen (absent) is considered as having tentatively accepted.
Voting will be April 1 to June 1 on the website. One vote per entity.
New Business
Winter conference, 2013 – Phil Kaplan, Jack Berninger, Tim Franklin
Indianapolis, IUPUI campus, dates determined
Discussion
Need to find one room each for those judging sections. Difficult with multiple groups in same room. Problem is not enough rooms in campus building. Solution could be rooms in hotel, Franklin notes. Hotel has space on second room. Could get junior suites at hotel as well. Hotel has offered contract Feb. 16 -20, 2013 at $125 a night (up $6). That’s a good rate, Berninger notes. Garry Howard notes Franklin did a great job and exceeded all expectations. Jim Luttrell notes we need to have a plan in the event of bad weather.   
Motion to return to Indy in 2013 on dates mentioned. Ruben Luna
 
Seconded by Garry Howard.
Vote
Passed
 
Bylaw change proposal, college advisors – Phil Kaplan
Proposed amendments to the bylaws of the Associated Press Sports Editors:
Reduce cost of associate membership for college advisors from $300 to $150. Will allow more college advisors to get involved. They would be associate members.
Motion by Larry Graham.
Seconded by Joe Sullivan
Vote
Approved
 
Note from Phil Kaplan: Dave Schwartz, former SE Northwest Herald and Triple Crown winner in 2007, has been director of outreach and an adjunct instructor for the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication since August 2007.
He has agreed to help Kaplan with an initiative to increase college student/advisor membership.
 
Applications for new membership – Phil Kaplan
According to the bylaws, general-interest sports web sites must be approved by Executive Committee vote for membership. Several web sites have expressed interest in joining APSE.
The sites:
SB Nation
Request for motion for vote
No motion made
Minnesota Hockey Hub
Request for motion Ron Fritz
Seconded by Michael Anastasi
Discussion about if according to bylaws Minnesota Hockey Hub qualifies as a general interest site. Other part of issue for all sites is determining if the entities are practicing professional journalism. John Bednarowski recommends recrafting bylaw to make the standards and benchmarks more clear. Gerry Ahern, Jerry Micco agree. Michael Anastasi notes that we could present potential bylaw changes to current stakeholders via email. If that is approved we could move forward with a motion, could be online, to rule on individual applications. Could be done before we get to Boston.
No action taken on Minnesota Hockey Hub
RealClearSports: no action taken
Patch.com: no action taken
Bleacher report: no action taken
Examiner.com
Motion by Michael Anastasi
Seconded by Jim Luttrell
Discussion
Anastasi notes that Examiner.com applied for Olympic credentials, went through vetting process. Discussion with USOC, Patrick Stiegman and Dave Morgan supported them as legitimate and they were approved for three Olympic credentials. Jorge Rojas notes individuals in such a vast freelancer network have varied journalistic skills and experience. Gerry Ahern echoes similar concern. 
Vote
Not enough votes to go forward
Group agrees that this is a good issue for the Futures Committee to dig into.
Vote on Examiner.com and others will be tabled pending bylaw proposal and committee discussion.
 
Red Smith voting – Michael Anastasi
Anastasi will lead committee to look into the best way to implement voting process with a path to transparency. Discussion of current system led by Bob Yates, voted on by former Red Smith winners and APSE presidents. Nothing will change for this year’s winner, Phil Kaplan notes. Anastasi to contact Yates and Anastasi will follow up with membership in Boston. Discussion of whether the tally of votes should be made public. Joe Sullivan says it should. Several others agree. Jerry Micco suggests we should do the same with voting results for our elected officers.
 
Membership dues/category structure – Phil Kaplan
Impacts more papers (34) than originally anticipated. Kaplan recommends tabling issue for further review.
Issue tabled
 
In memory of Bob Condron’s son, Chris – Roy Hewitt
Bob Condron, the director of media services for the USOC, lost his son, Chris, 40, in a car accident last week. Phil Kaplan notes APSE will make a donation in Chris' memory.
 
IUPUI, NSJC APPRECIATION TO APSE – Tim Franklin
Thanks for coming. Organization had never held conference on a college campus before. Students appreciated feedback and interaction. Appreciated efforts of Phil Kaplan, Michael Anastasi and Garry Howard for making it a reality.
 
Motion to adjourn Larry Graham
Seconded by Josh Barnett
Adjourned at 12:51 p.m.

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