Celeste Williams, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s sports editor for nearly two decades and a pioneer for women in sports journalism, changed the lives of many of the men and women she influenced, inspired and hired.
Along the way she also managed to change a policy or two in a workplace that remains overwhelmingly male.
“The biggest challenge I faced at the Sporting News was when I got there, they had a rule that women had to wear dresses,” Ms. Williams said in a 2014 oral history she did with three journalism students at her alma mater, the University of North Texas. “And I said, ‘I’m not your person then. I’m not going to do this stuff and wear a dress all day.’
“Anyway, they changed that,” Ms. Williams continued. “Thank goodness.”
A legion of sports writers and editors are also saying thank goodness for the opportunity to have worked with a titan in the industry, who, during 18 years at the Star-Telegram, elevated the paper’s profile by consistently positioning the sports section as a national award-winner alongside the country’s largest metropolitan papers.
Ms. Williams, 65, whose official title was managing editor for sports and features, died of cancer Monday evening at her home in Arlington.