DON BANKS NAMED 2020 DICK McCANN AWARD WINNER

CANTON, OHIO – The late Don Banks, who had a 36-year sportswriting career that included over 16 years at Sports Illustrated’s SI.com website, has been named the winner of the 2020 Dick McCann Award. The prestigious honor is given by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA) to a reporter who has made a long and distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage.

Banks will be honored during the 2021 Enshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls, which is scheduled for Aug. 5-9, 2021.

Banks, the 52nd McCann Award honoree, is the third person who was affiliated with either Sports Illustrated or SI.com to receive the award, joining Paul Zimmerman (1996) and Peter King (2009). 

“As sad as it is that he isn’t here, (Don’s) family will forever be able to walk into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and see he is recognized as one of the greatest ever. That fills me with joy,” King said in a phone interview this week, referencing the display inside the Hall that lists all the McCann Award winners.

“This is recognition from your peers about your impact in covering the most popular sport in America. This is really, really a big deal,” King said. “Don would get the biggest kick from this honor.”

Banks began his career covering prep sports as an intern in the Tampa Bay area for the St. Petersburg Times with his first byline in 1982. He went on to cover the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1990 for the Times, before moving to Minnesota to cover the Vikings and the NFL for the Minneapolis Star Tribune (1996-99) and later the St. Paul Pioneer Press (1999-2000). It was there that Banks caught the eye of editors at Sports Illustrated. In 2000, he was hired as NFL columnist for SI.com.

At SI, his “Snap Judgments” column on Sunday evenings became appointment reading for NFL fans. After an illustrious career at SI ended in 2016, Banks moved on to write about the league for NFL.com, Bleacher Report, Patriots.com and The Athletic. 

Banks died suddenly at age 57 on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019 in Canton. He was there to cover the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement-related festivities and was on assignment for his first story in his new job for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which was published only hours before he died. Banks was also in Canton to celebrate with his dear friend Sam Farmer, who was the 2019 McCann Award winner. 

“On top of being a dogged and tireless reporter and an unforgettable storyteller, Don could do uncanny impersonations. That spoke to his meticulous eye for detail, and that carried over into his stories,” Farmer told the Pro Football Writers of America. “He could identify a granular trait or element or trend that might otherwise have gone unnoticed, and he put it into words. From that point forward, you never looked at something the same way. Don was universally liked and respected and unfailingly generous in sharing his experience and wisdom with younger reporters.” 

Other 2020 nominees for the McCann Award were Jarrett Bell (USA Today), Vic Carucci (Buffalo News), Jeff Legwold (ESPN.com), Gary Myers (author) and Barry Wilner (Associated Press).

WHO WAS DICK McCANN?
McCann was the first director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1962-67). He was a longtime reporter in New York with several newspapers, the Newspaper Enterprise Association and King Features Syndicate. After a stint in the Navy in World War II, he was a sports columnist for the Washington Times-Herald in 1945. A year later, he joined the Washington Redskins as publicity director and was the club’s general manager from 1947-62 before taking the job with the Hall of Fame before its 1963 opening.

DICK McCANN AWARD WINNERS
1969 – George Strickler (Chicago Tribune); 1970 – Arthur Daley (New York Times); 1971 – Joe King (New York World Telegram & Sun); 1972 – Lewis “Tony” Atchison (Washington Star); 1973 – Dave Brady (Washington Post); 1974 - Bob Oates (Los Angeles Times); 1975 - John Steadman (Baltimore News-American); 1976 – Jack Hand (Associated Press); 1977 – Art Daley (Green Bay Press-Gazette); 1978 – Murray Olderman (Newspaper Enterprise Association); 1979 – Pat Livingston (Pittsburgh Press); 1980 – Chuck Heaton (Cleveland Plain Dealer); 1981 – Norm Miller (New York Daily News); 1982 – Cameron Snyder (Baltimore Sun); 1983 – Hugh Brown (Philadelphia Bulletin); 1984 – Larry Felser (Buffalo News); 1985 – Cooper Rollow (Chicago Tribune); 1986 – William Wallace (New York Times); 1987 – Jerry Magee (San Diego Union); 1988 - Gordon Forbes (USA Today); 1989 – Vito Stellino (Baltimore Sun); 1990 – Will McDonough (Boston Globe); 1991 – Dick Connor (Denver Post); 1992 – Frank Luksa (Dallas Morning News); 1993 – Ira Miller (San Francisco Chronicle); 1994 – Don Pierson (Chicago Tribune); 1995 – Ray Didinger (Philadelphia Daily News); 1996 – Paul Zimmerman (Sports Illustrated); 1997 – Bob Roesler (New Orleans Times-Picayune); 1998 – Dave Anderson (New York Times); 1999 – Art Spander (Oakland Tribune); 2000 – Tom McEwen (Tampa Tribune); 2001 – Len Shapiro (Washington Post); 2002 – Edwin Pope (Miami Herald); 2003 – Joel Buchsbaum (Pro Football Weekly); 2004 – Rick Gosselin (Dallas Morning News); 2005 – Jerry Green (Detroit News); 2006 – John McClain (Houston Chronicle); 2007 – John Clayton (ESPN.com); 2008 – Len Pasquarelli (ESPN.com); 2009 – Peter King (Sports Illustrated); 2010 – Peter Finney (New Orleans Times-Picayune); 2011 – Bob McGinn (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); 2012 – Tom Kowalski (MLive.com); 2013 – Dan Pompei (Chicago Tribune); 2014 – Ed Bouchette (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette); 2015 – Dave Goldberg (Associated Press); 2016 – Chris Mortensen (ESPN.com); 2017 – Ed Werder (ESPN); 2018 – Charean Williams (Pro Football Talk); 2019 – Sam Farmer (Los Angeles Times); 2020 – Don Banks (SI.com)