Dave Goldberg Selected as PFWA’s 2015 Dick McCann Award Winner

The late Dave Goldberg, who spent 41 years at The Associated Press including 25 as the AP’s lead NFL writer from 1984-2009, has been selected as the 2015 Dick McCann Award winner by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA).
 

Goldberg, the 47th McCann Award winner, is the second member of the AP to receive the McCann Award, joining Jack Hand, who was honored in 1976. Goldberg passed away Feb. 8, 2015, at the age of 73, in Mount Kisco, New York, from complications following hip surgery.

The McCann Award is given to a reporter who has made a long and distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage. The award is named for McCann, who was the first director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1962-67). McCann 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.

“Dave not only was a walking encyclopedia of NFL information, but he relayed it in his inimitable style, always entertaining while always enlightening,” said AP pro football writer Barry Wilner. “Having worked 24 Super Bowls at his side, I came to recognize that Dave saw well beyond the Xs and Os of the game. He found the stories that really mattered, doing so fairly, concisely and with that journalistic edge that fascinated not only his millions of readers, but his peers.”

Goldberg was a former football and baseball player and graduate of Williams College, and he did graduate study at Stanford. Goldberg joined the AP in 1968, beginning a rapid rise from state house correspondent in Trenton, New Jersey, to news editor in that state, to assistant bureau chief in Chicago to the general news desk in New York, where he quickly rose to supervisory positions. He soon was elevated to a features writer, editor and supervisor, frequently handling political stories.

New York City-based AP sports writer Dave Goldberg, right, is joined by Joe Browne, executive VP communications & public affairs for the NFL during celebration of Goldberg’s 40-year AP anniversary Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2007. (Photo by Peter Morgan)

Goldberg joined the AP’s sports desk in 1982, and before becoming the lead football writer, he covered a variety of other sports. He moved to the NFL beat in 1984 and covered the league and three NFL commissioners – Pete Rozelle, Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell. His background as a political reporter was put to good use during his coverage of two player strikes and the USFL-NFL trial. After his retirement from the AP, Goldberg stayed active by writing for AOL Fanhouse, and he was a longtime member of the selection committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Goodell remarked after Goldberg’s death, “The NFL community has lost a good friend and highly respected professional. Dave's integrity, passion, and sense of fairness enabled him to maintain excellent working relationships with team owners, coaches, players, and commissioners. He was a real pro who served NFL fans exceptionally well with his coverage of the league for many years."

Goldberg will be honored during the 2015 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony on August 8 in Canton, Ohio.

If you could ask Dave about winning the McCann Award, he’d be more likely to tell a story (or six) about McCann rather than concentrate on himself,” Wilner said. “Every one of those stories would be as entertaining as the others.”

Previous Winners

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