• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Saturday, September 30, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

Locally, a full-time Black sportswriter is a rarity

by Charles Hallman
December 3, 2020
23
SHARES
455
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn
Submitted photo Ray Richardson

Ray Richardson did it for nearly a quarter century

Before he relocated a couple of weeks ago to Los Angeles, Ray Richardson left his indelible mark on the Twin Cities. But even before he relocated here from Phoenix almost three decades ago, he had already made history.

Richardson is number 28 on the late Boston sportswriter Larry Whiteside’s “The Black List” on which he listed every Black sportswriter he’d met in press boxes, beginning in 1971. Whiteside died in 2007 and was posthumously inducted into both the Baseball Hall of Fame and the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame.

“There are a lot more [Black sportswriters] today than when you and I first started,” Richardson told the MSR.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press hired Richardson from the Arizona Republic in 1990. “The Pioneer Press was looking for a jack-of-all-trades. One reason why I took the job—I like that.”

- ADVERTISEMENT -

During his 24-year tenure there, Richardson was that paper’s only Black sportswriter. He covered every local pro team, many Gopher teams, and other sporting teams in town. “At times I felt stressed out, but I loved doing it. It was fun,” he recalled.

We asked Richardson to list in no particular order his top five beats.

  1. Gopher WBB: “That was one of my primary beats for three years.”
  2. Kevin Garnett and the Timberwolves: “He coming out of high school was big.”
  3. Dennis Green, the Vikings’ first Black HC: “I did his first two years. To be around a Black HC, an NFL HC, was pretty impressive.”
  4. The Wolves’ first playoff appearance in 1997: “That was a big deal.”
  5. The 1992 Final Four at the Metrodome: “Michigan, the Fab Five; Duke, Indiana and Cincinnati were here.”

His top five personalities he enjoyed covering: “KG, Dennis Green, [former Gopher WBB coach] Brenda Oldfield [now Frese], Lindsay Whalen and Ron Gardenhire,” reported Richardson.

And his top five, plus one, unforgettable assignments:

  1. “When the Gopher WBB team beat Duke in the [2004] regional finals to qualify for the Final Four was big. They were not favored to beat Duke and pretty much handled them.”
  2. “The Dennis Green story when he was fired.”
  3. “Covering the Gopher WBB team when they were having all these issues [of several Black players who transferred]. I remember writing a lot of front-page stories about that.”
  4. Covering the National League playoffs in San Francisco for a week. “To be out there covering some big news items, that was special for me.”
  5. The Gopher MBB team coached by Clem Haskins that reached the 1990 regional finals “because I was in New Orleans for a whole week.”
  6. The Minnesota Twins being selected for contraction in 2002. “We spent three days [in Chicago] chasing that story. And it never happened.”

The rarity of being a full-time Black sportswriter at one of the Twin Cities PWM (primarily White media) for 24 years—Richardson retired from the Pioneer Press in 2014—isn’t lost on him. For the record, there are presently zero Black sportswriters at the Pioneer Press, and only two at the Star Tribune.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

“My main focus was to be good enough in my work so that there would be others to come,” Richardson said. “I never hung my hat on the fact that I was one of the few Black writers out there covering the major [local] teams.

“My main focus was…to do the best work I could do so people couldn’t say I was hired because I was Black. I wanted to be just as good as the other guys across the room and across the river.”

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

‘If You See Me’ offers a remarkable glimpse into the Minneapolis sound

Next Post

Plenty of connections in the game of basketball

Charles Hallman

Charles Hallman is a contributing reporter and award-winning sports columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

You Might Also Like

Lacy awards honor pioneering sportswriters 
Sports

Lacy awards honor pioneering sportswriters 

DJ Ray Richardson’s last show
Arts & Culture

DJ Ray Richardson’s last show

Next Post
Basketball leagues offer excuses for poor diversity numbers

Plenty of connections in the game of basketball

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming Events

Sep 12
September 12 @ 6:30 pm-December 18 @ 9:30 pm Recurring

Vic Volare Presents MUSIC FOR MARTINIS ft: Vic’s Fabulous Nightclub Academy

Sep 30
9:00 am-1:00 pm Recurring

Cars and Caves

Sep 30
10:00 am-12:00 pm

dem Blessings for Parents: A Morning of Creative Nourishment with Sharon Bridgforth

Sep 30
10:00 am-3:30 pm

Hands Across the Mississippi Walk for Peace and Justice

View Calendar
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts & Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Events
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: