Murray Scholar Joseph Pinter on his Award

Rick Reilly spoke for the entire audience during his speech at Santa Anita Racetrack.

“Being the next Jim Murray?” Reilly, of ESPN, asked. “That’s like saying, ‘Tiger –– meet my sister. Shaq –– you shoot the technical. Donald Sterling is hosting the Kwanzaa party.’

“You can’t just replace Jim Murray.”

Reilly accepted the Great Ones Award from the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation (JMMF), and brought the room to laughter with his opening line at the JMMF dinner in October.

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While Reilly’s remarks were slightly off color –– he’s never been one to shy away from those –– they are completely true. No one can call himself or herself the next Jim Murray.

Murray’s style of writing, with humor, sarcasm and wit, will be tough for any columnist to replicate.

He was the voice of his readers, the speaker for the community.

Fortunately though, every year a handful of journalism students from across the country can call themselves the next class of Murray Scholars.

This year, that included myself. It took days to actually set in that I had won one of the five scholarships. I thought the chances of my essay being selected over students from bigger journalism schools were too slim to even consider.

I wrote my column on Bill Swan, chairman of the board of trustees during the 2003 basketball scandal. I was certain the judges would choose a different entry.

I was wrong.

Joseph Pinter's Investigative Journalism

History Major Joseph Pinter just published his fourth and last blog post on the connection between St. Bonaventure University's enrollment problems and the population loss in all eight WNY counties. The post also discusses the projected decline in high school graduates in those counties through 2019. Click here to read his post!

Congratulations to Joseph Pinter!

Joseph Pinter, a double major in history and journalism and mass communication, just became St. Bonaventure's 11th Murray Scholar after participating in the organization's annual nationwide essay contest. To read more about his award, please click here. Congratulations, Joe!