Clifton Brown told students that they should be ready for every opportunity, and to leave the door open for others during his induction into the Black Sportswriters Hall of Fame.
The 2026 Black Sportswriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place at North Carolina A&T. The ceremony celebrated the accomplishments of four active sportswriters, Clifton Brown, Garry D Howard, Rob Parker and Ron Thomas. Parker founded the Hall of Fame and chose A&T due to the impression its journalism students made on him.
Brown, who was the first Black golf writer for The New York Times and covered the NBA’s “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons, was the first inductee and chatted about his legacy with the event’s emcee Dwayne Ballen.
His family expected him to become a sportswriter
Brown knew he wanted to be a sportswriter at 16 years old. When he told his family back then, he said they “expected” it to happen. Members of his family from Winston-Salem, who were in attendance at the ceremony, clapped in agreement with him.
“Between my father, my mother, my grandfather, they didn’t believe in making excuses,” Brown said. “They believed in making things happen.”
Standing out as a black journalist
He remarked on some of his first experiences as a Black sportswriter. During the fireside chat with Ballen, Brown recalled a story from his first NFL game in 1982, where he went up to the press box and noticed the other writers staring at him. He said it was because no one else in the press box looked like him.
“I had covered NBA in Detroit and New York, there were a lot more Black writers,” he said. “We had a lot of friendship and camaraderie, and we looked out for each other as NBA beat writers. Then, when I switched to professional golf, it went back the other way.”
Finding his voice
After the event, Brown talked about his time working for the Detroit Free Press and how it was one of the things in his career that helped him get to the next level. When covering the “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons, Brown said people loved reading about that team, and he found out that he is a “feel writer.”
“If I can feel things, the emotions from my heart, to my mind, to that typewriter…that’s when I write the best,” Brown said. “That’s kind of where I found my voice.”
Advice to student journalists
Brown was also asked afterwards about advice he would give to students who are trying to get into sports journalism. He said to take the opportunity you can get, as even if the job may not be fun, you’ll still be learning things to help your career in journalism.
“Be as versatile as possible, don’t ever give up on your dreams,” Brown said. “Just be ready for every opportunity. Think broad. Go apply to different places, and any opportunity you get.”
Clifton Brown is a powerful example of a trailblazer in sports journalism, when the opportunities were still new for black sportswriters. His work in Detroit covering the NBA and at The New York Times covering golf shows that his legacy was deserving of being honored at the Black Sportswriters Hall of Fame. His advice to aspiring journalists should be taken to heart, and young student sportswriters should focus on versatility from the beginning.
“Be ready,” said Brown. “When that door opens, be ready to walk through. And leave it open for somebody else.”
