Tom McEwen

MCEWEN, Thomas Massey, 88, passed away Sunday, June 5, 2011. For

nearly five decades, he was

the most influential voice in the Tampa Bay area's sports community. From 1962-2001, he was The Tampa Tribune's sports editor and columnist. He then wrote columns for TBO.com until his death. His journalistic acumen and relationship-cultivating skills were widely credited with creating a wave of community support that led to the building of Tampa Stadium and attracting a national football league expansion team that became the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was born in Tampa March 16, 1923, and raised in Wauchula, Fla., as part of a pioneer Florida family that included cousin and former Florida Agriculture Commissioner, Doyle Carlton, and older brother, Red McEwen, a well-known Tampa attorney, politician and civic leader before his death in 1976. He attended the University of Florida, where he was president of ATP, executive editor of The Alligator student newspaper and a member of Florida Blue Key, while a student manager of the cafeteria. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism in 1944. However, he received his degree in absentia due to World War II. During his two years in the war, he entered as a private and exited as a captain while serving in the Pacific Theatre as a platoon leader with the U.S. Army's 785th Tank Battalion. Later, he served as a prison officer of Prisoner of War Camp No. 1 in the Philippines, running a camp that included 2,000 prisoners. He retained a military tie in the Army reserves and then the U.S. National Guard until his retirement from the Florida Guard in 1976, as lieutenant colonel. He received the Florida Order of Merit for his service in the guard. He began his non military newspaper career at the Fort Myers News-Press, where he was a general assignment reporter from 1947-1949. He left to become a criminal investigator in the Philippines for the U.S. government, working out of Manila for six years. He returned to the newspaper business in 1954, when he became a sports writer with the St. Petersburg Times. In June 1958, he was named sports editor of the Tampa Times, after the Tribune and Times fell under the same ownership. He oversaw a staff of three. On April 1, 1962, he was named sports editor of the Tribune, a position he held until his first retirement in the fall of 1992, when he had advanced to the title of assistant managing editor. From 1992-2001, he served as the Tribune's primary sports columnist, continuing his signature "Morning After." He was a prolific writer, producing an estimated 10,000 columns during his career. He covered every major sporting event nationally and internationally, including the Super Bowl, World Series, Final Four, every major bowl game, The Masters and other major golf tournaments, the Kentucky Derby, the Indianapolis 500, Wimbledon, World Cup soccer, LeMans and several Olympics. He was a past president of the Florida Sports Writers Association, the Associated Press Sports Editors (Southeast division) and the Football Writers of America. He led four seminars at the American Press Institute at the prestigious Columbia University School of Journalism, focusing on column writing and sports writing in general. He was the only member of the media to sit on both the college and pro football Hall of Fame selection committees. In 1995, his presentation was credited with the selection of Buccaneers defensive end, Lee Roy Selmon, into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He once was chosen one of the 25 most influential people in Tampa. He had the press boxes at Tampa Stadium and the St. Pete Times Forum named for him. When Raymond James Stadium was built, the street just south of the new stadium was re-named, Tom McEwen Boulevard. In 1993, he received the Red Smith Award, the highest honor given to a sports writer. In 2000, he received the Dick McCann Memorial Award from the Pro Football Writers of America for long and meritorious work as a football writer, and was honored during the Hall of Fame weekend in Canton, Ohio. He won the Florida Sportswriter of the Year Award a record 19 times. He was a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the Tampa Sports Club Hall of Fame and the Hardee County Hall of Fame. He was elected to the Kappa Tau Alpha Hall of Fame by the University of South Florida School of Mass Communications faculty. Most recently, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in letters by Saint Leo University. With an endowment from Barney and Carol Barnett of Publix Supermarkets, a $50,000 football scholarship in his name is given annually. There is an endowed scholarship in his name that is awarded every spring to a mass communications student at USF. He was an avid hunter and fisherman, a 12-handicap golfer in his younger days and a student of good wines, especially chardonnay, before giving it up for health reasons. He was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He belonged to the Palma Ceia and Avila golf clubs, the University Club, the Tampa Club and Gasparilla. He and his wife, Linda, owned McEwen International Travel and they were world travelers, including numerous trips to Africa and a trip to Dubai. For many years, the couple hosted an annual August brunch at their waterfront home on Davis Islands, where politicians, judges, police chiefs and university presidents were seen mingling with team owners, coaches and players. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Linda; son, Rick McEwen (Jane); daughters, Virginia Mullaney (Kevin), Gabriella Grammig (Richard) and Elissa McEwen; grandchildren, Christopher Stork (Susan), Stephanie Flynn (Mark), Sean Mullaney (Meghan), Thomas Linthicum and Richard McEwen; and three great-grandchildren. There will be a funeral Mass at

2 p.m. Friday, June 10, 2011, at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Tampa, with Monsignor Laurence Higgins presiding. A reception will take place

3-5 p.m. at Higgins Hall, adjacent to the church. Final, interment of his ashes will be this fall in Wauchula. The family, in lieu of flowers, suggests a donation to Focus on Females Education Foundation, 3001 W. Swann Ave., or by calling (813) 875-0000.