SCM Professor Kelly Whiteside Named Winner of Prestigious Football Writers Award

Professor Whiteside is the first female to win the McGrane Award from the Football Writers Association of America

Professor Kelly Whiteside, who leads the Sports Communication program in Montclair’s School of Communication and Media, recently received the 2025 Bert McGrane Award from the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). She is the first female to receive the award, the organization’s highest honor, which recognizes the member who makes great contributions to journalism, college football and the FWAA. The award is the association’s Hall of Fame, and Professor Whiteside is now permanently recognized at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

Professor Whiteside received the award in Atlanta on Jan. 17, three days before the College Football Playoff Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. The game marked the end of her three-year term on the College Football Playoff Committee, and during two of those years, she was the only female on the committee. “It is a huge honor to be recognized by the FWAA,” she said. “I enjoyed my time serving on the College Football Playoff Committee and appreciated how my opinion was valued, respected and heard.”

Since 2014, her role at Montclair has included teaching and training future sports storytellers, and a growing number of students in the program are females. She emphasizes to her students how difficult it can be for anyone to break into the field, but through hard work and developing a diverse skill set, there are opportunities for everyone. For Whiteside, her journey began when she was a Rutgers soccer player, but after suffering a torn ACL, she decided on a career in journalism after writing for the school paper.

“Many of our Sports Communication students have that ‘a-ha’ moment when they decide exactly what they want to do for their career. It’s our job to expose them to as many different types of opportunities as possible in sports, and it’s exciting to do that as our program continues to grow,” Professor Whiteside said.

SCM’s bachelor’s program in Sports Communication introduces students to diverse careers in the ever-changing, fast-paced industry of sports media. The major delivers hands-on experience in sports media production and storytelling, from broadcast content, analytics, play-by-play opportunities, radio and digital news writing, to public relations and social media – done in partnership with Red Hawk Athletics and broadcast via the University’s own Red Hawk Sports Network.

Professor Whiteside spent 14 years at USA Today as the lead Olympics writer, World Cup soccer writer and national college football writer. Prior to joining USA Today, she was a reporter at Newsday and a staff writer at Sports Illustrated. She has covered seven Olympics and eight World Cups, as well as the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and NHL. She was also the first female president of the FWAA, which was founded in 1941, serving a one-year term in 2002.

“I know firsthand how hard it can be for females to break into and thrive in the sports communication field,” Professor Whiteside said. “I was fortunate to be mentored and inspired by many amazing sports journalists who helped make my career and this award possible. I hope that I can continue to pay that forward to our students who I hope say to themselves, ‘I can do this, too.'”

“Professor Whiteside is a trailblazer in the sports journalism field and we are extremely proud that she received the McGrane Award from the FWAA,” said Keith Strudler, Dean of the School of Communication and Media. “Our students are lucky to learn from someone like her who has incredible sports journalism experience and a vast network.”

About the School of Communication and Media: The School of Communication and Media offers a range of dynamic programs in communication and media to a talented and diverse student population of over 2,000. Offering degrees in film and television, social media and public relations, advertising, journalism and digital media, sports communication, communication and media studies, animation and visual effects, and an MA devoted to strategic communication, the School prepares the next generation of communication and media practitioners and leaders. The School houses award-winning student programs that include WMSC Radio, The Montclarion newspaper,  Hawk Communications Agency, the Red Hawk Sports Network, Hawk+ OTT streaming platform, and News Lab, as well as the Center for Cooperative Media, which serves the public by working to grow and strengthen local journalism. Student projects and programs have recently received national recognition from PRSSA’s Bateman Competition, an Edward R Murrow Award, several Marconi Award nominations, and a College Television Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

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Story by Keith Green, School of Communication and Media