Emily Padgett, a 20-year-old University of Florida sophomore who loves writing and sports, is the initial recipient of a UF scholarship established in the name of the late Tampa Tribune sports editor Tom McEwen. The scholarship is to be awarded yearly to a student in UF’s College of Journalism and Communications, typically to one interested in sports writing.
But saying Tom McEwen was a sports writer is like saying Abe Lincoln was a lawyer. McEwen was so much more. He was informative and beyond prolific. And he was a consummate advocate for what he believed in. We were lucky in believed in Tampa.
No, McEwen scholarship winners should not concern themselves with McEwen’s sheer quantity of work or his inimitable prose style. Thought here is that can’t be duplicated anyway. No, the real goal should be to work hard enough to matter. And then do something special with the resultant influence.