Courage, Shenanigans, & Sports Reporting: Honors Eckman Fund Supports AP Writer’s Remarks at 2024 Murrow Symposium
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Courage, Shenanigans, & Sports Reporting: Honors Eckman Fund Supports AP Writer’s Remarks at 2024 Murrow Symposium
By Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu
San Francisco Associated Press (AP) sportswriter and honors alumna Janie McCauley (’98) delivered keynote remarks at the April 2024 Murrow Symposium’s closing luncheon. The event was sponsored by the Honors College Art Eckman Fund, which supports honors sports broadcasting majors with enrichment opportunities and was open to the university community.
In her remarks, McCauley addressed reporting on controversial and dangerous topics and the courage it demands of both the journalists and the subjects of these stories. She cited examples that speak to heroic courage, like that of her colleague Anja Niedringhaus, a German photojournalist who was killed in Afghanistan in 2014 covering an election. Janie worked with Niedringhaus at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Her Murrow symposium remarks were delivered on the tenth anniversary of Niedringhaus’s death.
McCauley also covered the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic games, which included the first men’s volleyball team from Iran. Conducting background prior to the games, she became aware of women in Teran who were fighting for the right to attend, since Iranian women were not allowed in stadiums. In telling their stories McCauley couldn’t use their names or else they would be in danger, she said.
“I’m still in touch with some of these courageous women in Iran to this day who risked their lives, in some situations, to fight for what they believe in,” she said. Janie made it her quest to find an Iranian woman in the Rio stands at the volleyball match. With assistance from the crowd, she finally found an Iranian expatriate living in Brazil who told her “I’m here for everybody back home who can’t be.”
“That was one of the more powerful stories I’ve done in my career, telling (the story) through the eyes of that woman…,” McCauley said.
That story encouraged Janie to seek out other tough assignments including an abuse scandal surrounding an Olympic rowing coach she knew and a story about the “forgotten population” of San Quentin inmates who benefited from playing tennis with a group she’s a part of, among others. Tennis helps San Quentin Prison inmates find community | TenniStory (youtube.com)
For McCauley the “call” to sports journalism came early. As a child growing up in Washington state, she anticipated her family’s annual trek across the mountains from Leavenworth to attend a Sonics game in Seattle. Those early interactions energized her passion for sports and fueled her tenacity. Allowed one hour after the game to explore the Sonics stadium, Janie engaged in what she called “shenanigans.” Like sneaking into the visiting Detroit Piston’s family room by pretending to be the niece of rival player Bill Laimbeer. Or standing on a toilet seat in the arena bathroom to hide until everyone left so she could meet players, coaches, and their family members. Once she snuck under a dumpster to meet players as they prepared to get on the bus. “I think it probably gave me some skills for how to be resourceful,” she joked.
At thirteen, Janie wrote to NBA teams across the country with hopes they’d respond. Many did—replying with letters that included bumper stickers and signed photos of team players like David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs. Those interactions impressed on her the importance of writing, so in high school she got a job with her local newspaper, The Leavenworth Echo. As a WSU student she reported for the AP, writing quotes and short articles for newspapers across Washington and Idaho.
McCauley joined honors in her sophomore year, describing it as “a safe space to try new things out.” Minoring in Spanish, she spent her senior fall semester in Guadalajara, Mexico, conducting honors thesis research on the dangers journalists face in unsafe countries, foreshadowing a career to come.
But it was those early interactions with NBA teams and the treks across the mountains for Sonics shenanigans that instilled the confidence to pursue sports writing. Over her career she’s run into some of her early heroes and when she does, she thanks them.
“It was special—it influenced what I’m doing now,” she said.
This summer McCauley will cover swimming at her sixth Olympics in Paris.
“Thirty years in and I’m still having fun,” she told Murrow Symposium participants. “It’s been the joy of my life.”
The Honors College Art Eckman Fund, established by Cougar football team member and honors business administration alumnus Colin White (’03), was created in memory of renowned sports broadcaster and former Cougar Art Eckman (’64), who passed away in 2023. The Fund was first awarded in 2022, sponsoring a “Women in Sports” guest lectureship. White, who volunteered as a student web developer for Cable 8 Productions, was inspired to give back because of the financial support he received to attend WSU.
“Looking back now and being lucky enough to be in the financial position that I am in, I want to be able to provide that same sense of financial relief for other Cougs,” White told the WSU Foundation. Alumni and industry partners across the WSU community are encouraged to support the endowment.
