Bob Glauber, who has covered the NFL since 1985 and has been with Newsday since 1989, has been selected as the 2021 Career Achievement Award winner by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA).
Glauber, the 53rd Career Achievement Award honoree, is the first person affiliated with Newsday to win the award.
The Career Achievement Award is given to a reporter who has made a long and distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage. The name of the award is currently under review by the PFWA Board of Directors. The award has previously been known as the Dick McCann Award, named for the first director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Other 2021 nominees for the Career Achievement Award were Jarrett Bell (USA Today), Vic Carucci (Buffalo News), Jeff Legwold (ESPN.com) and Barry Wilner (Associated Press).
Glauber covered the New York Giants for Gannett Westchester-Rockland Newspapers from 1985-89, and he moved to Newsday to cover the New York Jets, Giants and the NFL at-large in 1989. He became the paper’s NFL columnist in 1992, and he is in his 30th season in that role in 2021.
Voted the NSMA New York State Sportswriter of the Year in 2011 and 2015 and the top New York State sports columnist by the NY APSE in 2011 and 2012, Glauber won first-place national APSE awards for football-related work on concussions in 1996 and life after football in 2018. He has won several PFWA Dick Connor Writing Awards, and he is the author of two books: “Guts and Genius: The Story of Three Unlikely Coaches Who Came to Dominate the NFL in the ’80s” and the upcoming “The Forgotten First” about the reintegration of the NFL.
Glauber is a longtime member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee, and he served as the PFWA’s 29th president for the 2018-20 NFL seasons.
“Maybe it’s old school, but for his entire career, Bob has resisted the hot take in favor of reporting and reasonableness. That’s why he is respected by players, coaches and executives, including the ones he has criticized, which would be reason enough to give him an award,” said Judy Battista, NFL.com columnist and former NFL reporter for the New York Times and Newsday. “More important is how Bob has reached out to wave after wave of reporters, making scores feel comfortable in a hyper-competitive environment. I was lucky enough to be one of those people a long time ago. Like so many of us, I’ve been relying on him as a sounding board and a font of advice (and, in my case, a stash of snacks) ever since.”
“Bob’s legacy as PFWA president includes increasing member engagement through the creation of chapters in each market, while enhancing member benefits to grow membership overall,” said Mike Sando of The Athletic, who serves as PFWA Secretary-Treasurer. “His unwavering professionalism and personal touch helped him lead effectively. Bob remains a tremendous resource to the PFWA and sports journalism.”
Glauber is scheduled to be honored during the 2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls at the Gold Jacket Ceremony in downtown Canton on Friday, Aug. 6, and the Career Achievement Award is scheduled to be presented at the Class of 2021 Enshrinement on Sunday, Aug. 8 in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
ABOUT THE PFWA: In its 58th season in 2021, the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA) is the official voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve the public. The PFWA is made up of accredited writers who cover the NFL and the 32 teams daily. Lindsay Jones of The Athletic is the PFWA president for the 2021-22 seasons and the organization’s 30th president. Jenny Vrentas of Sports Illustrated is the PFWA’s first vice-president, Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News is the second vice-president and Mike Sando of The Athletic is the secretary-treasurer. At-large board members include USA Today’s Mike Jones, ESPN.com’s Jeff Legwold, The Athletic’s Dan Pompei and ProFootballTalk.com’s Charean Williams. Follow the PFWA at ProFootballWriters.org and on Twitter at @PFWAwriters.
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNERS (To a reporter who has made a long and distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage): 1969 – George Strickler (Chicago Tribune); 1970 – Arthur Daley (New York Times); 1971 – Joe King (New York World Telegram & Sun); 1972 – Lewis “Tony” Atchison (Washington Star); 1973 – Dave Brady (Washington Post); 1974 – Bob Oates (Los Angeles Times); 1975 – John Steadman (Baltimore News-American); 1976 – Jack Hand (Associated Press); 1977 – Art Daley (Green Bay Press-Gazette); 1978 – Murray Olderman (Newspaper Enterprise Association); 1979 – Pat Livingston (Pittsburgh Press); 1980 – Chuck Heaton (Cleveland Plain Dealer); 1981 – Norm Miller (New York Daily News); 1982 – Cameron Snyder (Baltimore Sun); 1983 – Hugh Brown (Philadelphia Bulletin); 1984 – Larry Felser (Buffalo News); 1985 – Cooper Rollow (Chicago Tribune); 1986 – William Wallace (New York Times); 1987 – Jerry Magee (San Diego Union); 1988 – Gordon Forbes (USA Today); 1989 – Vito Stellino (Baltimore Sun); 1990 – Will McDonough (Boston Globe); 1991 – Dick Connor (Denver Post); 1992 – Frank Luksa (Dallas Morning News); 1993 – Ira Miller (San Francisco Chronicle); 1994 – Don Pierson (Chicago Tribune); 1995 – Ray Didinger (Philadelphia Daily News); 1996 – Paul Zimmerman (Sports Illustrated); 1997 – Bob Roesler (New Orleans Times-Picayune); 1998 – Dave Anderson (New York Times); 1999 – Art Spander (Oakland Tribune); 2000 – Tom McEwen (Tampa Tribune); 2001 – Len Shapiro (Washington Post); 2002 – Edwin Pope (Miami Herald); 2003 – Joel Buchsbaum (Pro Football Weekly); 2004 – Rick Gosselin (Dallas Morning News); 2005 – Jerry Green (Detroit News); 2006 – John McClain (Houston Chronicle); 2007 – John Clayton (ESPN.com); 2008 – Len Pasquarelli (ESPN.com); 2009 – Peter King (Sports Illustrated); 2010 – Peter Finney (New Orleans Times-Picayune); 2011 – Bob McGinn (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); 2012 – Tom Kowalski (MLive.com); 2013 – Dan Pompei (Chicago Tribune); 2014 – Ed Bouchette (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette); 2015 – Dave Goldberg (Associated Press); 2016 – Chris Mortensen (ESPN.com); 2017 – Ed Werder (ESPN); 2018 – Charean Williams (Pro Football Talk); 2019 – Sam Farmer (Los Angeles Times); 2020 – Don Banks (SI.com); 2021 – Bob Glauber (Newsday)