At the PFWA Annual Meeting at the Super Bowl Media Center in New Orleans on February 7 during Super Bowl LIX week, the PFWA membership ratified a slate of officers for the next two seasons, including Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post as the organization’s 32nd president.
Jhabvala is joined by first vice-president Mike Jones (The Athletic), second vice president Stephen Holder (ESPN.com), advisor to the president Lindsay Jones (The Ringer) and secretary-treasurer Mike Sando (The Athletic) as officers for the 2025-26 seasons. The group of at-large board members was also ratified: Jeff Legwold (ESPN.com), Joe Reedy (Associated Press), outgoing PFWA president Calvin Watkins (Dallas Morning News) and Charean Williams (ProFootballTalk.com).
Jhabvala covers the Washington Commanders and the NFL for the Washington Post. Before joining the Post in 2020, she covered the Denver Broncos for six years for the Denver Post (2014-18) and The Athletic (2018-20). The Raleigh, North Carolina native and journalism graduate from the University of North Carolina was an editor and producer for the New York Times, Sports on Earth and Sports Illustrated earlier in her career.
Watkins presided over the meeting, and was lauded for his work in advancing the aims of the PFWA in several crucial areas, including media access with the NFL and its clubs. He was presented with a plaque from the PFWA for his two seasons of service as president.
Also, during the Annual Meeting, the PFWA Scholarship committee, chaired by Bob Glauber (retired Newsday columnist), announced the recipients of the annual scholarship awards to children of PFWA members who are in their freshman year of college.
The Arthur Rooney Scholarship is worth $6,000 total ($1,500 per year over four years), while the John Clayton Scholarship is a one-time $1,000 award. The President’s Award scholarships are one-time $500 awards, given at the discretion of the PFWA scholarship committee.
The Rooney Scholarship was presented to Alexandra Vacchiano, daughter of FOXSports.com columnist Ralph Vacchiano. The Clayton Scholarship had two recipients – Brianna Easterling, daughter of Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal Cleveland Browns beat writer, and Anthony Iannazzone, son of Al Iannazzone, the New York Jets beat writer for Newsday. In addition, three President’s Awards were given to Logan Booth, son of Tim Booth, a sports reporter for the Seattle Times, Maria Grossi, daughter of Tony Grossi, a veteran Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and ESPN Cleveland, and Maddie Reischel, daughter of Rob Reischel, Green Bay Packers reporter for Forbes.com and Conley Media.
Vacchiano is a freshman at Point Park University. She ran track, played soccer and flag football, was a four-year member of the culinary and cooking clubs, a member of both the National Honors Society, the Thespian Honor Society and The Tri-M Music Honor Society. She has appeared as an actress in several roles in community theater. She also participated in the Unified Sports Program at her high school, a program that allows kids who are in special education to play a variety of sports with general education students.
Easterling is in her freshman year at Ohio University. A National Honors Society member for two years, she was the feature twirler and captain for two years in her high school marching band as well as a four-year member of the select winds and symphony band. She earned bronze, silver and gold awards over her 13-year participation in the Girl Scouts, and she was a Sunday School teacher for four years.
Iannazzone, in his freshman year at Syracuse, produced and hosted a sports podcast for a sports media class, hosted a weekly high school football podcast, was a volunteer coach for his town’s girls rec basketball league, coached two years at a youth baseball camp, was a baseball and softball umpire and he played three years of high school baseball and two years of basketball, serving as the baseball team’s manager when he was rehabbing from a knee injury.
Booth was a three-year member of the National Honors Society, president of his high school’s ESports Club for three years, a volunteer for the Bothell Historical Museum and a youth basketball referee as a senior. He is a freshman at Central Washington.
Grossi – a freshman at Miami (Ohio) – was a four-year letter winner on her varsity field hockey team, a volunteer fundraiser for Team Carolyn and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, a volunteer at her school’s children’s social work program and a volunteer at Brentwood Health Care Center.
Reischel is in her freshman year at Loyola University Chicago. She was a four-year letterwinner and team captain of her high school tennis team, a dockmaster for four years at a boat club, a volunteer at her local church and a youth basketball camp counselor. She is working toward a career in nursing.
The PFWA’s scholarship program is in its’ 38th year of existence, and the organization has awarded $237,500 to 52 deserving recipients through the end of the 2024-25 academic year.
The PFWA also announced that Glauber will assist the organization as Chapter Liaison to work with the 32 chapter presidents and vice presidents to expand PFWA membership at the local level.
