Cecil Harris

333 Bronx River Road, #216 Yonkers, NY 10704 USA
Website: http://www.CecilHarrisBooks.com, http://www.CecilHarrisBooks.blogspot.com
Contact

Professional Experience

Author of three books, including a New York Times' Editors' Choice selection. Have been published in the NY Times, NY Post, USA Today, Newsday, Sporting News, Hockey News and online. Sports history, sports business and sociology are my favorite topics. Proficient in InDesign, Quark and Excel. Have appeared as a sports authority on radio and TV, including CBS-TV, ESPN Radio, NPR, Westwood One, Black Entertainment Television, TV One and MSG. Audio, video and writing samples available at www.CecilHarrisBooks.com. Author of Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe to the Williams Sisters; Call the Yankees My Daddy: Reflections on Baseball, Race, and Family; and Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey. Former adjunct professor of sports marketing and management at Concordia College. At Urban Box Office Network, managed Web sites for tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams and former track star Marion Jones.

Expertise

Book Author
7 Years
Reporter
17 Years
Writer
20 Years

Specialty

Arts & Humanities
17 Years
Books & Literature
7 Years
Sports & Recreation
20 Years

Industries


Academia Teaching
2 Years
Newspaper - Local/Regional
17 Years
Online/new media
9 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

20 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Newsday (10+), The Hockey News (10+), The Indianapolis Star (10+), The Sporting News (10+), Urban Box Office Network (10+), New York Post (10+), Raleigh News & Observer (10+), The (Brooklyn) City Sun (10+), Gannett Newspapers (10+), SportsPages.com (10+), Puerto Rico Sun.com (6-10)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Major League Baseball (10+), New York Road Runners (10+)

Other Work History

Sports writer at daily newspapers, magazines, Web sites. Managing editor of sports Web sites. Adjunct professor of sports business. Copy Editor.

Unions

National Association of Black Journalists, The Authors Guild.

Computer Skills

Proficient in InDesign, Quark Copy Desk, Excel, Microsoft Word, NrRas.

Equipment

Laptop computer, fax, audio recorder, digital camera (3.1 mega), telephone.

References

Ms. Gordon Bakoulis, communications director, New York Road Runners, 212-860-4455. David Georgette, senior editor, Orlando Sentinel, 407-650-6375. George Fosty, author and filmmaker, 516-735-7554. Mike O'Connor, publisher, Insomniac Press, 416-504-6270. Christopher Nagel, business department chair, Concordia College, 914-337-9300.

Awards

Society of the Silurians, Excellence in Sports Reporting. Gannett Newspapers Mighty Pen Award. Center for Editing Excellence Award, Saint Bonaventure University. Sun God Award for Outstanding Sports Research from SONAHR (Society Of North American Hockey Researchers).

Associations

National Association of Black Journalists, Academic honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Alpha Sigma Alpha. The Authors Guild. Freelancers Union.

Showcase

Enterprise

Despite their talent and persistence, women sportscasters have achieved only a modicum of respect from viewers and listeners, athletes, sports administrators and media executives.
In remembrance of star runner Ryan Shay, days before the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials
Can an underdog make the U.S. Olympic Team? Michael Wardian, a marathon veteran, thinks so.

Writing Samples

Media and marketing types say 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova is just what women's tennis needs. Yet there's something insidious about this: the perception that women's sports are more relevant whenever a beautiful blonde is on top.
While most of America slept Friday night, Venus Williams was in Australia performing the tennis equivalent of Fonzie in leather jacket and shorts water skiing on "Happy Days": The once-great Venus jumped the shark.
Maybe their 10 1/2-game lead came too easily. Or perhaps the New York Yankees, a team with flawed starting pitchers and sub-par defense, were never as good as advertised. Whatever the reason, the Yankees have transformed the American League East from a cakewalk into an actual race.
I must begin with a confession: Marion Jones and I have a history.
Not even boorish New York tennis fans, who cheered the opponent's double faults, could help Gotham native Jennifer Capriati in her U.S. Open semifinal Friday. That's because none of the fans could give Jenny what she needed most: the Heimlich Maneuver.
That the Mets gift-wrapped and handed the Yankees a victory on Luis Castillo's dropped fly ball with two out in the 9th was not as noteworthy as the frequency with which the Mets squander games.
Don't be surprised if the East is once again the toughest division in the American Football Conference, and if the revitalized Patriots reign supreme.

General

With an ebullient personality, flashy running outfits and eye-catching speed, Sanya Richards often turns the track into her own catwalk.
A commentary on Team USA's opening-round loss to Puerto Rico in men's basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
An excerpt from "Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey" (Insomniac Press) on Willie O'Ree, "the Jackie Robinson of hockey," who broke the National Hockey League's color barrier on January 18, 1958. Copyright 2003 by Cecil Harris.
A winner of the seven of the first eight marathons she entered, Paula Radcliffe, the women's world record-holder, has one title still to add to her list: that of Olympic champion.
A member of Governor David Paterson's staff, Lesley Higgins is also an Olympic hopeful in track and field's most unusual event.
It's not always easy to find a Pro Bowl candidate on a non-playoff team, but Leon Washington, the Jets' running back and kick returner, has the credentials.
Coach Rex Ryan vows to turn the New York Jets into winners.
From 1995-2001, 16 high school basketball players were drafted by NBA teams; 13 made NBA rosters. In 2001 alone Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler and DeSagana Diop jumped from high school to the top 15 in the NBA draft.
Blacks do indeed have a history in the National Hockey League, and their ranks and influence are growing.
Since Willie O'Ree broke the National Hockey League's color barrier in 1958, blacks have gradually become impact players on the ice.