Manager of the Texas Rangers, Ron Washington, Receives NABJ Sam Lacy Pioneer Award

ARLINGTON, TX (August 27, 2012) – Last week at a Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles match up, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Sports Task Force presented Ron Washington, Rangers Manager, with the Sam Lacy Pioneer Award. 

 The New Orleans native is entering his sixth session with the Rangers and has been named the 17^th full-time manager in the organization’s history.  Despite being active in the dugout, Washington has been very active in the Arlington community since being hired by the Rangers.

Washington has done a series of motivational speaking engagements at surrounding Arlington high schools and the Arlington Police Department. 

"Truly he has proven himself worthy of this award on and off the field.  Pioneers set precedents and Ron Washington certainly has done that as the Texas Rangers' most successful manager," said Ron Thomas, Director of the Morehouse College Journalism and Sports Program and co-chair of the Sam Lacy Pioneer Award Program. 

 The Sam Lacy Pioneer award is named for the famed sports editor and columnist for the Afro-American Newspapers, a weekly produced paper based in Baltimore.  It is given annually to individuals making great strides in their professional career, but more importantly, creating a positive change within their communities. 

An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization for journalists of color in the nation, and provides career development as well as educational and other support to its members worldwide. For more, please visit, www.nabj.org.

###