Bryan Ellis Burwell (August 4, 1955 – December 4, 2014)[1] was an American sportswriter and author. He joined theSt. Louis Post Dispatch in 2002, after leaving HBO'sInside the NFL, where he worked as a sports correspondent. Burwell also worked in radio as a co-host on CBS Sports 920 inSt. Louis, Missouri, on weekday afternoons and as on-air talent at101 ESPN Radio, also in St. Louis. Burwell was featured on twoESPN programs,Jim Rome is Burning andThe Sports Reporters.[1][2][3]
Burwell co-wrote and hosted a documentary on the baseball'sNegro leagues titled,The Color of Change.[4] He recounted, in the documentary, the trials and tribulations of the baseball league built by racism and its ultimate demise. The documentary featured interviews withBuck O'Neil,Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Hall of FamerOzzie Smith for theSt. Louis Post Dispatch.[5]
Burwell died at the age of 59 on December 4, 2014, frommelanoma, a type of cancer, leaving behind a wife, Dawnn and daughter, Victoria.[6][7] Burwell was a native of Washington D.C., but raised in Lanham, Maryland. He attended Duval High School and is a 1977 graduate ofVirginia State University where he pledgedKappa Alpha Psi fraternity.[6]
2007 Associated Press Sports Editors named Burwell as one of the Top 10 sports columnists[8]
2013 Eppy Award in recognition of his video-seriesUpon Further Review[8]
2015 Burwell was posthumously elected to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, Burwell was the first African-American to be inducted into the organization's Hall of Fame.[9]
2015 NABJ Legacy Award in recognition for having had a career of extraordinary achievement, which broke barriers and blazed trails[10]
