Tom McEwen wrote six columns a week for much of his career, authored four books, and won an Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement.
(The Tampa Tribune)
Tom McEwen; writer helped make Tampa big league city
Tom McEwen wrote six columns a week for much of his career, authored four books, and won an Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement.
(The Tampa Tribune)
TAMPA — Tom McEwen, a longtime sports writer and editor at The Tampa Tribune who amassed more than 10,000 columns and pushed hard to bring professional franchises to the city, died Sunday. He was 88.
Rick McEwen said his father suffered from numerous illnesses, including cancer and poor blood circulation that led to one of his legs being amputated a year ago. He died at his home on Davis Island.
Rick McEwen credited his father with putting Tampa on the map in the sports world. Mr. McEwen’s campaigns for professional franchises helped Tampa land the NFL’s Buccaneers and the NHL’s Lightning.
“That’s his biggest legacy,’’ Rick McEwen said. “He loved the community, he fought for the community, he championed it.’’
The Glazer family, which owns the Buccaneers, said in a statement Sunday: “Had Tom decided to dedicate his trademark smarts, gusto, and energy to something else, there would be no Buccaneers. If Tampa Bay had its own Mount Rushmore, Tom McEwen would be etched on it.’’
Mr. McEwen wrote six columns a week for much of his career and authored four books. He served as sports editor from 1962 until 1992, and his final column for the paper appeared in 2001.
Mr. McEwen covered nearly every Super Bowl and major events in virtually every other sport: the World Series, Final Fours, the Masters, Wimbledon, the Kentucky Derby, the Indianapolis 500, World Cup soccer, and several Olympics.
“To say that Tom was just a sports writer would be an understatement,’’ University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said Sunday. “He was a leader in his industry and a leader in sports.’’
At least two press boxes were named for him, as was a street near Raymond James Stadium, where the Buccaneers play. Mr. McEwen was named Florida Sportswriter of the Year a record 19 times and won the Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement in 1993. He also was a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.
“Tom is a giant in his industry,’’ former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue once said.
Mr. McEwen developed a close relationship with late
Thomas Massey McEwen was born in Tampa and was raised in Wauchula as a member of a pioneer Florida family that included his cousin, former state agriculture commissioner Doyle Carlton.
He was salutatorian of his high school class and earned a journalism degree with honors from the University of Florida, where he was executive editor of The Alligator student newspaper. After serving in World War II, Mr. McEwen began his professional newspaper career in a $35-a-week position at the Fort Myers News-Press in 1946. He also worked at the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Times.
Despite his ill health, Mr. McEwen kept writing until his death. He had a blog for TBO.com and his own website, heytommcewen.com. A column was posted on the blog just two days before he died. In many of those columns he signed off with: “Babaloo!’’
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