DALLAS (AP) Blackie Sherrod, the longtime Texas sportswriter and mentor to some of the nation's top writers, has died at his Dallas home. He was 96.
Wife Joyce Sherrod told The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/1N3TQLi) her husband died Thursday afternoon after a week in hospice care.
Sherrod was Texas Sportswriter of the Year a record 16 times and a Red Smith Award winner for lifetime achievement in sports writing.
After World War II service as a Navy tail gunner, Sherrod was sports editor at the now-defunct Fort Worth Press where he cultivated the nascent talents of authors Dan Jenkins and Edwin ''Bud'' Shrake. He took his popular column to the now-defunct Dallas Times-Herald in 1958 and The Dallas Morning News in 1985 before retiring in 2003.
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Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com
