Legendary sportswriter Billy Reed is joining the NKyTribune’s strong stable of experienced journalists as a weekly columnist writing on all things sports.
Reed reported for the Louisville Courier Journal and for Sports Illustrated for many years, covering 15 sports and earning the cover spot on SI 12 times.
“The NKyTribune and KyForward welcome Billy Reed to our team,” said Judy Clabes, NKyTribune editor. “We are honored to have him and appreciate his life’s dedication to journalism and to sports reporting. He is a Kentucky superstar and we couldn’t be more pleased to share his expertise with our readers.”
Reed stumbled on his lifetime career when he was 16, covering Little League games for the Sunday Lexington Herald-Leader in 1959. Over his storied career, the kid from Mt. Sterling has done it all and is widely counted as an expert on the Kentucky Derby.
He is the winner of multiple Eclipse Awards and is a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame. He received the National Headliners Club Awards for investigative reporting and sports columns and was named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times.
Billy Reed
He has covered all the major sporting events – the World Series, Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, Triple Crown races, the Olympics, major golf tournaments and big college football games. Along the way, he developed personal relationships with the biggest personalities in sports, among them Muhammad Ali, Bob Knight and Adolph Rupp.
His memoir Last of a Breed: A Legendary Kentucky Writer’s Journey through Six Decades of Sports and Journalism, was published by Acclaim Press. It is available from Amazon.
But, of course, his career continues as a columnist, now with the NKyTribune and KyForward.
