RIP Cecil Hurt

An absolute lion in sports journalism is gone. Complications from pneumonia.

You could pencil in his name for an APSE award pretty much every year.



https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/stor...-and-columnist-cecil-hurt-dies-62/8741750002/

 

I had just been thinking this afternoon about what a good mood I was in and how well things seemed to be flowing. I should know that’s usually the bat signal that a gut punch is coming. Damn.

EDIT: I appreciate the T-News letting Tommy Deas do the obit even though he’s in Nashville now.

 

I think people here can appreciate how difficult it is to be in the business for as long as he was and still be very, very good and have strong copy on a regular basis. Was always friendly every time I saw him. A massive loss.

 

Cecil was one of a kind, and I mean that in the best way possible.

A class act, a good dude, a helluva journalist.

Hadn't seen him in about a decade, with the business getting the better of me two or three times over that span, but he was the authority on Alabama football.

He was just 62. Iron Bowl week, too. Godspeed, Cecil.

 

I’ll crib what I wrote elsewhere:

I miss real newspapers period. But I especially miss the Sunday Tuscaloosa News of the 90s. Not only did you have Cecil’s column (and game story and notebook and probably uncredited contributions to a couple of the sidebars), but you also had two grossly underrated columnists in the Opinion section. Tommy Stevenson was as plugged into state politics as anybody and could call out wrongdoing without burning bridges with his sources. And Ben Windham’s “Southern Nights” made you smarter about the culture and music (most especially the music) of the region and underlined the fact that Tuscaloosa was somehow simultaneously a coal mining camp, a crossroads for the hardscrabble small farm orbit of the hill country, a gothic, honorary Black Belt city and the northernmost ward of New Orleans.

Between those three, I almost matched the journalism education I was supposed to be getting in the classes I slept through.

 

I didn’t know this man, but Saban’s statement is the nicest and most impressive thing I’ve ever heard a coach say about a reporter. Only thing that comes close is Bobby Bowden’s remarks at Steve Ellis’ funeral. So I’m gonna guess that Mr. Hurt was awesome all around.

 

And I miss the Sunday Knoxville News-Sentinel of the 60s-70s. An era where you maybe saw your team on TV once or twice a year. But you could visualize what had happened . . . thanks to Dyer-grams. Full page play-by-play cartoon of the game, with amusing drawings/comments sprinkled throughout. Drawn by Bill Dyer, who also drew a "nameless cartoon" contest each week where readers had to supply the caption. My brother won one week. Got $2 and his name in the paper.

 

Does Charlie Daniels (not that one) still draw the extra editorial cartoons for weekend football coverage for the KNS?

 

I believe he officially retired early in 2019. Just after celebrating his 60th anniversary (first with the Knoxville Journal, and then the KNS). And it's Daniel (without the S). Not sure if he's supplying stuff occasionally or not. Haven't seen a hard copy of the paper during football season for a couple of years.

 

Didn't know him, but I enjoyed following him on Twitter and his reputation is golden. Much respect to the local writers/columnists who do the job for years and keep readers informed and entertained. It's sad that part of the business is in decline.

 

From the Tuscaloosa News: A memorial service for Cecil Hurt, longtime sports columnist at The Tuscaloosa News, has been scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 1 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa.