Washington Post/ESPN sports journalist Kevin Blackistone to visit Miami

Kevin Blackistone

Sports journalist Kevin Blackistone, who writes for The Washington Post and appears on ESPN’s “Around the Horn,” will deliver the Alan G. Ingham Memorial Lecture for Miami University’s department of kinesiology and health.

Blackistone, who is also a professor of practice at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, will present “Sport as a Social Institution: Don’t Believe the Type” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 18, in the Armstrong Student Center's Wilks Theater. The speech is free and open to the public.

He will also participate in a student meet-and-greet event that day from 2:45-3:50 p.m. in the Phillips Hall lobby.

In a career that spans nearly four decades, Blackistone has worked as a city reporter at The Boston Globe, The Chicago Reader and The Dallas Morning News early in his career and as a sports reporter/columnist/commentator since 1990. Now a sports commentator for The Washington Post, a panelist for ESPN’s “Around the Horn,” a contributor to National Public Radio and an academic, Blackistone has covered the Olympics, Super Bowl, Wimbledon, World Cup, Tour de France, British Open, NBA, NFL, MLB and more.

Blackistone, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and a master’s from Boston University, is also the author of A Gift for Ron, about NFL star Everson Walls’ kidney donation to former teammate Ron Springs.

In his talk at Miami, Blackistone will discuss the power of sport to reflect the tenor of our times, as athletes and sport leagues around the country have been embroiled in controversy related to athlete protests on racial injustice.

Blackstone’s visit is hosted by the department of kinesiology and health with support from the Ingham family, Joyce Barnes Farmer Distinguished Guest Professorship and the department of media, journalism and film.