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DWC
announces 2006 commencement speaker, Frank Deford
One of the nation’s most honored
and versatile writers to speak at May 13 ceremony,
receive honorary degree
 Daniel
Webster College is proud to announce that this year's commencement
speaker is Frank Deford,
award-winning author, regular commentator on National Public Radio,
senior writer at Sports Illustrated,
a regular correspondent on HBO’s
RealSports with Bryant Gumbel, and chairman emeritus of the
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where he served as the organization’s
national chairman for 16 years.
In
addition to his commencement address to 300 Daniel Webster graduates at
the college’s May 13 ceremony, he will also receive an honorary degree
from the college.
During
discussions as to whom the college should invite to commencement for
this honor, Frank Deford was the unanimous choice of administrators,
staff, faculty and students, who are so very familiar with his work in
the communications and athletics arenas. “The Daniel Webster community
is honored and excited that Mr. Deford has accepted its invitation to
speak at commencement,” said DWC President Robert E. Myers, “and we look
forward to his being with us in May.”
Deford is
considered one of the nation’s most honored and versatile writers; his
work has appeared in virtually every medium. He is the author of 14
books, two which have been made into movies, and one which is his memoir
about his daughter who died from Cystic Fibrosis. Additionally, he’s
written theatrical screenplays, the latest,
Four Minutes, about Roger
Bannister and the four-minute mile which also appeared recently as a
made-for-TV movie.
As a
journalist, Deford was the recipient of the National Magazine Award for
profiles for his story on basketball great Bill Russell. He is a member
of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriter’s Hall of
Fame; was voted by his peers six times as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year;
was recognized twice by The
American Journalism Review
as the nation’s finest sportswriter; and was twice voted Magazine Writer
of the Year by the Washington
Journalism Review. In broadcast, Deford has won both an Emmy
in 1998 for his work during the Seoul Olympics and a CableACE award in
1994 for writing the HBO sports documentary
Arthur Ashe: Citizen of the World.
He was also recognized with the George Foster Peabody Award, was the
recipient of the Christopher Award, and received journalism Honor Awards
from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University.
The Sporting News
described Deford as “the most influential sports voice among members of
the print media,” while GQ
calls him “the world’s best sportswriter. He is a graduate of
Princeton University and lives in Connecticut with his wife Carol.
Founded
in 1965, Daniel Webster, Nashua, NH, is a student-focused independent
college with a primary concentration on experiential learning. Daniel
Webster College's nationally ranked degree programs in aviation are well
complemented by its innovative programs in business and management,
computer science and information technology, aeronautical and mechanical
engineering, sport management, and social science. Through our division
of Graduate and Continuing Studies, the college offers an accelerated
evening MBA program, a new online MBA for aviation professionals, a
non-traditional evening air traffic control program, and the EXCEL
degree completion program. Commencement, therefore, will include
traditional undergraduate students, non-traditional undergraduate
students, as well as students who have earned an MBA.
Deford quote: “I
believe that professional wrestling is clean and everything else in the
world is fixed.”
To read
more about Frank Deford:
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