Caldwell Café vol. XI
A Conversation with the Sports Reporters

The presentations were sharp. The discussion was lively. The food was good and the drinks were cold. And so, there was a grand time in the big TV studio at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications for the opening presentation (Tuesday, Feb. 24) of the spring series of Caldwell Café gatherings. This "Café" session was titled "in conversation with the sports reporters" and it was a free wheeling blast. G. E. Branch came down from his editor’s desk in the sports department at USA Today newspaper. Paul White, of the Virginia Pilot, came over from his office in Norfolk. And rounding out the panel was David Squires, a sports columnist from the Daily Press newspaper in Newport News.

It is said that the wild beast of genius needs a sober driver. The panel that came to Hampton University on this night had a lot of genius. The "sober driver" was Doug Smith. He‘s a former USA Today sportswriter and now, a professor in the Hampton University Scripps Howard School. In the café, Smith served as moderator and the fit couldn’t have been better. He did the pitching and the panelists did the hitting. But the students got in a lot of good cuts too. They had the questions. Wow, did they have questions but that’s what makes "the café" a kind of special place on the nights that it is open and buzzing the way it was when the sports reporters came visiting.

For more information, please contact Earl Caldwell at (757) 727-2020 or via e-mail at earl.caldwell@hamptonu.edu