Award-Winning Journalist Visits Lake Ridge

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Lindsey Hill

Jim Reeves talks to the Lake Ridge Journalism program

For 40+ years, Jim Reeves has been covering sporting events throughout the DFW Metroplex for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Reeves has covered 29 World Series and over half a dozen Super Bowls, NBA Championships, Stanley Cup championships, along with the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2001.

Reeves admits that his career in writing blossomed out of his love for sports.

“I didn’t realize I had a talent for writing until about 7th grade,” Reeves explained in an ENN exclusive. ” My teacher told me I would be a writer and cover current events and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.”

Reeves also gave advice to the journalists at Lake Ridge.

“You want to get sources who are close to what you are writing about.  Find people who have inside information and develop those relationships,” Reeves said. “When Don Zimmer was fired as Rangers manager he told me himself (off the record).  I couldn’t find another source in the organization that would confirm it. Finally, my editor decided to use me as the source but that doesn’t happen too often in the industry.”

Reeves was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his coverage of the sale of Rangers from Eddie Chiles to a group headed by George W. Bush.  He is also the recipient of the Schiefer School Ethics Award for outstanding ethical leadership.

Reeves is also an honorary media member to the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame and serves on the historical overview committees for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Although his passion is baseball, Reeves recently published a book about the Dallas Cowboys.  Reeves was approached by publisher, Barry Shlachter, about writing the book.  The book utilizes Reeves’ personal relationship with Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones.

“Be willing to do what you need to do to get the story,” Reeves said. “You have to work hard and be willing to go the extra mile and do things your competitors won’t do and work harder.”

Reeves also covered current events such as the Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco, the beginning of the Gulf War, and the shooting at a SW Ft. Worth church in 1999. He retired from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2009.