Gambill Speaker Series to Feature Sports Columnist Rick Fires
JONESBORO – Rick Fires, award-winning sports columnist for the Fayetteville-based Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, returns to his alma mater Oct. 18-19 as this year’s honored guest in the Dr. Joel Gambill Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series.
He will talk to students and faculty during classes, especially in the School of Media and Journalism, about his education at A-State and how it impacted his career, why he chose A-State, and the importance of journalism not only in sports but in the health of the U.S. democratic society.
Fires, who graduated in 1984 with a bachelor of science degree in journalism and a minor in sociology, also will tour A-State athletic facilities.
During a career of almost 40 years in the newspaper business, he was a general assignment reporter covering city council and school board meetings for the Courier News in Blytheville before moving into sports writing full-time.
For the past 25 years he has worked for the Democrat-Gazette, where he has won first place for Best Sports Column for large dailies in the Arkansas Press Association newspaper contests four of the past five years. This year he won first, second and third place in the sports column category.
Fires and his wife Rhonda live in Prairie Grove with their rescued three-year-old Brittany spaniel, Rally.
The endowed series is named after Dr. Joel Gambill, who devoted his career to the journalism program at his alma mater. His numerous awards and recognitions include being named Outstanding Educator by the Arkansas Press Association as well as recipient of that organization's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. After retirement in 2010, he became emeritus associate professor of journalism.
