'He kept the place afloat'

It may have been just a quarter of a column of newsprint, roughly the size of a postage stamp, but during a career that spanned from Babe Ruth to Mark McGwire, the mug shot of Shirley Povich served as the face of The Washington Post for much of its readership.

Last night, more than 200 people gathered at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center to listen as a panel of journalists discussed the impact the late columnist had on the journalism industry at the Second Annual Shirley Povich Symposium.

Thomas Kunkel, dean of the journalism school, and professor George Solomon, the school's first Shirley Povich chair, moderated a panel consisting of Post columnists Michael Wilbon and Sally Jenkins, former Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, ESPN writer Kevin Blackistone and TV host Maury Povich, the son of Shirley Povich.

Spurred by questions from Kunkel and Solomon, each journalist shared stories about Povich while discussing his legacy at The Post, which Bradlee said was the third newspaper in a three-paper city when Povich started his career with the paper in 1924.

"I came to The Post in 1947, and the only person I knew about was Povich," Bradlee said. "Shirley Povich kept the place afloat. That's what people read at The Post."

Each of the panelists cited Povich's "This Morning" columns, which ran in The Post six days a week, not just for the quality of the writing, but also for the ideas and views Povich presented, often challenging the status quo in society.

Blackistone, who grew up in Hyattsville, said reading Povich's columns during his youth showed him the important role sports could play in changing views on race. Each of the panelists said Povich helped spur integration both in the press box and on the field.

"Shirley always seemed to be right; even looking back, he was never on the short-sighted side of things," Wilbon said. "I went back to look at those pieces and I wonder how hard it was to write some of those things."

Solomon told a story about Povich bringing Sam Lacy, the famed columnist and editor of the Baltimore Afro-American, to the front press row of a Joe Louis boxing match at Griffith Stadium, where Lacy said he wasn't allowed.

"Shirley brought Lacy to ringside and said, 'No one's gonna tell you to move,'" Solomon said.

After talking about Povich's legacy, the panel fielded questions from the audience ranging from Dallas Cowboys wide receiver and lightning rod Terrell Owens to blogging and its effect on sports journalism, a topic that drew a variety of opinions from the panelists.

Jenkins said she started reading Deadspin.com, a sports blog written by noted blogger Will Leitsch, about a year ago, and said arguing against blogs goes against the spread of information.

"It's a revolution and we're going to get to say we were there," Jenkins said.

Wilbon disagreed and said in an interview after the panel that he distrusts blogs because of varying levels of access to firsthand knowledge.

"My issue is, how do I know what they know is the truth?" Wilbon said.

The questions about blogging fit with a theme the panel kept revisiting - how Povich, a print journalist his entire life, would have fit into a journalism industry increasingly marked by the convergence of different media. At one point, Solomon asked the panelists what Povich would have thought about the synergy.

"People adapt to the times they're in," Maury Povich said. "You do what's available in the time that you're in."

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