S.C. Press Association 2011 News Contest Winners, part 5 of 5.

1. SPORTS COLUMN WRITING
Daily 20,000 - 50,000 Division
FIRST PLACE
Herald-Journal Eric Boynton
Eric Boynton On the Sidelines
Are these
Tigers the
real deal?
lemson head football
coach and lead cheer-

2. SPORTS COLUMN WRITING
Daily Over 50,000 Division
THIRD PLACE
SATURDAY, 7 P.M. TV: ESPNU
Greenville ‘LAND OF PERFECTION’ BECKONS T
News
CLEMSON — There’s
something in the air at
the school starved for
football championships,
and it isn’t the smell
wafting up from the
Bart Wright
grills on game day at
Death Valley.
Blame Danny Ford.
Blame Jeff Davis, or
Bart Wright maybe Terry Kinard,
rbwright@greenvillenews.com each of them members
Sports Editor of the College Football
Hall of Fame. If Ford,
the coach of the 1981
Clemson team, or Davis, its captain, or Kinard, one of
its best players, hadn’t been there in 1981 and done
what they did as a team, maybe the feeling on campus
today wouldn’t be quite what it is.
But it’s there, even as the undefeated football team
prepares for its second Atlantic Coast Conference
road game tonight at College Park against Maryland.
People who know will tell you the soaring feeling of
enthusiasm and belief is as unmistakable as it is rare
on campus this deep into the schedule.
“My son has been telling me for a few weeks now,”
Sherry Thrift Bradshaw said of her son, Brewer, a
senior on the Clemson golf team. “He calls and says,
‘Mom, it’s electric out here, it’s amazing.’
Clemson's undefeated season has ignited a spirit of enthusiasm among, fans, students
and alumni. BART BOATWRIGHT/STAFF See WRIGHT, Page 7A

3. SPORTS COLUMN WRITING
Daily Over 50,000 Division
SECOND PLACE
The State
Ron Morris

4. SPORTS COLUMN WRITING
Daily Over 50,000 Division
GENE SAPAKOFF
Lunch with
Bethanie
FIRST PLACE and Justin
M OUNT PLEASANT —
Soup and salad at Jacob’s
Kitchen, just another
Tuesday on the WTA Tour for
Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Except
that this woman pushes the norm.
High socks on the court. Husband
The Post and Courier
watching every serve and volley.
Mattek-Sands, unlike most of the
best tennis players in the world, is
married and travels the globe with
g q p omnipresent
and personable
Spurrier’s rant can’t mask problems Justin Sands.
At 26, she is
Gene Sapakoff program for a quarter-century.
Taking stock of the two primary
developments Tuesday:
Or unless he is acting.
the top-ranked
American player
not named
Williams
It’s constructive to roughly (No. 41) and
dissect the timeline of South the only seeded
◗ The Gamecocks lost a Carolina’s odd start to Mississippi in
Mattek-Sands
American
this week’s
quarterback. State week. Family Circle
◗ Head coach Steve Spurrier A little after Cup singles draw (No. 14).
noon, Spurrier
Plus, Bethanie has some darn
Unmanned camera a tribute to Jeremy Shultz
GENE SAPAKOFF
might be losing his marbles.
It’s hilarious when a head coach
gets ticked off enough to become
entered his weekly news conference
impressive tattoos.
at Williams-Brice Stadium and, she says,
“These are killer bees,”
without taking a seat,to her left forearm.
pointing said he
H
March Madness doubleheaders and Major daughter Cinnamin. ard to say if it was the most must-see YouTube, unless he “Because ‘Killer B’ was my
no longer will take questions in
nickname growing up.”
League Baseball telecasts. “Yes, that sounds like Jeremy,” Maryann University
bizarre day in represents your favorite team or the presence of ThoseMorris, a on the
Ron pretty flowers
An ESPNU camera behind one of the said Thursday, a few hours of South Carolina football
before his the largest institution of higher upper arm?
baskets at Carolina First Arena was left funeral. “Nothing was moreI’ve only been around the
history. important to learning in your home state. “My Zen garden,” Bethanie
Please see SAPAKOFF, Page 3C
unmanned, a tribute to Jeremy, who died Jeremy than the kids.” explains. “Water lilies. This tattoo
last Friday at the Joseph M. Still Burn is actually not finished yet, but it
Center in Augusta of injuries suffered All about family just hurt so much getting it done I
had to stop.”
GENE SAPAKOFF Dec. 30 in an early morning fire at his You know how at many funerals folks Justin Sands smiles.
home in Goose Creek. console themselves by agreeing that the He knows what’s coming next.
B
efore the fire, Jeremy Shultz always He was 37. departed lived a long life and didn’t suffer “And this,” says his wife of 29
had the best seat in the house, I ran into Jeremy and his infectious smile much? This wasn’t one of those. months, “is Justin’s name written
inside my ring finger.”
operating large cameras at the edge at stadiums and arenas from Charleston to They arrived at Northwoods Chapel Justin, 28, has a “Bethanie” tattoo,
of big-time sports action and all over the Kansas City, Miami to Blacksburg, Va. We early, filling all the seats. Soon there was too. Giant. All the way down his
country for ESPN or CBS or Fox. chatted, joked, pulled pranks on each other. no room left to stand in the back of the right arm.
But if you watched the Wofford- But always the conversation kept going room. Eventually, the expansive lobby was “That’s it,” their lunch guest says.
“You guys definitely have to stick
College of Charleston game Thursday night back to family. Jeremy asked about mine jam-packed enough to keep people outside together now.”
on ESPNU, you didn’t get the quality and went on and on about Maryann the building. PHOTO PROVIDED
“Yeah,” Justin says jokingly, “and
camera work you have unknowingly Hernandez, the love of his life, their Jeremy Shultz, 37, a freelance camera operator, died if it doesn’t work out, it will remind
appreciated during countless bowl games, 3-year-old son Dallas and her 11-year-old Please see SAPAKOFF, Page 8C Friday from injuries suffered in a Dec. 30 fire. me of a great time in my life.”
Their eyes meet. They laugh.
‘Sappy romantics’