Howard Bryant is a prolific baseball writer on a variety of topics affecting the game. His most celebrated works include “Full Dissidence: Notes From an Uneven Playing Field,” “The Heritage: Black Athletes”, “The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron,” “Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball” and “Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston.”

He is a two-time Casey Award winner (“Shut Out,” 2003, “The Last Hero,” 2011) for best baseball book of the year, and a 2003 finalist for the Society for American Baseball Research Seymour Medal. “The Heritage” was the recipient of the 2019 Nonfiction Award from the American Library Association’s Black Caucus and the Harry Shaw and Katrina Hazard Donald Award for Outstanding Work in African American Studies awarded by the Popular Culture Association.

He has been senior writer for ESPN since 2007 and has served as the sports correspondent for NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” since 2006. In 2017, he served as the guest editor for the “Best American Sports Writing” anthology.

“It may make people uncomfortable, but I’m pleased that Howard Bryant has chosen to tell the story of our heritage, and even more pleased that there are still ballplayers today who are willing to stand up for what they think is right.” —Henry “Hank” Aaron, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer

Previously, Bryant worked at “The Washington Post,” “Boston Herald,” “The Record” (Hackensack, N.J.), the “The Mercury News” and the “Oakland Tribune.”

He has won numerous awards, was a finalist for the National Magazine Award in 2016 and 2018, both for commentary, and earned the 2016 Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. In addition, Bryant has appeared in several documentaries, including “Baseball: The Tenth Inning and Jackie Robinson,” both directed by Ken Burns, and “Major League Legends: Hank Aaron,” produced by the Smithsonian and Major League Baseball.

Event Moderator

Rebecca Alt, Ph.D.
Rebecca Alt has been assistant professor of communication at Lenoir-Rhyne University since 2019. She also serves as the director of the speech preparation lab. Alt specializes in communication theory and practice. She teaches courses focused on sports communication, media, rhetoric, social change, research methods, convergent media writing and speech. 

Alt’s scholarship stems from her dedication to rhetorical education rooted in ancient principles yet updated for the ever-evolving needs of the current century. Her research in the context of the sport focuses on how the culture of big-time sport — namely, high-profile college sports and elite Olympic sports — is maintained and contested through acts of communication. In studying the structural dynamics that create an urgent need for activism-related social justice issues, Alt’s work aims to amplify the voices of current or former athletes and their proposals for policy reform and cultural change. Her work appears in the "Review of Communication, Social Media + Society," the "Journal of Public Interest Communication," "Engaging Sports" and the edited volume "Case Studies in Sport Communication: You Make The Call. "  

Live Stream

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