House Concurrent Resolution 97

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING RICK CLEVELAND UPON BEING SELECTED FOR THE 2011 RICHARD WRIGHT LITERARY EXCELLENCE AWARD.

WHEREAS, Rick Cleveland, a talented Mississippi writer whose career has spanned more than 40 years, recently was selected for the 2011 Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award, an honor established in 1994 by the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration and presented to "a living author with strong Mississippi connections whose body of written work is exemplary"; and

WHEREAS, encouraged by his father, a sports writer and Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Cleveland, a Hattiesburg native, first became interested in writing in elementary school and began writing at the young age of 13 for the Hattiesburg American, where he worked part time in the sports department throughout high school and until he graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a double major in journalism and history and a minor in English; and

WHEREAS, as a reporter, sports editor and columnist for The Clarion-Ledger since 1979, Rick Cleveland has covered every major sporting event in the country, including the Super Bowl, World Series, Masters and countless college championship games, as well as nationally recognized Mississippi athletes such as Brett Favre, Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Steve McNair, Johnie Earl Cooks and Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd; and

WHEREAS, praised by his colleagues and friends as one who covers the "little guys" with as much zeal as the major headliners, Rick Cleveland earned a Best of Gannett award in 2005 for his stories of Mississippians seeking normalcy in their lives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; and

WHEREAS, in 2010, Cleveland, who has also penned three books, again was honored for the poignant columns he wrote on the victims of a tornado that had violently swept a path of destruction across his native Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, as stated so well by Executive Editor of The Clarion-Ledger, Ronnie Agnew, Rick Cleveland "has crisscrossed every Mississippi town, on roads without names, to cover people who would likewise have remained anonymous if Rick had not been there to tell their stories."; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of this Legislature to bring special recognition to talented Mississippians such as Rick Cleveland who, with his selection for the 2011 Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award, joins previous winners, Eudora Welty, Willie Morris, Margaret Walker Alexander and John Grisham at the highest ranks of Mississippi's famed authors whose award-winning works have been a source of great pride and honor to the State of Mississippi:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend and congratulate Rick Cleveland upon his being selected for the 2011 Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award and extend heartiest wishes for many more years of success in all of his writing endeavors.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Rick Cleveland and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.