USA Today’s Jarrett Bell wins PFWA Bill Nunn Jr. Award

Jarrett Bell of the USA Today has been named the 2022 PFWA Bill Nunn Jr. Award winner, the PFWA announced on Wednesday.

Bell has covered the NFL since 1981 and with the USA Today since 1993. He was also a contributor at ESPN and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee.

“Jarrett Bell is the gold standard in pro football writing,” said PFWA president Lindsay Jones of The Athletic. “He’s impeccably sourced and he always seems to know the right questions to ask in the big moments. His columns at USA Today are a must-read if you want to understand not just what is happening in the NFL, but why.”

The award, given out annually since 1969 is named for Nunn, a longtime Steelers scout and former sportswriter and editor for the Pittsburgh Courier, and goes to a reporter who has made a long a distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage. 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot, former New York Daily News writer Gary Myers and Associated Press staffer Barry Wilner were the other finalists.

Nunn worked for 22 years the Courier, an influential Black newspaper, and took steps to draw attention to the stories of players at Historically Black Colleges and Universities around the country.

That work drew the Steelers to Nunn, and the team hired him as a part-time scout in 1966. He moved to a full-time position with the Steelers in 1970 as assistant director of player personnel in 1970 and remained a part of the organization until his death in 2014.

Nunn is one of five people associated with the Steelers to earn six Super Bowl rings, along with Joe Greene, Chuck Noll, Art Rooney II and Dan Rooney. He was posthumously was named a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2021.

Former winners:

1969 – George Strickler, Chicago Tribune
1970 – Arthur Daley, New York Times
1971 – Joe King, New York World Telegram & Sun
1972 – Lewis “Tony” Atchison, Washington Star
1973 – Dave Brady, Washington Post
1974 – Bob Oates, Los Angeles Times
1975 – John Steadman, Baltimore News-American
1976 – Jack Hand, Associated Press
1977 – Art Daley, Green Bay Press-Gazette
1978 – Murray Olderman, Newspaper Enterprise Association
1979 – Pat Livingston, Pittsburgh Press
1980 – Chuck Heaton, Cleveland Plain Dealer
1981 – Norm Miller, New York Daily News
1982 – Cameron Snyder, Baltimore Sun
1983 – Hugh Brown, Philadelphia Bulletin
1984 – Larry Felser, Buffalo News
1985 – Cooper Rollow, Chicago Tribune
1986 – William Wallace, New York Times
1987 – Jerry Magee, San Diego Union
1988 – Gordon Forbes, USA Today
1989 – Vito Stellino, Baltimore Sun
1990 – Will McDonough, Boston Globe
1991 – Dick Connor, Denver Post
1992 – Frank Luksa, Dallas Morning News
1993 – Ira Miller, San Francisco Chronicle
1994 – Don Pierson, Chicago Tribune
1995 – Ray Didinger, Philadelphia Daily News
1996 – Paul Zimmerman, Sports Illustrated
1997 – Bob Roesler, New Orleans Times-Picayune
1998 – Dave Anderson, New York Times
1999 – Art Spander, Oakland Tribune
2000 – Tom McEwen, Tampa Tribune
2001 – Len Shapiro, Washington Post
2002 – Edwin Pope, Miami Herald
2003 – Joel Buchsbaum, Pro Football Weekly
2004 – Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News
2005 – Jerry Green, Detroit News
2006 – John McClain, Houston Chronicle
2007 – John Clayton, ESPN.com
2008 – Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com
2009 – Peter King, Sports Illustrated
2010 – Peter Finney, New Orleans Times-Picayune
2011 – Bob McGinn, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
2012 – Tom Kowalski, MLive.com
2013 – Dan Pompei, Chicago Tribune
2014 – Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
2015 – Dave Goldberg, Associated Press
2016 – Chris Mortensen, ESPN.com
2017 – Ed Werder, ESPN
2018 – Charean Williams, Pro Football Talk
2019 – Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times
2020 – Don Banks, SI.com
2021 – Bob Glauber, Newsday