The Over The Mountain Journal’s very own Rubin Grant is being given the 2021 Mel Allen Media Award for his lifetime contribution to sports as a journalist.
Grant will join previous winners Paul Finebaum, Cecil Hurt, Ron Ingram, Tom Roberts, George Smith and John Pruett who hold the award from the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
The award is named for Mell Allen of Birmingham, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974 after being known as the “Voice of the New York Yankees” for two decades.
Grant, 63, began his media career as sports editor for the Crimson White at the University of Alabama during Paul “Bear” Bryant’s tenure as coach. He then spent 25 years covering sports for the Birmingham Post-Herald, where he was prep editor, reporting on local high school football. He was given the Herby Kirby Award, the Alabama Sports Writer’s Association’s highest award, in 1981. For his 25 years of covering the Barons, he was inducted into the Birmingham Barons Hall of Fame. In 2002, Grant won first place in the Alabama Associated Press Managing Editors Competition for his columns on high school sports. Since 2004, he has worked as a freelance journalist and he co-authored the book “Tales from Alabama Prep Football” in 2006.
Grant will be recognized as the 2021 Mel Allen Media Award recipient during ASHOF’s 53rd Annual Induction Banquet and Ceremony, being held May 8 in the Birmingham Ballroom at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel.
