Rick Cleveland, a columnist and correspondent for Mississippi Today, will be inducted into the Mississippi Press Hall of Fame during the 158th Annual Meeting on June 28 in Biloxi,.

Cleveland, an award-winning journalist who has spent decades chronicling sports in Mississippi, is the first sports journalist to be inducted. He has been recognized 13 times as Mississippi Sports Writer of the Year. 

“Rick is one of Mississippi’s most treasured storytellers,” said Mary Margaret White, Mississippi Today CEO and executive director. “We are so proud to see his years of sports journalism recognized with this incredible honor by the Mississippi Press Association.”

A Hattiesburg native, Cleveland graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. He went on to work at the Hattiesburg American, Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger as a reporter, editor and columnist.

After leaving the Clarion-Ledger in 2012, he served for several years as executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and sports writer has appeared in magazines, periodicals and newspapers. He is the author of four books. His latest, the “Mississippi Football Book,” was published in 2023.

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