Cecil Hurt’s family partnered with The University of Alabama to establish a memorial scholarship fund in Hurt’s name. 

The longtime Tuscaloosa News sports editor and columnist died on Tuesday, Nov. 23 in Birmingham, Alabama, after a brief hospitalization with pneumonia. 

Hurt graduated from the University in 1981 and joined the Tuscaloosa News as a sports writer the following year. In 1988, he became the newspaper’s sports editor and a columnist. 

“He never left The Tuscaloosa News but influenced and befriended hundreds of sports journalists and athletics enthusiasts during his almost four decade career with the newspaper,” the fund’s donation page read. “He also made an undeniable impact on Crimson Tide Athletics, Tuscaloosa, the State of Alabama and college sports fans across the country but especially in the SEC.”

He won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the 2011 tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa and surrounding areas. In 2019, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame awarded him the Mel Allen Media Award for his contribution to sports in the state. 

Football head coach Nick Saban commended Hurt’s legacy as “one of sports journalism’s best.” 

“He was a man of integrity and a fair-minded journalist blessed with wit, wisdom and an ability to paint a picture with his words that few have possessed,” Saban’s statement read. “Cecil was loved throughout this community and state as an old-school journalist who covered the Alabama beat with class and professionalism. He was a role model for young writers and the most trusted source of news for Alabama fans everywhere.”