William Rhoden's Headshot

William Rhoden

- Panelist Blurb

Award-winning New York Times columnist William Rhoden is one of the nation's most respected journalists. During a career that spans more than three decades, Rhoden has been a revered sports columnist, social commentator, author and documentary writer. He has been writing about sports for The New York Times since March 1983, tackling such weighty issues as the roles of race and gender in American sports and corruption in NCAA athletics.

Rhoden joined The New York Times as an editor of the Week-In-Review section. He soon moved to sports, where he focused on high school and college athletics, eventually netting his own weekly sports column, The Sports of the Times, in 1990.

Before joining The Times, Rhoden spent nearly four years at The Baltimore (Morning) Sun, where he wrote features and a unique jazz column called Drylongso. He also served as an associate editor at Ebony Magazine.

Rhoden has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Peabody Award for Broadcasting as writer of the HBO documentary Journey of the African-American Athlete in 1996, and an Emmy Award for the HBO documentary Breaking the Huddle in 2009. He has also written two critically acclaimed books, The New York Times bestseller, Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete, and Third and a Mile: The Trials and Triumphs of The Black Quarterback.

Rhoden received his undergraduate degree in English and Education from Morgan State University, where he played football and wrote for the student newspaper. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in New York City.