NATCHITOCHES, La. – Iconic New Orleans sports broadcaster and former UNO Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Ro Brown will be inducted into the 2021 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. The committee announced Brown will receive a Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism. Brown will join an exclusive group as part of the 2021 class, including former New Orleans Saints wide receiver and current professor at UNO Marques Colston.
In 1978, Brown was the first on-air African American sports anchor & reporter in New Orleans at WDSU-TV. Brown is currently a co-host on WBOK’s The Rickey and Ro Show, a daily (4-6 p.m. CT) sports talk show on 1230 AM. After becoming the first education reporter in the New Orleans market, Brown followed his broadcasting/reporting career by joining the University of New Orleans Athletic Department as the Assistant Director of Athletic Communications. He was the Public Address announcer for volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball.
FROM THE LOUISIANA SPORTS HALL OF FAME
The DSA honor, to be made official next summer in Natchitoches, means they will be among an elite 12-person Class of 2021 being inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. The trio was selected from a 26-person pool of outstanding nominees for the state’s top sports journalism honor.
The Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism recipients are chosen by the 40-member Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee based on nominees’ professional accomplishments in local, state, regional and even national arenas, with leadership in the LSWA a contributing factor and three decades of work in the profession as a requirement.
Distinguished Service Award winners are enshrined in the Hall of Fame along with the 444 current athletes, sports journalists, coaches and administrators chosen since 1959. Just 66 leading figures in the state’s sports media have been honored with the Distinguished Service Award since its inception 38 years ago in 1982.
Brow will be among the 2021 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class to be spotlighted in the annual Induction Dinner and Ceremonies on Saturday evening, June 26, at the Natchitoches Events Center. The Induction Dinner and Ceremonies are the highlight of the 2021 Induction Celebration beginning Thursday afternoon, June 24, with a regionally-televised (Cox Sports Television) press conference at the Hall of Fame museum at 800 Front Street in Natchitoches.
{Press release courtesy of UNO Athletics}
