By JAMARIO WANN
IU Diversity Sports Media Institute

Fred Mitchell was a pioneer at the Chicago Tribune, becoming its first African-American sports journalist in 1974. Thirty-six years later, Mitchell is an award-winning sports columnist. But, he’s still one of only two African-Americans on the Tribune sports staff.

"There does not seem to be any sort of mandate or sense of urgency to increase diversity," said Mitchell, who was participating on a Diversity in Sports panel Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Diversity has always been a challenge in the sports department. Mitchell said he didn’t let the difficulties affect him. "It’s only their problem, and I’m not going to make it mine," Mitchell said in an interview with high school students.

Being the first African-American in the sports department almost cost him his job early in his career. Mitchell said his boss told him: "I don’t think this is going to work out. I think you need to look for something else." Mitchell said he was "crushed." Thankfully for Mitchell, someone higher up at the paper saved his job.

Mitchell made the most of that second chance.

He is an accomplished sports columnist who has won numerous awards (Irv’s Kupp, Jim Murray Award,  National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame) and also has written the biographies on some of Chicago’s most celebrated athletes, including Hall of Fame Bears running back Gale Sayers and Hall of Fame  Cubs outfielder Billy Williams.

Mitchell grew up in Gary, Ind., where he developed a love for sports:  “Anything I could get my hands on, especially sports, was very important to me.”

Mitchell continued that love into college, where he became an All-American kicker at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

After graduating, Mitchell took a job as a teacher and coach in an effort to avoid being drafted into Vietnam. He described the job as “a growing-up experience.”

In 1974, after five years of teaching, Mitchell decided he wanted a change of pace, although he was not exactly sure what he wanted to do. Mitchell went to a hiring agency, which sent him to a string of interviews at jobs that did not interest him.

The hiring agent saw this and asked Mitchell what he wanted to do. “It was hard for me to say that I wanted to be a sportswriter,” Mitchell said.

But, with a bit of luck, he landed a job as copy editor at the Tribune. Mitchell took his job as a copy editor seriously, which helped him become a writer.  His advice: "Do the very best at whatever you are asked to do."  Mitchell went to cover the Bears, Cubs, and Bulls, before becoming a columnist.

Mitchell is a believer in  “cultivating relationships” and through these relationships, he builds up trust with athletes. This trust is why Mitchell believes he has been approached by these high-profile athletes to tell their life stories.

Today, Mitchell believes that journalists need to work harder to get the facts right and stop "throwing something against the wall and seeing if it sticks."  His best advice for aspiring journalist is  to "read, read, read." And while he believes that there is pressure to change with  technology, he has had no problem embracing it, even calling himself a "tech geek."

And although Mitchell is closing in on his 40th year at the Tribune, he has no intentions to slow down or stop. He says, "What else would I rather be doing?"