Tuesday, the Tuscaloosa News reported veteran Alabama beat writer Cecil Hurt passed away at age 62 at the UAB Hospital in Birmingham due to complications from pneumonia.
Hurt was a household name for college football fans across the state of Alabama.
Hurt started at The Tuscaloosa News in 1982 as a sports writer. In 1989, he became the News’ sports editor and columnist, according to the report.
He was named the National Sports Media Association’s Alabama Sportswriter of the Year in 2016, 2018 and 2019. He was also given the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame’s Mel Allen Media Award in 2019.
In addition to his numerous sportswriting awards, Hurt was also part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its 2011 coverage of a tornado that wrecked Tuscaloosa and surrounding areas.
A post to Hurt’s Twitter account on November 10 revealed he had been struggling with pneumonia but also said that it was not COVID-related.
According to The Tuscaloosa News, Hurt is survived by his mother Carol Messina of Sugar Hill, Ga., brother Cary Hurt and his wife Aimee of Huntsville, and sister Caren Hidgon and husband Ray of Cumming, Ga.
— Cecil Hurt (@CecilHurt) November 23, 2021
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
