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Elizabeth Merrill is a fantastic sports writer, storyteller, and journalist -- no semi-this or semi-that about it. No conjecture. No hyperbole. She has the bona fides to back it up having recently earned the 2020 Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. Not enough for you? Just peruse the body of work she has produced over the span of a career at places like the Omaha World-Herald, the Kansas City Star, and now, as a senior writer at ESPN. Merrill has penned stories that have personalized the addiction struggles of former Husker Randy Gregory and documented the rise of Danny Woodhead from small college star to NFL regular. She’s told the story of how Vanderbilt honored a fallen teammate en route to the 2019 College World Series title and she’s gotten inside the mind of the late Tommy Morrison shortly before his passing. Heck, she almost made this Nebraska fan cheer for an Oklahoma Sooner -- Baker Mayfield no less. Merrill earned the Jenkins Medal, named for the legendary writer Dan Jenkins, author of Semi-Tough and the Sports Illustrated article that first christened the 1971 Nebraska-Oklahoma contest as the ‘Game of the Century,’ for her story on former Villanova women’s basketball star Shelly Pennefather. Pennefather won the Wade Trophy in 1987 as the best college player in the country. She played professionally in Japan for three years and had a $200,000 offer to continue playing. Instead, she left it all behind to become a nun, but not just any nun. Pennefather joined the Poor Clares, an order that would require that she have virtually no contact with the outside world. Merrill painted a picture of what Pennefather’s life was like before joining the convent and what it was like inside the order – all without having access to Pennefather. Merrill accomplished it masterfully according to Michael MacCambridge, the author of The Franchise and Chiefs Kingdom and a 1985 graduate of Creighton University. MacCambridge is co-chair of the Jenkins Medal jury. The award is administered by the Center for Sports Communication and Media at the University of Texas. “What distinguished Liz's story, for me, was the way she took this amazing story of extremes, of a great basketball player who finds a higher calling and makes a great sacrifice, and then humanized the subject -- to make the unthinkable somehow comprehensible -- and, over the course of the story, deepened our understanding of Shelly Pennefather and the complexities of her journey,” MacCambridge said. “In sportswriting, we try to understand what competition does to shape the human spirit, and what ineffable quality makes great athletes great -- is it something innate, something learned, some weird alchemy of intangible elements?” For Merrill, winning an award that bares Jenkins’ name and being mentioned in the company of the other nominees made it a special honor. “Dan Jenkins is the gold standard in sportswriting. I mean, I wasn't old enough to remember ‘The Game of the Century,’ but I sure as heck know the famous lede of that story, because anyone who lives in Nebraska can almost memorize it,” she said. “The people on that (nomination) list are incredible. Steve Politi writes with such an ease that it makes me want to bang my head on my keyboard; Seth Wickersham is an incredible writer who also happens to be a great reporter. And Tim Keown wrote one of my favorite stories, a piece about Mark Davis. Everything he does is magic. “I got a call that our story won, and it was a very humbling experience. Knowing the people who are on that panel, like Wright Thompson and Sally Jenkins, it was overwhelmingly cool.” Merrill was first approached about the Pennefather story by Carol Stiff, a vice president in women’s programming at ESPN. While Merrill had been charged with putting together a feature piece without access to the main subject before – including a story on Patriots head coach Bill Belichick – this story provided some unique challenges. “The thing everybody wants to know -- why would someone who had so much to offer the world make a choice like this? -- needs to be answered by the subject, who can't be interviewed,” Merrill said. “The thing you always want to do, in any story, is talk to as many people as possible. I feel like you can never do enough reporting, though sometimes I curse that thought process when I'm staring at an infinite file of notes. “Probably the best thing that happened was finding the man she contemplated marrying and having children with when she was in college. He'd never really talked about it before, but as we talked he began to feel comfortable and decided the time was right. He's a priest now, and felt as if his story about their love and respect for each other might give people a window into what that sacrifice meant, while also humanizing her.” Merrill described a collaborative environment at ESPN with the television side working with the website side. Communication goes back and forth both before and during the piece, she explained. “I've always had really good experiences working with TV, and it helps me see stories differently. I feel like I learn so much from what they do,” she said. “I'm working on a piece right now with Chris Connelly, a TV icon who does the red carpet at the Oscars and is so great on E:60. But guess what? He's also a fantastic writer. He did a piece this week on the 1970 Wichita State football team's plane crash that is a must-read. So I'm reading that, and I think about how lucky I am to be working with someone who can see things from both a TV and print perspective. And you can bet I'm going to be asking him for advice on my story if I get stuck.” Merrill, a graduate of Ralston High School and the University of Nebraska-Omaha, started her journalism career at the Omaha World-Herald before heading south on I-29 to the Kansas City Star. She made the jump to ESPN at the urging of Jena Janovy, a World-Herald alum herself and Senior Deputy Editor at ESPN. “Liz has a unique blend of curiosity, empathy, perspective, and persistence. All of that makes her an amazing reporter. She’s always been a talented writer, with a unique ear and ability to stray true to her writing voice, but it’s her reporting that so often has spelled the difference between a good story and a great one,” Janovy said. “She’s thoughtful. She relates to people well. She cares about what she does and how she does it. All of those qualities make her a beautiful storyteller.” Two 2018 stories showcase Merrill’s writing, reporting, and storytelling ability. The first – a profile of former Husker standout Randy Gregory’s struggle with marijuana. “It took maybe a year and a half to get him to talk to me, but I felt as if the story we did gave readers a window into how hard it is to fight through addiction, especially under a microscope,” Merrill said. “Gregory is mega-talented, and since he's a Dallas Cowboy, he's also very scrutinized. When Gregory finally opened up, at Japanese steakhouse, he told the story of a lost man who was bullied as a child, and isolated in the NFL's drug program.” The next was still more challenging. “One story that will stay with me forever is Parkland. The school shooting at Stoneman Douglas was one of many in 2018, and what we tried to do is take a step back and tell the story of the massive void that a victim's family and friends try to fill while the world goes on to whatever is next in the news cycle,” Merrill said. “I'll never forget talking to Debbi and Corey Hixon in a diner a few months after they lost Chris, the bedrock of the family, and, as the world would later find out, a hero who died trying to save children. I'll always remember the feeling of hopelessness I felt when Nick Dworet's parents showed me his room and the Oreos he stashed in the closet and a note he pinned on his wall with his goal of making the Olympics. I still think about that empty chair at their dinner table.” Those stories are the result of years of practice. Before ESPN, the Star, and the World-Herald, there was the Gateway, UNO’s student newspaper. “I was a political science major in college, but always seemed to do much better in English and writing classes. I got the bug after working for the UNO student newspaper,” Merrill said. “Some of the best education I got was from working at the Gateway. I started as a writer, and eventually became editor-in-chief, which is kind of an all-consuming job in which your schoolwork is sacrificed for 2 a.m. deadlines with the music blasting and a bunch of crazy kids trying to put out a paper. I'll never forget that feeling of seeing our work on the racks, or watching people reading it in the library... Even at the World-Herald, or in Kansas City, it was always a rush when the paper hit the door.” Merrill credits friends, colleagues, and mentors throughout her career for helping her grow at each stop. Dr. Michael Hilt, now the Dean of Communications at UNO, and Warren Francke, Professor Emeritus, helped push Merrill in college, along with her advisor Jim Fogarty. Janovy and former World-Herald Sports Editor Steve Sinclair were invaluable mentors at her first professional stop. “Jena challenged me to look at stories in different ways and to be more aggressive,” Merrill said. “One time, when I was on the Nebraska football beat and one of the players got in trouble, she told me I couldn't come back to Omaha until I tracked this particular player down.” At the Kansas City Star, Mike Fannin, now the President and Editor of the paper, challenged Merrill. “Mike Fannin took my writing to the next level. My first week in KC, I came up with an idea for the Sunday centerpiece -- that was a really big deal back then -- and got access to follow a (Kansas City) Chief during house arrest,” Merrill said. “I turned in the story, and proceeded to get dressed down for four hours on a Saturday afternoon about everything I missed. I spent part of that poring over my notebook and all the things I didn't include. I even called a jail to find out the exact dimensions of a cell. It was pretty eye-opening.” At ESPN, the late Jay Lovinger and his wife, Gay Daly, helped both Merrill and Janovy develop further. “They took us under their wings and showed us the importance of spending time with people, trying to truly understand what motivates them, their passion, their humanity. Jay encouraged us to talk stories out along the way, to share reporting moments, and to believe in ourselves,” Janovy said. “We’ve learned so much from so many people over the years. First at the World-Herald and then at ESPN – other writers, editors, producers, photo editors, creative design colleagues and bosses who’ve been willing o share their doubts and insecurities along with their happiness and achievements and success stories.” So what’s up next for Merrill? ESPN keeps things tight lipped on stories in development, but she was able to share a nugget or two. “I'm really excited about a couple of the stories that I hope will appear in October and November, particularly a TV collaboration with Chris Connelly,” she said. “I also have an idea that I've been trying to report out that I hope hits before the end of baseball season.”
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"To the extent that your request seeks records that would reveal a classified association between the CIA and the subjects, if any exist, we can neither confirm nor deny having such records." Well, that’s a quick way to kill a story. Unless you’re an intrepid journalist intent on finding the truth. Dan Sullivan, a 40-year veteran of the Omaha World-Herald, proves he is most definitely that with the publication of his new non-fiction book, The Murder of the Real Jack Ryan. Sullivan, who retired from the World-Herald at the end of 2017, admitted that while receiving the above message made finding the truth tougher, it also led to searching in places he might not have otherwise investigated. “It seems funny now, but it felt like running into a brick wall when I received it,” Sullivan said. “but the big breakthrough came when I finally tracked down someone who worked with Jack.” Spy novel aficionados and most pop culture fans will recognize Jack Ryan as the lead character in a series of Tom Clancy novels. Those novels, including The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Sum of All Fears, have made their way to the big and small screen. The Ryan character has been played by a number of actors including Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, and most recently, John Krasinski. While there are some striking similarities between Clancy’s Jack Patrick Ryan and the real Jack Edwin Ryan, Sullivan said it does not appear that the real-life person was a direct inspiration for the fictional one. “The family always thought that there was a connection, but I couldn't find any and am almost certain there was not,” Sullivan said. “The other oddity is that fictional Jack's father was a big-city cop named Emmet William Ryan, while the real Jack's father was a big-city cop named William Edwin Ryan. It's a strange coincidence, but no evidence it's anything more.” So who is the real Jack Ryan? Sullivan describes him on the back cover as “a real-life hero, working undercover with the French Resistance during World War II and meticulously planning CIA operations designed to help America avoid all-out war in Vietnam.” Ryan spoke French fluently and his work with the French Underground earned him credibility with the intelligence community and made him a perfect fit for work in Vietnam. His illustrious career was cut short when he was killed in 1965 under mysterious circumstances. Sullivan became interested in the cold case because Ryan was family, a relative of his wife, Kathy. “The mystery of his murder has frequently been a topic of conversation at family gatherings. I had retired recently when I decided to take it on in 2018. We basically knew nothing about his work, other than he was ‘with the CIA,’ and that he had worked with the French Resistance during World War II. We knew even less about how to solve a cold-case murder that occurred in Saigon in 1965.” The hunt for the truth began by simply going through boxes of family keepsakes, Sullivan explained. “Jack's life was a complete mystery after he went to Vietnam in 1955, so we had to piece together who he was. His father was a World War I Doughboy and his mother was a French war bride. Jack was born in France and fluent in French, the language of administration in Vietnam, Laos and the Congo, places he was posted,” he said. “Jack's father also was the police chief in Minneapolis when Hubert Humphrey was mayor, a connection that ended up being very important. The family kept their letters from WWI, WWII and Jack's from his foreign postings.” From there it was on to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Sullivan and his wife spent a week combing through 1,000 of documents about Ryan’s time in Vietnam. Presidential and university libraries were a key resource, while newspaper archives provided valuable information as well, Sullivan said. The CIA nonanswer was a temporary setback before Sullivan got his big break. “I finally tracked down someone who worked with Jack. His colleagues were mostly WWII vets and were long gone when I started,” Sullivan explained. “The man I located was younger and had been recruited by the CIA in 1962. He was 90 years old and razor sharp. He ended up answering our key questions.” The book, published on Sept. 16, 2020, is available on Amazon. Sullivan credits his wife, who taught journalism at Creighton University, with motivating him to write the book and push through the road blocks. “Kathy was incredibly interested in the project, so she kept everything on track,” he said. Sullivan earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1973 and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Creighton University in 1977 before embarking on his career at the World-Herald. In addition to the Ryan book, Sullivan penned Nebraska’s First College for Peru State University’s 150th anniversary in 2017 and has edited more than 25 books including many of the publications coming out of the Omaha World-Herald such as Steve Pivovar’s Road to the Big Time and Steve Jordan’s The Oracle and Omaha. “It's always a thrill when the first one arrives,” Sullivan said. “I take a picture of the book in my hand and send it to people with the message ‘the book is in hand.’ I'm the only one who thinks that's funny.” With over 100 options on the menu and an attention to detail with ingredients and preparation, Han’s Golden Dragon, 923 Galvin Road South, Suite 107, has been serving Bellevue, Nebraska since 1989. The husband and wife team of James and Nanhee Han are the principal owners of the restaurant. “They’ve been working side by side at every restaurant along their path,” said Andrew Han, the couple’s son. “They work extremely well together and are both fantastic cooks with over 30 years of experience.” The Hans started the business back in 1989 before selling it to family friends in 1997. The Han’s reopened the restaurant after that couple retired in 2018. The aforementioned variety and attention to detail is what makes the Golden Dragon standout. The restaurant does not use MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) in any of its dishes, instead using natural flavors to enhance taste. “People are surprised how we can have so much flavor without doing this,” Andrew said, translating for his parents and offering his own insight as well. “EVERYTHING on menu is made to order. There are no heat lamps and we refuse to leave food sitting out. We make every order as it comes in and that’s why the food is still very hot even after a drive home.” Even the condiments at Golden Dragon are made in-house including the sweet & sour sauce, hot chili sauce, and hot mustard. Andrew recommended a number of his favorite dishes including the Mongolian Beef. “Mongolian beef has always been my favorite meal growing up. And I love to eat it super spicy!,” he said, “When I’m feeling something breaded, I love the General Tso’s chicken and when I’m feeling something sweet, I enjoy the sweet and sour chicken along with the sesame chicken.” For those looking to sample a variety in one sitting, Andrew recommended the combination special which features a half portion of sweet and sour chicken and a half portion of cashew chicken. Those feeling a little adventurous might give the hot shrimp and chicken a try. “This one was shared on our social media and was a huge hit,” he said. “After posting the meal on social media, we sold over 50 orders of the meal in less than one week!” Andrew had one more recommendation of the Korean menu – the spicy pork bulgogi. “I think the pork compliments well with the spicy Korean sauce and it’s currently one of our best sellers,” he said. “We have three bulgogi’s on our Korean menu including: beef, chicken, and pork.” Like all restaurants and business, the Golden Dragon has had to adapt to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic and is only offering carry-out at this point. “We do miss having people dine-in at our restaurant -- walking into the dining area and see people fill the seats along with admiring all the renovations we have done since we’ve re-taken over the restaurant,” Andrew said. “That first week when all the dining rooms closed down, our sales were, in a lack of better terms, terrible. We would get maybe 10 phone calls a day, but we stuck with the process. My parents never gave up on their dream and they were not about to let COVID-19 stop this one.” Using social media, the Hans were able to inform their customers about the restaurants new processes to ensure the safety of their employees along with their customers. “We let people know we were wearing masks while we handle and take-out the food,” Andrew said. “We first started off by taking orders over the phone with a no touch transaction with the customer’s credit card. When they arrived, we had their food outside on one of the carts and would wave them down when they got here. From start to end, it was a no-touch transaction along with no-touch curbside pick-up.” Business started to pick up as customers gained confidence in the process, Andrew said. “It was good to see my parents busy and happy again. We know give a little more freedom for the curbside process,” he said. “We still take the cards over the phone but now when customers arrive, we let them choose if we can hand them their food, place it in the passenger seat of the car, or we can still set it outside on a cart for them. Whatever makes them feel most comfortable and people have been extremely happy with our courtesy along with our customer service. “It’s really nice to see people appreciate how much effort my parents have put in to start here, come back, and still stay open during the pandemic. Other places haven’t been as fortunate.” Being part of the Bellevue community has been a blessing for the Hans and the Golden Dragon. “Being part of Bellevue means everything to us. This is where we first established our roots,” Andrew said. “This is the place where my parents took the biggest leap of faith of their lives by starting this restaurant together in 1989. And it’s not just Bellevue. We have customers from Council Bluffs, Omaha, Papillion, Nebraska City, even people that have followed us from Plattsmouth. We always tell people: we will keep cooking as long as you all keep coming and we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.” To order take-out from the Golden Dragon call 402-315-9909. The Brightest Place in the World – an apt title for a novel set in and around Las Vegas. Author David Philip Mullins, a professor at Creighton University, has set his novel in his home town, but rather than referring to the bright lights that set the Las Vegas strip apart, the title just as likely refers to the explosion of the PEPCON chemical plant that occurred in the nearby desert on May 4, 1988.
The book, published June 3, 2020 by the University of Nevada Press, is available at Omaha booksellers The Bookworm and The Next Chapter as well as through online retailers. Fictionalized to WEPCO in the novel, the story is narrated by four main characters in alternating chapters, documenting their experiences in the wake of the disaster. Kicking the novel off with an explosion seemed like an excellent catalyst, Mullins explained. “My memories of the PEPCON explosions are hazy, since it’s been 32 years, but I remember a conversation with my father that evening, during which he broke down and cried,” Mullins said. “That moment impacted me, and was part of the reason I wanted to use the PEPCON disaster, or a fictionalized version of it, in the novel. Also, a giant explosion just makes for a great initiating event.” While Mullins doesn’t feel that growing up in Las Vegas has had a large impact on his writing style, it was the setting for a lot of the stories in his first book Greetings from Below as well as The Brightest Place in the World. “I love setting stories in Las Vegas. The location itself is such a living, breathing character,” Mullins said. One place that very likely did influence Mullins’ writing style is Iowa City, Iowa, where he attended the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop. The Workshop has produced a number highly-regarded writers over the years including John Irving (The World According to Garp) and Ann Patchett (Bel Canto). Mullins attend from 2003-2005 earning his Master of Fine Arts degree. “The whole thing was a life-changing experience. The skills I learned there have been invaluable,” Mullins said. “I consider myself so incredibly lucky to have gone there for graduate school, and to have met the people I met and became friends with there—writers I continue to communicate with all these years later.” Mullins named Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger, The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones and The Point by Charles D’Ambrosio as some of his favorite books and influences. While Mullins is rightfully proud of his new novel, his students keep him humble. “To my knowledge, none of my students have read my novel. If they have, their reaction has been resentful silence,” he said. Mullins started teaching at Creighton in 2008 and taught of the University of Iowa and the University of Nebraska, Omaha prior to becoming a Bluejay. “I love teaching creative writing,” he said. “It compliments my fiction in all kinds of interesting and useful ways.” Teaching in 2020 with the challenges presented by COVID-19 has been different, but Mullins feels he and his students have adapted well. “It hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be to adapt to COVID-19, in terms of teaching,” he said. “My students and I are all masked, but otherwise the environment in the classroom isn’t so different from a normal semester.” While the bright lights of Las Vegas certainly have their appeal, Creighton and Omaha offer a nice contrast to Mullins’ home town “My favorite thing about Omaha is the number of trees the city has—compared, especially, to the neighborhood I grew up in, bordering the desert (very few trees),” he said. “My favorite thing about Creighton is the general quality of my students, both academically and personally. It’s a great place to work, for that reason.” This article was originally published on Dan Silvia's PubGuy blog on Nov. 16, 2006. Photo by Scott Dobry. Sean Doolittle has some new neighbors, but they’re kind of a shady bunch. He only has himself to blame. He invited them. Heck, he invented them. We will say this for them, while a few may be of questionable character, they all have one thing in common — they’re compelling. Doolittle, an Omaha-based writer, has set his fourth published novel, The Cleanup, in his hometown. “Honestly, after spending the amount of time with them that I did, they sort of feel like neighbors. I guess I live on a questionable street.” Doolittle said of his Cleanup characters. This is the first time that Doolittle, whose previous books include Dirt, Burn and Rain Dogs, has set a novel in Omaha. “Local readers will probably recognize real and loosely fictionalized locations all over town. The book ranges from midtown to the Old Market to the river, into the bluffs across the river and back, out to the west side, around the southeastern and northeastern police districts. There’s even a car chase on Saddle Creek Road,” Doolittle said. The book takes place in the aftermath of a fictional October blizzard. “The weather definitely complicates the plot” Doolittle said. “I really wanted this book to have an authentic, specific feel, like the story was happening in this part of the country as opposed to any other. I’m not sure how to quantify it with specific locations. It’s just a quality that’s woven into the basic fabric of life in one place versus another. “I did a lot of general driving around, and I rode with the Omaha Police Department, and I did my usual poking around on the Internet for various tidbits. But this book is, now that I think about it, the first novel I’ve written wherein the main character is actually FROM the area where the story takes place. That probably says it all right there.” The book follows Matthew Worth, a cop whose been busted down to patrolling a supermarket that’s been a recent victim of robberies. The Cleanup references something a little messier than spilt milk in aisle nine. “A tender love story about a cop who hides a body to help a girl” is how Doolittle describes it. Doolittle grew up in Nebraska graduating from Norris High School in Hallam. (The school was destroyed in a tornado in 2004, but has since been rebuilt.). He has both an undergraduate and graduate degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Doolittle credits several teachers for inspiring him to pursue a career as a writer. “Three English teachers in particular: one in 5th grade (Ruby Russell), one in high school (Ed Baker, rest easy), and one in college (Gerald Shapiro),” Doolittle said. “The latter was the person who told me, in a way that made all the difference, that he saw in me the raw talent to make a go of it as a writer. But all of these people played some critical role or other in fostering my love of books and encouraging whatever raw knack they saw. I’m in debt to all of them.” Doolittle published his first book, Dirt, through a small press, the now-defunct UglyTown of Los Angeles. UglyTown also published a hard cover version of his second book, Burn. Bantam Dell republished Burn and put out his third novel, Rain Dogs, before The Cleanup hit the shelves. “I’m one of those stories you seem to hear more and more these days, a writer who started out in the indie press and moved to a larger New York publishing house,” Doolittle said. “I think all writers, aspiring and veteran, would do well to accept what a large, inevitable role luck plays in any publishing career. Having said that, in my personally opinion, determination and doggedness and hard honest work remains the best way to place yourself in luck’s path. “You'll find a lot of advice out there about how to "market" yourself. I say, keep your head down. Read everything you can. Work hard on improving your craft, and strive to grow. Keep writing. Thicken your skin and push yourself. Keep writing. Read some more. Read like a writer. Write some more. Write like a reader. “And just keep doing all of those things. It’s a tough business—tough to break in, even tougher to stay. If you can be discouraged or turned away, you probably should be. “If not. . .well, you don’t need my advice anyway.” For more information on Doolittle and The Cleanup check out http://www.seandoolittle.com/ and http://www.thecleanup.com/. |
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