City of Philadelphia - File #: 110683

• File #: 110683
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 10/6/2011
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 10/13/2011
• Title: Honoring the Career of Elmer Smith.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Sanchez, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember Green, Council President Verna, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember O'Neill

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
10/13/2011	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED
10/6/2011	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Ordered Placed On Next Week's Final Passage Calendar	Pass

Title
Honoring the Career of Elmer Smith.
Body
WHEREAS, The Council of the City of Philadelphia is pleased and proud to honor Elmer Smith for his several years of civic and community engagement to the citizens and institutions of the greater Philadelphia region through his outstanding career in the field of journalism; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Smith is a product of the Philadelphia public school system and began his journalism career over 38 years ago when he decided to major in journalism at Temple University and, during his last semester, he was hired by the Evening Bulletin as a night time re-write man; and

WHEREAS, Elmer Smith's career at the Bulletin progressed and he became a City Hall reporter, covering many of the City's prominent figures and issues, including the court system, Abscam, Council Presidents George X. Schwartz and Joseph Coleman, then-District Attorney Ed Rendell and then-Councilman John Street, and Mayors Frank Rizzo, Bill Green, and Wilson Goode, Sr.; and

WHEREAS, In 1983, the Bulletin closed and Mr. Smith continued his journalism career at the Philadelphia Daily News as a sports writer and, later, his "Sports People" column focused on boxing and he had the opportunity to witness the golden era of this sport by covering Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Michael Spinks, Larry Holmes, Roberto Duran, Evander Holyfield, and Iron Mike Tyson; and

WHEREAS, At the Daily News, Elmer Smith has been a columnist for approximately 22 years and he has traveled the world covering issues and events from boxing matches in Tokyo and Seoul, Russia and the fall of the Communist Party, Somalia and the famine of 1991, Haiti and the forced repatriation of refugees, and Nelson Mandela and the birth of a new South Africa; and

WHEREAS, Throughout his career, Mr. Smith has received numerous awards and accolades including the Nat Fleisher Award (highest awa...