The Fowlers on Fatherhood

Father-and-son duo Scott and Chapel Fowler found themselves exchanging “attaboys” in March when the sportswriters were singled out by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) with seven Top 10 awards between them. This year, Scott won three while Chapel received four.

“I was keeping count as it went along,” commented Scott. “There is no one I would rather lose to in terms of overall awards. I worked for three years at the Courier-Journal and four at the Miami Herald and didn’t get a single APSE. I was in my 30s at the Charlotte Observer before I got that kind of recognition. Chapel is way ahead on that count for sure. That’s a big deal! In our industry, you know those are difficult to get.”

Chapel is a 2020 UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media graduate. As a Hussman student, he was a recipient of many alumni awards like the Don & Barbara Curtis Fund for Extracurricular Activities, the Ann Sawyer Cleland Scholarship and the Larry & Carolyn Keith Awards. He just announced a career move to sports reporter with the State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, primarily covering Clemson football.

Scott, a Carolina School of Journalism graduate of 1987, has been covering sports for the Charlotte Observer since four years before Chapel was born. The elder Fowler has authored or co-authored eight books on sports, including three about UNC basketball history.

The Hussman School of Media and Journalism caught up with the Fowlers in honor of Father’s Day 2022 to talk about who is mentoring whom and other thoughts on how to be an award-winning sportswriter and even more importantly, a good father.

When asked about commonalities between being a good father and good sportswriter, Scott Fowler came up with three: “Show up when you say you’re going to show up, don’t ask any question that can be answered only with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ response and try not to get mad at the other people on your ‘team,’ whether it’s your spouse or your editor.”

Read the full Q&A with Scott and Chapel Fowler…

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