Robertson Receives 2009 Mary Garber Pioneer Award

By Michelle Kaufman
Miami Herald 

Long before she was one of the nation’s most respected sports columnists, back when she was a proud Palmetto Panther, Linda Robertson was the top high school mile runner in Miami-Dade County. This girl was never about sprints.

Robertson is about depth and strategy and details and preparation. She ran that way. She reports that way. She writes that way.

If she gets assigned a ho-hum 18-inch story, she is likely to interview 10 people and labor over every word. There is always one more person she wants to call, one more fact she wants to investigate, one more angle to pursue. That is also how she leads her life. Never satisfied with mediocre. Always seeking something better. That kind of attention to detail is what has separated her from her peers since she arrived at the Miami Herald in 1983.

She graduated from the University of North Carolina, where she worked for the Daily Tar Heel, ran cross country and track and field. Among the athletes she covered in college was a basketball player named Michael Jordan. She figured out early that this kid was for real. Unlike Jordan, who retired long ago, Robertson is still going strong. Running full speed.

She writes a general sports column and features, and covers the Olympics. Her columns are always insightful and thought-provoking, and she never shies away from tough issues. Her features are the kinds of stories you want to curl up with on a Sunday morning. And her Olympic coverage is authoritative and first-rate.

Her writing has been recognized regularly by the Associated Press Sports Editors, and her stories have appeared in the “Best American Sportswriting” books. In 2006, eager for yet another challenge and a battery recharge, Robertson attended the University of Michigan as a Knight Wallace fellow.

She packed up her family – award-winning journalist/ husband Andres Viglucci and three children Nico, Natalie and Sofia – and headed to Ann Arbor, where she spent the year learning and running through the arboretum at the university.

She came back invigorated, and has continued to shine, even in these gloomy newspaper times.

Throughout her career, Robertson has been a champion for women – on the playing field and in the media. A good story about a female athlete never escapes her, nor does an opportunity to extend her hand to a female colleague, whether she is new to the business or a grizzled veteran. A former AWSM president, she remains involved with the group and serves on UNC’s alumni board.

Last year, Palmetto High celebrated its 50th anniversary. The school named a special alumni Hall of Fame for the occasion, an impressive list that included, among others, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Linda Robertson also was on that list, where she belonged.

Congratulations Linda for winning the Mary Garber Pioneer Award. All of your peers and friends are proud of you!

Miami Herald sportswriter Michelle Kaufman has been a colleague and friend of Linda Robertson for nearly 20 years.