Mary Kay Cabot, who writes about the Cleveland Browns for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com, and covered the NFL since 1988, has been selected as the 2025 Bill Nunn Jr. Award winner by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA).
Cabot, the 57th Nunn Award honoree, is the second journalist who primarily worked at the Cleveland Plain Dealer to win the award, joining Chuck Heaton (1980). Cabot was a four-time finalist for the Nunn Award (2022-25), and she is the second woman to be a Nunn honoree (Charean Williams, 2018).
The Nunn Award is given to a reporter who has made a long and distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage. The award is named for Nunn, who prior to his Hall of Fame scouting career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, worked for 22 years at the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the most influential Black publications in the United States. Nunn, who started with the Courier as a sportswriter in 1948, regularly covered HBCU events and athletes. He compiled the definitive Black College All-America team for the Courier starting in 1950. Nunn became the sports editor, and he was the paper’s managing editor when the Steelers hired him as a part-time scout in 1966. He was hired as the Steelers’ assistant director of player personnel in 1970, and he stayed with the organization as a scout and personnel executive until his death in 2014. Nunn helped build the Steelers’ dynasty of the 1970s, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2021. The PFWA’s award was renamed for Nunn in 2021.
Other 2025 finalists for the Nunn Award were Clarence Hill Jr. (AllDLLS.com), Mike Silver (The Athletic), and Barry Wilner (Associated Press).
Cabot interned for the Plain Dealer in 1983 while in college at Kent State University. After her graduation in 1984, she accepted an offer to join the Plain Dealer sports department. She was the beat reporter covering the Cleveland Force (indoor soccer) for three years and reported on other sports, including the Browns. In 1991, she took over the Browns daily beat and became the first female in Cleveland media to cover a major pro team in the market.
Cabot navigated the challenges of discrimination to establish herself as a dominant presence in Browns coverage. She has remained an aggressive news-breaker throughout the years, despite the numerous obstacles local beat writers encounter.
Cabot has a history of getting sources to open up and share information or aspects of their lives never previously reported, and that skill has contributed to her receiving several honors. She was voted the 2015 Ohio Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association and the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors Sportswriter of the Year in 2024. She was inducted into the Cleveland Press Club Hall of Fame in 2022.
In addition to writing, Cabot appears in daily Browns videos for Cleveland.com and on a daily podcast called Orange and Brown Talk. She also serves as a Browns analyst for WKYC-TV in Cleveland and local radio stations. She is a frequent guest on national radio, TV and podcasts, and has the largest Twitter following of any local NFL beat writer.
Cabot is a longtime member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee and is one of four women currently serving as a selector. She is also president of the Cleveland chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America.
Born in Lakewood, Ohio, Cabot graduated summa cum laude from Kent State in 1984 with a degree in journalism.
“I am truly overwhelmed and humbled to receive this prestigious award, and I can’t thank my colleagues enough for recognizing my contribution to the game over all of these years,” said Cabot. “I am especially grateful to be only the second female to win this award after the great Charean Williams, and I know there will be many more in the future. I hope I have at least in some small way helped blaze a trail for all of the fantastic women in the business today, and I am proud of all of their accomplishments.
“I am also honored to join my late, dear friend Chuck Heaton (1980 Nunn honoree) as the only members of the Cleveland Plain Dealer to earn this distinction. Chuck taught me early on that everyone has a story, and to always do the job with integrity and kindness. Thanks to all who have come before me for all you’ve done for the game.”
“Mary Kay Cabot is synonymous with Cleveland Browns news, and it’s because she is a relentless reporter,” Akron Beacon Journal sports columnist Nate Ulrich said. “Among the countless examples of Mary Kay digging for a story is when former Browns quarterback Colt McCoy suffered a concussion in 2011. The important insight Mary Kay gathered contributed to the NFL placing independent certified athletic trainers in press boxes and implementing a video system to monitor for potential concussions. Mary Kay is the epitome of a football writer who deserves to go from Cleveland to Canton.”
Cabot will be honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio at the Enshrinees’ Gold Jacket Dinner on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025 at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.
BILL NUNN JR. AWARD WINNERS (To a reporter who has made a long and distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage): 1969 – George Strickler (Chicago Tribune); 1970 – Arthur Daley (New York Times); 1971 – Joe King (New York World Telegram & Sun); 1972 – Lewis “Tony” Atchison (Washington Star); 1973 – Dave Brady (Washington Post); 1974 – Bob Oates (Los Angeles Times); 1975 – John Steadman (Baltimore News-American); 1976 – Jack Hand (Associated Press); 1977 – Art Daley (Green Bay Press-Gazette); 1978 – Murray Olderman (Newspaper Enterprise Association); 1979 – Pat Livingston (Pittsburgh Press); 1980 – Chuck Heaton (Cleveland Plain Dealer); 1981 – Norm Miller (New York Daily News); 1982 – Cameron Snyder (Baltimore Sun); 1983 – Hugh Brown (Philadelphia Bulletin); 1984 – Larry Felser (Buffalo News); 1985 – Cooper Rollow (Chicago Tribune); 1986 – William Wallace (New York Times); 1987 – Jerry Magee (San Diego Union); 1988 – Gordon Forbes (USA Today); 1989 – Vito Stellino (Baltimore Sun); 1990 – Will McDonough (Boston Globe); 1991 – Dick Connor (Denver Post); 1992 – Frank Luksa (Dallas Morning News); 1993 – Ira Miller (San Francisco Chronicle); 1994 – Don Pierson (Chicago Tribune); 1995 – Ray Didinger (Philadelphia Daily News); 1996 – Paul Zimmerman (Sports Illustrated); 1997 – Bob Roesler (New Orleans Times-Picayune); 1998 – Dave Anderson (New York Times); 1999 – Art Spander (Oakland Tribune); 2000 – Tom McEwen (Tampa Tribune); 2001 – Len Shapiro (Washington Post); 2002 – Edwin Pope (Miami Herald); 2003 – Joel Buchsbaum (Pro Football Weekly); 2004 – Rick Gosselin (Dallas Morning News); 2005 – Jerry Green (Detroit News); 2006 – John McClain (Houston Chronicle); 2007 – John Clayton (ESPN.com); 2008 – Len Pasquarelli (ESPN.com); 2009 – Peter King (Sports Illustrated); 2010 – Peter Finney (New Orleans Times-Picayune); 2011 – Bob McGinn (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); 2012 – Tom Kowalski (MLive.com); 2013 – Dan Pompei (Chicago Tribune); 2014 – Ed Bouchette (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette); 2015 – Dave Goldberg (Associated Press); 2016 – Chris Mortensen (ESPN.com); 2017 – Ed Werder (ESPN); 2018 – Charean Williams (Pro Football Talk); 2019 – Sam Farmer (Los Angeles Times); 2020 – Don Banks (SI.com); 2021 – Bob Glauber (Newsday); 2022 – Jarrett Bell (USA Today); 2023 – Jim Trotter (The Athletic); 2024 – D. Orlando Ledbetter (Atlanta-Journal Constitution); 2025 – Mary Kay Cabot (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
