The Dick Schaap Award, created in 2002, was established to honor the memory of one of Americas pre-eminent sports writers, Dick Schaap. The award is presented by the Nassau County Sports Commission and is given out to the journalist, in any medium, that best exemplifies the principles and talents of Dick Schaap during the past year.

Although the recipient need not be a "sports journalist," he/she must convey the passion and insight for the stories and people he/she covers as Schaap did. Whether it was a sports segment, a cultural news story as he did on "20/20," an autobiography, newspaper story, or "parting shot" from his Sunday morning talk show on ESPN, Schaap's professionalism shined and was admired by many fellow journalists, as well as his readers & viewers.

Congratulations to:

2007 Dick Schaap Award Recipient

Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada
San Francisco Chronicle

2007 Dick Schaap Award Winner for Excellence in Sports Journalism

Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams were reporters on the investigative team at the San Francisco Chronicle when they together broke a series of exclusive stories on the BALCO scandal and earned a string of national honors, including the George Polk Award, The Edgar A. Poe Award of the White House Correspondents’ Association, The Dick Schaap Award and The Associated Press Sports Editors award for investigative reporting.

Fainaru-Wada has written on subjects including the expanding influence of sports agents; scam artists using athletes to lure investors into bogus business ventures; and the controversial owners of the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco 49ers. Besides BALCO, his work has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Best of the West competition, as well as by various local associations.

Born in California, he graduated from Northwestern University. Before joining The Chronicle, he worked as a reporter at the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the Los Angeles Daily News, the National Sports Daily, Scripps Howard News Service, and the San Francisco Examiner.

Williams has written on subjects including the California cocaine trade, Oakland’s Black Panther Party and the career of San Francisco mayor and political power-broker Willie Brown. His journalism also has been honored with: the Gerald Loeb Award for financial writing; the California Associated Press’ Fairbanks Award for public service; and, on three occasions, the Center for California Studies' California Journalism Award for political reporting. He was the Society of Professional Journalists’ Northern California Journalist of the Year in 1999.

Born in Ohio, he graduated from Brown University and the University of California-Berkeley and attended University College, London, U.K. Before joining the Chronicle, he worked as a reporter at the Hayward Daily Review, the Oakland Tribune, and the San Francisco Examiner.