Michael - Louis Ingram, was born and raised in New York City, and has covered professional sports for 23 years. While working abroad in Germany as a singer, Ingram was introduced to the world of American football there, eventually becoming a staff writer for Blitz Magazin out of Dusseldorf.

 

He returned to the U.S. in 1992, settling in Vancouver, British Columbia, covering the National Football League and Canadian Football League. While in Vancouver, Ingram charted a 64% win percentage while handicapping NFL games for radio station CKNW 980 as their "Gridiron Guru" and NFL analyst between 1999 - 2002 seasons for the show "Sports Talk." He would eventually create and produce his own show, "The Soul Tree," a music show touching on political issues for CITR 101.9 FM in 1998.

 

Mr.Ingram has covered 11 Super Bowls, four Grey Cups, two Breeders' Cups as well as basketball, hockey and baseball.

 

He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America, and is currently working on his first book, "The Best We Never Saw."

Wendell P. Simpson is a Philly native who describes himself as “the ultimate eclectic.”  During his lifetime, he has worked as a journalist and editor, a musician, an actor, a cartoonist, a playwright, an activist and a salesman.

 

Eighteen years ago, after having moved to Florida, Simpson says he “accidentally stumbled” into a position at a local community-based newspaper in Orlando as a political cartoonist and columnist, and within a year and a half, became the publication’s Managing Editor.

 

Simpson has been a passionate writer, journalist and editor ever since.

 

Between stints as Senior Editor for both UPSCALE and GN Magazines in Atlanta, Managing Editor and writer at the Central Florida Advocate, and a brief period as a staff writer for the Philadelphia Tribune, Simpson has amassed a substantial portfolio of freelance bylines. 

 

Two years ago, frustrated by what he felt was the divisive and stultifying social, cultural, spiritual and political atmosphere in America, Simpson did the James Baldwin ex-pat thing, taking advantage of an opportunity to live abroad in the United Kingdom and explore some of Europe. To his surprise, he says, one of his most profound discoveries during that time in the Old World was the extent and depth of the New Worlder that truly resides within himself.

 

Simpson is back in the States now, looking to continue to be a gadfly, pundit and general pain-in-the ass, and even though he has reconciled some of the conflicts and contradictions of his American identity crisis, he says he still looks forward to the day when he can return to domicile in the more multi-cultural and cosmopolitan environs of Europe.

Chris Murray

Education: MA African-American Studies-Temple University 2006

MA. Journalism 1991. BA Political Science-Morgan State University 1987.

 

Chris Murray has been a sportswriter/columnist with the Philadelphia Tribune since 2004. He covers the Eagles, Phillies, 76ers as well as the local college sports scene in Philadelphia.

 

For the past three years, he has been a frequent contributor to several local, regional and national radio and television shows including the nationally-syndicated radio show, “Two Live Stews” and the Comcast network show, “It’s Your Call with Lynn Doyle.” His work as a freelancer has appeared in the Baltimore Sun and the Providence Journal.

 

Prior to the Tribune, Murray worked as a Lecturer of English at Bowie State University (2001-2003). From 2003 to 2005, he was a graduate student in Temple University’s African-American Studies. He received his Masters degree from there in January 2006.  In 2005, Murray wrote entries for the African-American Studies Encyclopedia, edited by Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama.

 

From 1998 to 2001, Murray was the sports editor of the Prince George’s Gazette Newspapers in Landover, Md. where he coordinated the coverage of local high school and college sports. He was a frequent guest on a local sports show.

 

Murray also worked at the Journal Newspapers as a sports reporter from 1994-1998. In 1995, Murray won a Maryland Society of Professional Journalist award for Excellence in Sports Reporting.  So As a freelance journalist during that time, his work appeared in Washington Post.com and Black Issues in Higher Education.

 

From 1992-1994, Murray was a staff writer with Army Times. He started his print journalism career at the Newhouse Newpapers in Michigan 1991. As a graduate student at Michigan State University (1988-1990), Murray was a student in the Michigan State University’s Capital News Service program where he worked as a print and radio reporter covering the Michigan Legislature. He was also the editor of the student-run publication, “Focal Point.” In 1990, he was an intern in the sports department of the Milwaukee Journal.

 

Before attending graduate school, Murray started his journalism career in radio at WEAA-FM radio in Baltimore when he was a student at Morgan State University. At WEAA, he was a news and sports anchor. It should be noted that WEAA was not a student-run station. Murray’s program director at the time was former Congressman and former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume.

 

After finishing his studies at Morgan State, Murray worked as a freelance Washington correspondent with WOL-AM (now Radio One) and the National Black Radio Network. Murray covered events involving D.C. local government, Congress and various national forums and conferences.