John Dudley

Communications professional

Journalist

NFL beat writer for 18 seasons, covering pre-draft, minicamps, OTAs, training camp, regular season and postseason, including on-site at three Super Bowls. Multiple national and state awards for breaking news, columns and projects.

John Dudley

Communications professional

Journalist

MVP Holmes shines brightest on night of stars
TAMPA, Fla. -- On a night when James Harrison ran himself into exhaustion on the longest play in Super Bowl history and Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald passed and caught their way into the postseason record books, it was going to take something special to steal the show. It was going to take someone making one of those receptions -- like Lynn Swann's and John Stallworth's -- that will find its way onto the loop tape of NFL Network's greatest plays. It was going to take Santonio Holmes leaning out from a high wire, arms outstretched, and hauling in a pass amid a committee meeting of men outfitted in red jerseys. So that's what Holmes did, the final, dramatic, decisive highlight in a game that wouldn't stop producing them.
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
James Conner takes first practice snaps in Pitt return
PITTSBURGH -- An air horn’s blast signaled a change of periods Monday, sending players scrambling from one spot to another on Pitt’s practice field. A few seconds later, redshirt junior running back James Conner was back in a familiar spot, dotting the ‘I’ at the tailback position in the Panthers’ offensive backfield behind quarterback Nathan Peterman and a gargantuan offensive line. After several passing plays, Conner took a handoff, made a cut and burst into the clear.
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
Juiced horses get squeezed
Michael Dickinson gave anabolic steroids to countless horses during more than two decades as one of the foremost trainers in the racing industry. Dickinson said he used the steroid Winstrol on many of his horses because he found himself caught up in a culture in which potentially millions of dollars ride on how big and strong a horse looks and runs. "I did it, as do 95 percent of trainers in America," Dickinson said. "I had to do it to compete."
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
Erie man faces off with NFL
Over the past few years, Stacey Thompson has seen her husband's once-sharp memory begin to fade. She's noticed his delay in responding to questions in everyday conversation. She's helped him search for things -- keys, his wallet, important papers. And she's watched his body strain, a little more each year, from the poundings he absorbed as a young man. "It's very disturbing to see someone who was so vibrant, so happy-go-lucky in life, go through what he's going through," she said. "It's really heartbreaking and hurtful to watch."
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
Wreh-Wilson transforms himself into NFL prospect
Sometime during the next 48 hours, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should step to a podium in New York and announce Blidi Wreh-Wilson as an early-round selection in the NFL Draft. It's safe to say no one is more pleasantly surprised to see the former General McLane High School and University of Connecticut star in that position than Wreh-Wilson's father, Elliott. "I thought he was one of those people who was going to get good grades in college and stand on the sideline holding his helmet for four years," Elliott Wreh-Wilson said of his son, who played only one season of high school football. "My wife and I are shocked by what he's done."
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
John Dudley: Lustig pushes passion, improvement at Edinboro
EDINBORO -- Week 1 of the Justin Lustig era at Edinboro is in the books. It consisted of two days of spring football practice, a getting-to-know-you with the new coaching staff, and some early installs on offense, defense and special teams. It also included some things that aren't in the playbook. It included a moment at the end of Thursday's workout at Sox Harrison Stadium during which Lustig talked to his players about posture and appearance. He folded his arms across his chest, as if to seem aloof or disinterested, then told them he never wanted to see them doing that on the practice field.
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
Creamer poised for title shot
Michelle Wie is gone, off to prepare for her next LPGA event in Columbus, Ohio. The 300-yard drives that made her a magnet for Kahkwa Club's galleries were absent Friday afternoon, replaced by a cold rain and a handful of contenders who, for all their talent, cannot match the curiosity Wie inspires every time she slides a tee into the ground. From the mist emerged a new favorite with a pair of secret weapons in tow. Paula Creamer, whose sense of style is matched only by her poise, has been here before.
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
Erie native, Pitt football star Conner has Hodgkin lymphoma
Moments after announcing he has been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma on Friday, University of Pittsburgh running back and former McDowell High School star James Conner defiantly vowed to beat the disease and return to the field. Conner, 20, begins chemotherapy treatments next week for a disease that is "highly curable," according to a physician appearing with him during a news conference at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex in Pittsburgh. "I will play football again," Conner said, while sitting alongside his mother, Kelly Patterson, Dr. Stanley Marks and Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi, with several teammates also in the room.
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
Haslam, Banner say they erred in hiring Chudzinski
CLEVELAND -- Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said Monday his next move is to fix the mistake he made by hiring head coach Rob Chudzinski nearly one year ago. Roughly 15 hours after firing Chudzinski after 352 days on the job, Haslam appeared along with CEO Joe Banner at the team’s Berea facility and explained why the Browns will seek their fourth coach in six seasons. During a sometimes testy press conference that included a reference to team management as “the Three Stooges,” Haslam said he and Banner became convinced the Browns were backsliding under Chudzinski and needed to cut their losses.
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
Leyland brings another winner to Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH - During batting practice Friday at PNC Park, Jim Tracy and Jim Leyland never got close enough to talk. That's probably fitting, since Tracy's Pittsburgh Pirates and Leyland's Detroit Tigers haven't been within shouting distance of each other this season. For Leyland's first game in Pittsburgh in seven years, the Tigers arrived with the best record in baseball for a three-game series against the Pirates, the worst team in the National League in Tracy's first season.
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
Astorino's inspired play at Penn State could carry him into NFL
Tom Bradley didn't attend the PIAA Class AAA basketball championship game in March 2007. But not long after the game ended, Bradley, an assistant football coach at Pennsylvania State University, received a message saying only that General McLane High School had won on a basket made with two seconds to play. "I said to one of the other coaches, 'I'll bet you Drew hit that shot,'" Bradley said, referring to Drew Astorino, then a Lancers senior who was headed to Penn State on a football scholarship. "That was just the kind of situation where you would expect him to come up big."
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media
BayHawks' Davis has overcome plenty to reach D- League
Jawann McClellan's cell phone rang one night in 2011 with an urgent call from Alex Davis, who had played basketball for him at Houston's Jack Yates High School. Davis had been with some friends in a car that was shot at least 20 times. He escaped to safety by jumping a fence and running away.
Erie Times-News | GateHouse Media

About

John Dudley

Social media content creation

Media relations

Content creation

Brand marketing communications

Strategic communications

Project reporting

Interviewing

Script-writing

Podcasting

Video production and editing

Column writing

Investigative reporting

TV and radio appearances

Three-time finalist in the Associated Press Sports Editors contest for project reporting and feature writing. Winner of 13 Keystone Press Awards for column writing and features. Western Pennsylvania Press Club Golden Quill Award finalist for investigative reporting on steroids use in sports.

Freelance work for Washington Post, Boston Globe, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer, Portland (Maine) Press-Herald, Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator, Trenton (N.J.) Times, Pennsylvania Football News and Pennsylvania Wrestling Newsmagazine.

Researched and wrote a book about Edinboro University's Division I wrestling program's ascent to national prominence on a Division II campus with limited funding. (Reedy Press, St. Louis, Mo.)

Major assignments include three Super Bowls, five AFC Championship games, MLB playoff series, NBA, NHL, professional golf, NCAA football, NCAA basketball championships, NCAA wrestling championships, Olympic profiles, Big Ten and ACC football.

Eastern Wrestling League Hall of Fame inductee. Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Heaslip Award Winner for meritorious service covering college athletics. Pennsylvania Wrestling Writer of the Year.

Member, Pro Football Writers Association of America. Taught a sportswriting class at Edinboro University.

Wife Ellen and three kids, Austin, Logan and Megan. Resides in Sarasota County, Fla.