KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Terez Paylor was a proud Detroit native, a proud Howard University graduate and proud of the sports journalism career he forged in Kansas City after college.
He emerged as an important voice in the NFL, one of a handful of prominent minority reporters covering the league and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee — two roles he embraced with his trademark passion and in which he also took immense pride.
Surely, Paylor, who died suddenly on Feb. 9, 2021, would be proud to know that a scholarship bearing his name at his alma mater, the Terez A. Paylor Scholarship at Howard University, will be given in perpetuity to aspiring sports journalists at the prominent HBCU in Washington, D.C.
Paylor’s fiancée, Ebony Reed, announced Friday on social media that the scholarship fund had passed $100,000, the threshold needed for permanent endowment, on the same day that his adopted home of Kansas City, Missouri, celebrated Terez Paylor Day by proclamation of Mayor Quinton Lucas.
We’ve reached over $100K for @TerezPaylor’s scholarship at @HowardU. It’s now officially endowed and it will help fund future sports journalists for generations to come! Thank you to everyone who helped us reach this milestone by donating. #AllJuiceTeam🍊 pic.twitter.com/TYl96wEq4F
— Ebony Reed (@EbonyReed) August 27, 2021
The Kansas City Chiefs, who Paylor covered for The Kansas City Star from 2013 to 2018 and continued to keep tabs on after joining Yahoo as a senior NFL writer in April 2018, also honored him before Friday’s preseason finale against the Minnesota Vikings at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
The team retired his seat in the Arrowhead press box during a pregame ceremony — which included Reed along with Paylor’s parents, Ava Paylor-Elliott and Sharmyn Elliott — and also announced a $10,000 donation to the Terez A. Paylor Scholarship.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes praised Paylor in a video Reed posted to Twitter as “a great journalist, a great reporter, but even a better man” and said he hoped the scholarship in memory of a “special human being” would inspire future generations of minority sportswriters.
“He was kind of holding that torch for Black journalists in this field, and I hope he inspired others to do the same,” Mahomes said.
Terez’s fellow sports journalists and athletes respected his work. Terez created the #AllJuiceTeam, but through his effort, attitude and performance in journalism, he exemplified what it meant to be a member. pic.twitter.com/B4tovjHTIb
— Ebony Reed (@EbonyReed) August 27, 2021
Reed said Paylor always had a goal to start a scholarship at Howard as a way to give back. His friends and colleagues never doubted his Bison pride.
“It meant everything to Terez to be a Howard University alum,” said NFL Network reporter and analyst Steve Wyche, a fellow Howard alumnus. “On his lanyard that he would wear his credential on, it was the Howard University lanyard. He always wore that. Whenever we would see him, we had that immediate connection that Howard alumni have. Now, someone else can follow in his footsteps.”
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The Terez A. Paylor Scholarship was launched at Howard University in February 2021. The scholarship will be awarded to journalism students at the Paylor’s alma mater.
To donate, visit https://giving.howard.edu/givenow. Under “Tribute,” please note that your gift is made in memory of Terez A. Paylor. Under “Designation,” click on “Other” and write in “Terez A. Paylor Scholarship.
Breaking T is also selling All-Juice Team shirts and hoodies in Paylor’s honor with proceeds benefiting the scholarship fund.
