2024 Horrigan Award

Form the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) website:

The PFWA’s Horrigan Award is given to the league or club official for his or her qualities and professional style in helping the pro football writers do their job. In 2022, the PFWA honored the Horrigan family — father Jack and son Joe — for their contributions in assisting writers over the decades in several roles by renaming the original Jack Horrigan Award (1973-2021) to the Horrigan Award.

After serving in the Navy during World War II, Jack Horrigan was a sportswriter for United Press International and the Buffalo Evening News, publicity director of the AHL’s Buffalo Bisons, public relations director of the American Football League (1963-66), and vice president of public relations with the Buffalo Bills (1966-73). He co-authored “The Other League: The Fabulous Story of the American Football League.” 

Joe Horrigan has worked in a variety of executive roles at the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 1977. 

-curator researcher

-Vice President, Communications and Exhbits

-Executive Vice President of Museums, Selections Process and Chief Communications Officer

-after “retiring” in 2019, he returned to the Hall as a senior adviser

-he’s authored and co-authored several books on the history of professional football

Joe Horrigan was awarded the Jack Horrigan Award in 2019. 

Past recipients of the Jack Horrigan/Horrigan Award:

NOTE: Year indicates when award was presented for the previous season
1973 — John Breen (Houston Oilers)
1974 — O.J. Simpson (Buffalo Bills)
1975 — Art Rooney Sr. (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1976 — Floyd Little (Denver Broncos)
1977 — Jerry Wynn (San Diego Chargers)
1978 — Bob Peck (Denver Broncos)
1979 — John Madden (Oakland Raiders)
1980 — Bum Phillips (Houston Oilers)
1981 — Bob Sprenger (Kansas City Chiefs)
1982 — Joe Gordon (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1983 — Archie Manning (New Orleans Saints/Houston Oilers)
1984 — Art Rooney Sr. (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1985 — Joe Browne (NFL)
1986 — Dick Steinberg (New England Patriots)
1987 — Charlie Dayton (Atlanta Falcons)
1988 — Art Modell (Cleveland Browns)
1989 — Tom Landry (Dallas Cowboys)
1990 — George Young (New York Giants)
1991 — Jim Finks (New Orleans Saints)
1992 — John Robinson (Los Angeles Rams)
1993 — Warren Moon (Houston Oilers)
1994 — Don Shula (Miami Dolphins)
1995 — Leslie Hammond (NFL)
1996 — Ron Wolf (Green Bay Packers)
1997 — Don Smith (Pro Football Hall of Fame)
1998 — Tony Dungy (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1999 — Greg Aiello (NFL)
2000 — Ernie Accorsi (New York Giants)
2001 — Jeff Fisher (Tennessee Titans)
2002 — Charley Casserly (Houston Texans)
2003 — Herman Edwards (New York Jets)
2004 — Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore Ravens)
2005 — Rich McKay (Atlanta Falcons)
2006 — Floyd Reese (Tennessee Titans)
2007 — Steve Alic (NFL)
2008 — Mike Holmgren (Seattle Seahawks)
2009 — Dan Rooney (Pittsburgh Steelers)
2010 — Gil Brandt (NFL.com)
2011 — Rex Ryan (New York Jets)
2012 — Thomas Dimitroff (Atlanta Falcons)
2013 — Michael Signora (NFL)
2014 — Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks)
2015 — Bruce Arians (Arizona Cardinals)
2016 — John Elway (Denver Broncos)
2017 — Mike Mayock (NFL Network)
2018 — Randall Liu (NFL)
2019 — Joe Horrigan (Pro Football Hall of Fame)
2020 — Chris Ballard (Indianapolis Colts)
2021 — Brandon Beane (Buffalo Bills)
2022 — Michael Signora (NFL)
2023 — Ron Rivera (Washington Commanders)
2024 — Les Snead (Los Angeles Rams)