Jackie MacMullan is a University of New Hampshire alumna who defines the journalistic role of integrity and success.
She's covered sports across the country since the 1980s. She was there when the Boston Celtics had legends like Bird and Parish. She was there when the Red Sox won their first World Series. She was there when the Patriots won their first Superbowl. She was also there for her family when it was just too hard to balance a career in sports journalism and home life.
MacMullan feels that it's important for a journalist to be truthful and fair. "Whenever I'm writing about someone, I try to put myself in his or her shoes," she said. "You've got to be fair."
It is on these principles -- truth and fairness -- that she models all her stories. University of New Hampshire Professor Andrew Merton was one of MacMullan's professors in her undergrad years. He believes that a good writer must have "curiosity, a sense of idealism, fairness and justice." According to Merton, MacMullan has all of these qualities.
Late former professor of MacMullan and Pulitzer Prize winner Don Murray has said, "Talent is fairly cheap. What a lot of people don't have is the drive to follow it through. She was good, just there, regular and committed."
MacMullan developed these principles of hard work and fairness quickly at the beginning of her career. There were times when her commitment to truth and fairness brought her to write or say negative things about people she liked. She called Larry Brown out on one of his coaching decisions. He didn't like it. Brown hasn't spoken to her since.
Her professionalism and sense of fairness has made her a staple of the sports industry. She's covered major sporting events like the Patriots' first Superbowl win, the Red Sox's first World Series win in 86 years, the 1988 Olympic Games, and the multiple Celtics' championships through the '80s.
MacMullan began her career writing for the Boston Globe in 1982. She went on to cover basketball for Sports Illustrated from 1995 to 2000. She then took a short break to spend more time with her family. She returned to the Boston Globe in 2002 and was named associate editor. She appears on television with ESPN, NESN and WHDH-TV as a sports correspondent.
MacMullan was a tomboy growing up. She said, "I was the only girl playing sports [in the neighborhood]."
It's easy to understand her passion for sports when you hear her talk about her childhood. She had scrapbooks of all the Boston Bruins players. "I knew everything about them," she said.
Her dad, a Yankees fan, would take her to hockey and baseball games. She especially looked forward to Red Sox games and having a Fenway Frank the next morning. She said, "I couldn't even sleep the night before [the game]." She said the trouble about wanting a hot dog so badly was that she'd get sick right after she had it, but it never stopped her from getting one.
MacMullan's ride to the top wasn't easy. Her self confidence was taken from her in her final year of basketball at UNH. Her coach had plans to build the younger players on the team for the future of the program. The younger players were given playtime over MacMullan. After starting for her previous three years on the team, she spent the remainder of her senior year on the bench. "I had a miserable senior year here [at UNH] and it affected my confidence," she said. "I resented someone stripping away my confidence."
Anyone who gives all they have to a sport can understand her frustrations. She just wanted to help the team, even in her state of anger. "I didn't b**** or complain or become a distraction to the team," said MacMullan.
Looking back on the experience, she said, "It made me a lot stronger as a person." After that she felt like she could get through anything.
"I'm an optimist," said MacMullan. Shortly after her senior year she was hired by the Boston Globe. "Getting hired by the Globe was a dream," MacMullan said. She was ecstatic. "I've never felt that way since," she said.
All of her optimism couldn't have prepared her or anyone for what happened to her sister Karen in 1997. Four months after her diagnosis, Karen died of cancer at 38 years old.
It really hit MacMullan hard. "I don't remember anything that happened that year."
She had her time to grieve and now reminisces about her sister happily. She said just a few weeks ago she was at the store and bought an expensive purse. It wasn't something she'd usually do, but she called it a "Karen moment."
She called her other sister right after she bought the purse to tell her she had a "Karen moment." It turned out that they both had "Karen moments" that day. That's her optimism kicking in.
MacMullan has been there to record some of the brightest moments in Boston sports history. Still, she would trade any of these moments for her family. She decided that she had to put her brilliant career on hold for her family. She was needed at home.
Lisa Miller, a colleague of MacMullan's at her internship with the Gloucester Times in 1982, saw big things for MacMullan. "Any experience she had she takes the good out of it. Everyone in the office saw that and knew she was going to be great."
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