Dennis Freeman grew up in an abusive home. He is a high school dropout. For a decade he worked as a janitor at Los Angeles County USC-Medical Center cleaning toilets and washing down operating rooms.

“The pressure of making deadline is tough,” he says. “But surviving the pressure of cleaning and moppingup someone’s brains and guts in an emergency room or trying to escape abuse is a lot tougher.”

Freeman, sports editor of the Beverly Hills Times in California, is one of four mid-career professionals who have been chosen for the inaugural class of APSE’s Diversity Fellowship Program.

The four Fellows have embarked on a nine-month course of study that is meant to further prepare them as strong candidates for management positions in the nation’s sports departments. [Read more...]