The Literati Award honors individuals who have used the written word to advance the ideals of creativity, conviction, innovation and scholarship and who have had a significant impact on culture and the community through their work. This award was created by the Friends of the SMU Libraries in 2010 and was established in honor of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the organization to celebrate the power of the written word and to recognize significant achievements in creativity.
2024 Literati Award Recipient Norm Hitzges
A pioneer in sports radio, Norm Hitzges hosted the first full-time sports talk show in morning drive time in the country right here in Dallas-Fort Worth over 30 years ago on KLIF. In 2000, Hitzges moved to Sportsradio 96.7 and 1310 The Ticket. Hitzges just completed his 48th year on the air talking sports in Dallas-Fort Worth. He announced his retirement on Thursday, June 15, 2023, and completed his final show on Friday, June 23.
Norm is the author of four books including the highly acclaimed Greatest Team Ever about the early nineties Dallas Cowboys and Essential Baseball which introduced a revolutionary new method to evaluate players. He has also written a book of poetry.
Norm was the TV analyst for Texas Ranger games for 15 years and for Dallas Mavericks games for 6 years. He also served seven years in various roles with ESPN-TV. In 1986 he became the first person to broadcast the entire NFL draft live. Next spring will be his 39th consecutive NFL draft broadcast to The Ticket sports radio station.
Norm is known for his enthusiasm and knowledge of sports and his penchant for and success in handicapping all sports. But especially for his first love outside of broadcasting: horse racing.
Hitzges has been honored by the Texas Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the Dallas All Sports Association, and the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame. Norm also hosts the “Norm-A-Thon”, a yearly day-long marathon broadcast to raise money for the homeless in Dallas-Fort Worth. In 22 years, the event has raised $9 million for Austin Street Center for the Homeless.
Hitzges lives in Little Elm with his beautiful, photographer wife, Mary, two dogs named Koko and Hazel and Apple the vampire cat.
Past Recipients
- Jim Hart ’69 (2010)
- Laura Bush ’68 (2011)
- Marsh Terry ’53, ’54 (2012)
- Lee Cullum ’61 (2013)
- Kay Bailey Hutchison (2014)
- Willard Spiegelman (2015)
- Darwin Payne ’68 (2016)
- Rena Pederson (2017)
- Skip Hollandsworth (2018)
- Jim Lehrer (2019)
- Laura Wilson (2021)
- Adrian Miller (2022)
- Jerrie Marcus Smith (2023)