Press Releases

METROPOLITAN GOLF WRITERS ASSOCIATION

TO HONOR SEAN MCMANUS WITH THE

PAUL DILLON DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

Elmsford, NY (April 24, 2025) – Former CBS Sports and CBS News chairman Sean McManus has been unanimously selected by the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association’s Board of Directors to receive the 2025 Paul Dillon Distinguished Service Award at its 73^rd annual National Awards Dinner. The award will be presented on Tuesday, October 7^th at Westchester Country Club in Rye, NY.  Mr. McManus joins a distinguished lineup of MGWA honorees, including previously announced 2025 Gold Tee winner Billy Payne.  Other award winners will be named shortly.

The MGWA’s Paul Dillon Distinguished Service Award, named in memory of the noted artist, philanthropist, and past president of the Metropolitan Golf Association and its Caddie Scholarship Fund, recognizes individuals as well as organizations for their contributions and service to golf, and for inspiring others who love this great game. Previous recipients of this esteemed award include last year’s winner, Seth Waugh, as well as Gil Hanse, Mike Davis, Renee Powell, Mary Bea Porter King, David Fay, Tom Watson, The PGA of America, LPGA, and the USGA, among others.

Sean McManus was born to be a television executive.  The son of iconic sportscaster Jim McKay, Sean practically grew up in TV control rooms, spending summers traveling with his dad to some of the world’s greatest sporting events.  He was with his father at the 1972 Munich Olympics when the world was stunned by the tragic massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and watched as his dad melded sports coverage and breaking news together.  McKay was honored with the MGWA’s Lincoln Werden Golf Journalism Award in 2003.  They join Robert Trent Jones Sr. (1976 Distinguished Service Award) and his son, Rees (2002 Distinguished Service Award), and Claude (1993 Distinguished Service Award) and Butch Harmon (2020-21 Gold Tee Award) as the third father-son duo to be honored by the MGWA.

“We can imagine Jim McKay looking down with pride as his son, Sean McManus, accepts the Paul Dillon Distinguished Service Award,” MGWA President Hank Gola said.  “Sean’s tenure at CBS raised the network’s coverage of all sports to new heights, but it was The Masters that he loved most and helped fashion into the can’t-miss rite of spring it has become.  It’s also fitting, then, that he should join Billy Payne on this year’s slate of honorees.”

After graduating from Duke University, McManus began his own television career as a production assistant and associate producer at ABC Sports.  Two years later, he moved to NBC Sports, becoming the vice president of program development at just 27 years old, the youngest person ever to hold that title at NBC.  His responsibilities included rights negotiations for major sports including football, basketball, horse and auto racing, tennis and the Olympic games.

After a stint as the senior vice president of American sales and programming at Trans World International, the TV division of IMG, McManus transitioned to CBS Sports. His accomplishments as president were many, including in 1998 returning the NFL back to CBS. He helped maintain CBS Sports as an industry leader throughout his tenure, spearheading subsequent landmark deals with the NFL as well as groundbreaking agreements with the NCAA, Big Ten, PGA TOUR, UEFA, PGA of America and SEC. McManus, who was the Executive Producer of the NFL ON CBS, oversaw the production of Super Bowl for CBS Sports nine times.

McManus served concurrently as president of CBS News and Sports and was only the second person to have simultaneously run a network Sports and News division. In 2011, McManus was named Chairman of CBS Sports.

He rebranded CBS’s cable and digital businesses as CBS College Sports Network and CBS Sports Network.  He co-launched the CBS Sports HQ digital.  He was the executive producer of Inside the NFL on ShowTime and introduced the first nationally televised all-female weekly primetime sports show, We Need to Talk.

McManus retired from CBS in 2024.  During his tenure he won numerous awards, including 22 Emmys and the Cynopsis Sports Media Legacy award.  He was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2010, was named to the Hollywood Reporter’s list of the 35 Most Powerful People in Media in 2015 and was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2016. 

The MGWA has celebrated the game of golf and promoted golf journalism since its inception in 1952, and its National Awards Dinner has been one of the highlights of the golf calendar since then.  It has honored – and been attended by – some of the greatest names in the sport: Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, JoAnne Carner, Gary Player, Billy Casper, Nancy Lopez, Tom Watson, and Annika Sorenstam, to name just a few.  This highly anticipated event is supported by golf’s leading organizations and corporate supporters, Met Area clubs and club leaders, as well as local and national golf media. Through the Dinner and other events, the MGWA has raised millions of dollars for Caddie Scholarship programs in the Metropolitan New York area, the MGA Foundation, and the Dave Marr Journalism Scholarship. 

Click here to purchase tickets to the Dinner.  For more information, view this one-minute video or contact Robin Sauerhaft, MGWA Executive Administrator, at: rsauerhaft@mgagolf.org.