The reporting
By Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry, Seattle Times staff reporters
Victory and Ruins · The Seattle Times · January 27–30, 2008
In January 2008 The Seattle Times published “Victory and Ruins,” a four-part series by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry about the University of Washington’s 2000 football team, winner of the 2001 Rose Bowl. It found that at least two dozen players had been arrested while at the school, while the head coach and athletic director did little to discipline them, and that prosecutors, police, judges and the media went along.
The project began in 2007, when Armstrong read a newspaper column about a lawsuit involving the university and a former player. The records in that case raised more questions, and Perry, then the paper’s higher-education reporter, joined. Together they researched the backgrounds of the whole roster for the 2000 season and followed each investigation through the system.
The first three parts ran with their own source notes. The full series is still online at The Seattle Times.
The series
- Part 1 · January 27, 2008
Convicted of assault and accused of rape, star player received raft of second chances
Jerramy Stevens
- Part 2 · January 28, 2008
Key UW linebacker played entire season after his bloody print was tied to shooting
Jeremiah Pharms
- Part 3 · January 29, 2008
To Huskies fans a tragic hero, to the courts a wanted felon
Curtis Williams
- Part 4 · January 30, 2008
Linebacker discovered joy of learning but had to buck football program that emphasized eligibility, not education
Anthony Kelley
Read the series at The Seattle Times
The story of the University of Washington’s Rose Bowl champions is a tragic tale long overdue in the telling.
From series to book
Newspapers have strict limits on space and style, and the authors knew they had left important material out of the series. The book took a narrative approach and added new reporting: after the series ran, the woman who had accused Jerramy Stevens agreed to be interviewed, and Perry worked through letters and documents in the University of Washington library’s special collections that showed the same debate over winning and integrity a century earlier. Stevens denied the accusation, and prosecutors did not file a rape charge.
In the classroom
The authors spoke about the reporting with journalism, sport-management and creative non-fiction classes, in person or by video call, at universities including Penn State, Marquette, Indiana University, the University of Michigan, Central Michigan, the University of Washington, Iowa State and Miami of Ohio. They found that the book’s 42 pages of source notes gave students a roadmap to public records, particularly in higher education.