Paul Ladewski served as the first "Daily Southtown" sports editor, and he went on to become a Lisagor Award-winner as well as the 2005 Illinois Sports Columnist of the Year. He was the only full-time beat writer to cover the Michael Jordan era in Chicago from start to finish. As a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, in the wake of the steroids controversy, Ladewski touched off a nationwide debate and raised awareness with the only known blank ballot in the 2007 National Baseball Hall of Fame election. In all, he covered more than 3,000 MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL games as a beat reporter or columnist.