Journalist, author

Higgins was the definitive NASCAR beat reporter, covering the sport week in and week out for more than four decades. The first major race the native North Carolinian covered was the 1958 Southern 500. He joined the Charlotte Observer in 1964, where he became the first writer from a daily newspaper to cover the NASCAR Cup Series full-time. Higgins’ articles and columns were syndicated nationally by Knight-Ridder Newspapers, and his writing and production work appeared in radio and television features. In addition to writing awards from the National Motorsports Press Association, Higgins was given the NASCAR Award of Excellence for lifetime achievement in 1996 and became the fourth recipient of the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence in 2015. Since retiring from the Observer in 1997, Higgins has written columns for NASCAR Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Illustrated and contributed historic features for ESPN2 and RPM2NIGHT Cup Series coverage. Said NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France: “Tom Higgins helped establish what it means to be a NASCAR beat reporter.”