Steven G. Crump

Life & Legacy of Steve Crump

Most recently awarded The Order of The Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest citizenship award.

Steven Gerard Crump was born September 19, 1957 in Louisville, Kentucky to the late Jimmy Crump and late Joyce Ann Dawson.  After a five-year battle with colon cancer, Steve passed away peacefully with his wife by his side on Thursday, August 31, 2023 at the Levine & Dickson Hospice House in Huntersville, North Carolina.

During his early years, Steve grew up in Louisville's Smoketown neighborhood. As a child, he was an accomplished Eagle Scout.  After graduating from Trinity High School, he enrolled at Eastern Kentucky University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in communication studies.

Steve started out as a disc jockey in Richmond, Kentucky in the year 1980. This position led to an apprenticeship at WSAV-TV, an NBC affiliate, where his distinctive and commanding voice quickly earned him a spot in front of the camera.  Steve also worked for news stations in Orlando, Florida; Lexington, Kentucky; Detroit, Michigan; and Savannah, Georgia. Before finding his home at WBTV, he was also an independent producer for BET, WTVI, and Charlotte’s PBS affiliate.

Steve was most known for his regional Emmy Awards with stories ranging from apartheid in South Africa to civil rights issues here at home. He has a host of accolades, but to list a few: four National Headliner Awards, the Gabriel Award, first-place honors from the National Association of Black Journalists, “2016 Journalist of the Year” by the National Association of Black Journalists, the Eclipse Award by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and the John Tyler Caldwell Award for the Humanities.  In 2023, he fulfilled a lifelong goal by becoming a brother in the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.

Steve channeled his passion for stories about issues concerning the African American experience by developing and producing a long list of documentaries, mostly for broadcast on North Carolina public television.  Several were also distributed nationally to PBS stations. These films highlighted an array of subjects ranging from Martin Luther King Jr.'s last days, lunch counter sit-ins in the Carolinas, Black Catholics in the south, and the journey of Black jockeys. Many of these films were created on his own time and on his own dime, further exhibiting his extreme passion for telling a story.

Later in life, Steve met the love of his life, Cathy, and they married in a beautiful service in 2015. There were many exciting trips and adventures in the years following their marriage. In 2020, Steve donated his works, known as the Steve and Cathy Wilson Crump Collections, to the University of South Carolina.

Steve will live on through his dear brother, Tony Spaulding of Louisville, Kentucky; his cousin Hope Walker; and his dearest friend Kim Jackson. He also leaves behind his beloved wife, Cathy Wilson Crump, and Cathy's daughters, Dr. Jennifer Perry (Travis) and Dr. Stephanie Threatt. And for the last three years, Cathy's granddaughter, Aria Marie, has been a bright star in Steve's life; she affectionately called him “Crump, Crump.”