LAT makes Elliott official

We told you on Monday that Helene Elliott would become a general columnist for the Los Angeles Times sports section. Today the memo came down: she joins Bill Dwyre, Bill Plaschke, J.A. Adande and T.J. Simers as the fifth batter — and lone female — in the lineup. Memo follows after the jump:

To: The Staff
From: Randy Harvey, Sports Editor

I am proud to announce that Helene Elliott, recognized as one of the best hockey writers and reporters in at least two countries, will become a general columnist for the Sports Department in September, joining an already outstanding lineup of J.A. Adande, Bill Dwyre, Bill Plaschke and T.J. Simers.

Helene joined The Times in 1989 and has become such a respected hockey writer that she was honored last year by the Hockey Hall of Fame's Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for distinguished hockey writing.
But that should not overshadow the outstanding work she has done for The Times in other areas, including the NBA, Major League Baseball and the Olympics.

This will not be her first column assignment. Just out of Northwestern University, Helene went to work for the Chicago Sun-Times and was given a weekly sports television column, one of the first of its kind in the country. She was recognized by People magazine at the time as the first woman sportswriter at a major U.S. newspaper to be assigned a regular column. She since has written hockey and Olympics columns for The Times.

Last year, Helene was honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors with a first-place in the sports news story category for papers with 250,000 or more circulation.