New scholarship supports future television sports journalists, honors legacy of late KOMU Sports Director Ben Arnet
Ben Arnet with wife, Nicole, and daughter, Lyla
COLUMBIA, Mo. (March 30, 2026) — The Missouri School of Journalism has announced the Ben Arnet Memorial Scholarship in Television Sports Journalism, which will support students studying television sports reporting and production. The annual scholarship honors Arnet, BJ ’03, who served for five years as sports director at KOMU-TV, the School of Journalism’s NBC-affiliate TV station, before his death last summer.
“Ben experienced the benefits of hands-on learning at KOMU as a student and embraced his role as a leader and mentor when he returned as sports director,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School of Journalism. “It’s an honor to extend his impact with this scholarship to young journalists who, like him, want to bring sports storytelling to life with broadcast journalism.”
The scholarship was established with a gift from Arnet’s parents, Bill and Judy Arnet, themselves alumni of Mizzou in the fields of law and nutrition and dietetics, respectively. Moved by an outpouring of support from the community and testimonials from students who benefited from their son’s guidance, the Arnets sought to honor his legacy by continuing to help students in his name.
They hope it will add to a robust network of alumni who have left their mark on sports journalism by hosting influential sports programs, profiling great athletes and breaking major stories about events on and off the field.
“The more we heard from colleagues and students, the more we understood the growth of Ben’s impact over the years,” said Judy Arnet. “He cared very much about his students, and this was the best way we could think to let him continue his work even though he is gone.”
“This is impact that goes on forever,” added Todd McCubbin, executive director of the Mizzou Alumni Association. “Having a scholarship that will only continue to grow and support generations of students in television journalism speaks to the impact Ben had on the young people he had a chance to work with.”
There is also a sense of giving back. Ben’s wife, Nicole Arnet — who serves as a senior executive assistant and board liaison at the Mizzou Alumni Association — has seen outreach ranging from her late husband’s childhood friends to students and colleagues, but much of the support has also come from people she has never met. And while the scholarship is likely to help some students who experienced Ben’s leadership and mentorship directly, she knows much of its future impact will be on students who never had the chance to meet him.
“I can’t say enough about the way the community has supported myself and our daughter, Lyla,” she said. “Between the kindness and generosity of the community combined with the help of some of his former students, it’s just been really touching and humbling and also a little healing. Hopefully, people will continue to remember Ben in this way and keep his legacy going forward.”
Students have leapt at the opportunity to speak about their mentor in an effort to encourage community donations to fully endow the scholarship, which would ensure the fund can give annual scholarships in perpetuity. At Arnet’s memorial service and during March’s Mizzou Giving Day drive, they described someone who held students to a high standard of excellence while offering a supportive ear to those who needed it even years after graduation.
One such student, Kayler Smith, BJ ’22, said Arnet was a key part of her success in landing a sports director position right after graduating.
“Ben set so many of us up for success in our careers,” Smith said. “If you look at the graduating classes of ‘sportos,’ it’s a very high-percentage placement rate, which is rare. So many of us got jobs right out of school in sports and are still working in sports, where the jobs are very competitive.”
Then, when it came time for Smith to look for a job at a different station, he became her rock.
“He was there for advice, guidance, but also support and reminders of my abilities,” she added. “He never gave up belief in me, and when I did get this job in Dayton [covering sports at WDTN-TV], he was one of the first people I told. His reaction was, ‘that’s the best news I’ve heard in a while.’”
Smith was just one of many students whose names ended up on a map in Arnet’s office, which showed where KOMU sports alums had found their first jobs out of school. A relic of the previous sports director, Arnet resurrected the map at the urging of his students, had it framed and presented it to his senior class of 2022 with a line from former Mizzou Football coach Gary Pinkel that Smith will never forget:
“Some things might not always seem important, but if they’re important to your players, they’re important to you.”
One thing that was always important to Arnet — even back in 9th grade, when he first got his feet wet taking part in Hickman High School’s radio and television program — was something that also lies at the heart of the School of Journalism’s curriculum: storytelling. It’s what spurred the creation of Mizzou Xtra, KOMU’s periodic deep dive into the stories behind a variety of Mizzou sports.
And as those who felt his impact continue to tell their own stories about how Ben Arnet helped them succeed, Arnet’s family wants his love for storytelling and his desire to nurture that love in others to live on through this scholarship.
“He said to me years ago, ‘I’m not interested in anchoring at a TV station if all I’m going to do is stand up there and read the scores,’” said Bill Arnet. “It was very clear he wanted the opportunity to do stories. He would want people to understand that they have the opportunity to do the same thing if they work hard at it.”
To learn more about the scholarship or contribute to the fund, click here.
Updated: March 31, 2026