Meet The Sports Writers

[Bill Burgess]

Alvin John Stump---AKA Al Stump

Born: October 20, 1916, Colorado Springs, CO
Died: December 14, 1995, Newport Beach, CA, age 79---d. on Thursday, Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach, CA of congestive heart failure.

Free-lance book / magazine author;
Graduated University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI)
Portland Oregonian, reporter
WWII war correspondent
Los Angeles Times, reporter
Los Angeles Herald Examiner, reporter

Second Wife: Jolene Mosher

Al Stump was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was raised in the Pacific Northwest. During World War II, he was a war correspondent, and afterward he worked as a sports writer for national and regional publications, including Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post, True Magazine, American Heritage, Los Angeles Magazine, and Sports Illustrated. He wrote—both independently and in collaboration with famous athletes—six books, including Ty Cobb's 'My Life in Baseball', Sam Snead's 'Education of a Golfer', Champions Against Odds, and The Champion Breed.

In the late 50's, when Ty Cobb was looking around for a writer to help him get his story out there, Stump was a 40-year old up and coming author who had been recommended to him. Ty had always wanted to write his memoirs with Harry Salsinger, the one sports writer most identified with him. But Harry, the sports editor for the Detroit News from 1907 to 1958, died on November 27, 1958. So, Ty had to look around for another writer to collaborate with. Al Stump, fresh from some well-received magazine pieces, seemed like a solid, young up-and-coming candidate to help him get his side of his many controversies out to his baseball public.

So Ty chose Al, 'largely on the recommendation of New York editor, biographer, and Hollywood screenwriter Gene Fowler". They first met and conceived the project in January, 1960, and the manuscript was completed and at the publisher's office, Doubleday, before Ty died July 17, 1961. The book was reviewed in the New York Times by Jim Brosnan, a Cincinnait Reds' pitcher and author, on September 24, 1961. The book hit book store shelves in September, 1961, only 6 weeks after Ty died. In the language of the book advertisers, 'the book sold like hot cakes'.

Doubleday had given Cobb the final say over the content, and Stump had always felt it was a self-serving cover-up. The book sold well at first and received some plaudits from sports book reviewers. According to Cobb biographer, Charles Alexander, "Stump mislead readers in implying that he had been Cobb's companion nearly all the time, when in fact he had seen him only a few times during that "wild" ten-month period." It appears that Al worked with Ty during parts of March, 1960 at Ty's Atherton, CA home, September, 1960 at Ty Lake Tahoe Lodge, NV, and May, 1961, at Al's Santa Barbara, CA home. Ty and Al split $6,000 from Doubleday.

Al's article, "Ty Cobb's Wild 10-Month Fight to Live," appeared in 'True, the Man's Magazine', in December, 1961. It came out in 3 installments. It won the Best American Sport Story award of 1962. It was the basis for the 1994 motion picture Cobb, directed by Ron Shelton. Tommy Lee Jones starred as the 72 year-old Ty, riddled with cancer, uncontrolled-diabetes, arteriosclerosis, subject to black-outs, alcoholic, dependent on pain-killers and prescription medications. Many Ty Cobb fans have ripped the second, 1994 book as a hatchet-job and was deplored by some Cobb family members, who were appalled by it and refused to be interviewed by Stump. I have personally found the book both interesting and fair. The movie, which had almost nothing to do with baseball, was not worth the time and was pulled from theaters within its first week. Justifiably, in my opinion.

Authored:
Champions Against Odds, 1952
Ty Cobb: My Life In Baseball, the True Record, 1961
"Ty Cobb's Wild 10-Month Fight to Live," ('True, the Man's Magazine'), in December, 1961, (3 installments)
The Education of a Golfer: The Autobiography of Sam Snead, 1962
The Champion Breed: the True Behind the Scene Struggles of Sports' Greatest Heroes, 1969
Cobb, A Biography: The Life and Times of the Meanest Man Who Ever Played Baseball, 1994


Al Stump/Robert Wuhl. Wuhl played Stump in the 1994 film, Cobb.
Actor Wuhl is best known for his portrayal of Arliss Michaels, a sports agent in the 1996-2002 TV series, Arli$$.

[Bill Burgess]

Steven Philip Gietschier

Born: July 21, 1948, NYC
Died: Still Alive

Public Historian;
Georgetown University (Washington, DC), (B.S.F.S.)
Ohio State University (Columbus, OH), (M.A. and Ph.D.)
Sporting News, Managing editor, research, Sept 1986 — July 2008 (22 years)

Steve Gietschier has been a SABR member since 1987. He joined the staff of the Sporting News in 1986, as the publication was celebrating its centennial, to take charge of the company's archives. He was the company's first archivist, and he was responsible for the creation of the Sporting News Research Center. Over time, the Research Center became a "go-to" place for baseball researchers, especially those who were unable to visit the Giamatti Research Center at the Hall of Fame.

He turned a chaotic collection of books, periodicals, photographs, index cards, clippings, and other materials into the Sporting News Research Center, one of the outstanding special libraries specific to sport, especially baseball, in the United States.

Among his other duties, Steve wrote a book review column for many years, did the annual "Year in Review" essay in the Baseball Guide and edited the last five annual editions of the Complete Baseball Record Book. When the Sporting News moved its editorial offices from St. Louis to Charlotte, North Carolina, in July 2008, the Research Center was dismantled, its holdings boxed up, and its staff discharged.

Whenever the Sporting News received requests for information, Steve and his staff handled them. Steve sent me many of the Sporting News' sports writers' obituaries that appear all throughout this tribute. So, Steve fights for baseball. At the end of the day, 'Thanks old friend!" Took too long to tell you that, Steve!"

Steve has lived in Washington, DC, Ohio, South Carolina and St. Louis. His professional identity is public historian. He has worked at the Ohio Historical Society, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, and The Sporting News before coming to Lindenwood in 2009. Steve and his wife, Donna have two daughters and two grandsons.

Interests: sports, music, politics, the arts, fine food.

Steve is currently the Curator at Lindenwoods Butler Library, as well as Assistant Professor of History. His office is located on the top floor of the Library, next to the Media Room. Steve and Donna recently moved their family there from St. Louis, MO

--------------------------------------------with his wife, Donna.

[Bill Burgess]

Donald Martin Honig

Born: August 17, 1931, Maspeth (Queens), NY
Died: Still Alive

Baseball book author;

Mr. Honig has written 39 books on baseball, the last one coming out in 1996. He currently lives in Cromwell, Ct. He is a novelist and historian who mostly writes about baseball.

While a member of the Bobo Newsom Memorial Society, an informal group of writers, Honig attempted to get Lawrence Ritter to write a sequel to The Glory of their Times. Ritter balked but gave Honig his blessing. Over the next nineteen years, Honig churned out 39 books about baseball. He wrote The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time with Ritter in 1981. He also published several illustrated histories of long standing franchises. Honig published his most recent baseball book, The Fifth Season, in 2009. His latest work is “The Fifth Season, Tales of My Life in Baseball” an entertaining auto-biography, full of stories about growing up with baseball as a significant part of his life, interviewing baseball legends for his books, and other entertaining tales.

Donald Honig is America’s preeminent baseball writer, and perhaps the game’s biggest fan. He fell in love with baseball while growing up in Queens, NY, following his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers. As a teenager he even got a shot at pitching in the minor leagues. Later, he was thrilled to find he could merge his natural talent for writing with his passion for America’s game, and has since gone on to author scores of books on baseball history, in addition to several works of fiction.

Don lives and writes in Cromwell, Connecticut, near his daughter Cathy and her family.

Authored:
Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties, Told by the Men Who Played It, 1975
Baseball Between the Lines: Baseball in the Forties and Fifties as Told by the Men Who Played It:, 1976
The Man in the Dugout, 1977
The October Heroes: Great World Series Games Remembered by the Men Who Played Them, 1979, 1996
The Image of Their Greatest, 1981 (with Lawrence Ritter)
The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, 1979 (with Lawrence Ritter)
Baseball's 10 Greatest Teams, by Donald Honig, 1982
The American League, An Illustrated History, 1983
The National League, An Illustrated History, 1983
Baseball America: The Heroes of the Game and the Times of Their Glory, 1985
The Greatest Pitchers of All Time, 1988
The Greatest First Basemen of All Time, 1988
The Greatest Catchers of All Time, 1991
The Greatest Shortstops of All Time, 1992
Baseball: The Illustrated History of America's Game, by Donald Honig, 1990
Classic Baseball photographs, (1869-1947), 1999
Baseball in the '30's, 1989
Baseball in the '50's, 1987
Cincinnati Reds: An Illustrated History, by Donald Honig, 1992
St. Louis Cardinals: An Illustrated History, by Donald Honig, 1991
Philadelphia Phillies: An Illustrated History, by Donald Honig, 1992
New York Yankees: An Illustrated History, by Donald Honig, 1981
Boston Red Sox: An Illustrated Tribute, by Donald Honig, 1984
Chicago Cubs: An Illustrated History, 1991
Brooklyn Dodgers: An Illustrated Tribute, 1981
The Fifth Season: Tales of My Life in Baseball (autobiography), 2009

[Bill Burgess]

Edgar Poole (Pete) Palmer, Jr.

Born: January 30, 1938, Massachusetts
Died: Still Alive

Father: Edgar P.; Mother: Helen C.;

Along with Bill James, one of the formost baseball statisticians today. They now refer to themselves as sabremetricians.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pete Palmer is an American statistician, and a major contributor to the applied mathematical field referred to as sabermetrics. Along with the Bill James Baseball Abstracts, Palmer's book The Hidden Game of Baseball is often referred to as providing the foundation upon which the field of sabermetrics was built.

Palmer began his career as a baseball analyst when he worked for the Raytheon Corporation as a radar systems engineer. At night, after his co-workers had left for the day, Palmer used the company's (at the time) cutting-edge computers to run advanced simulations analyzing historical baseball statistics. In 1982, Palmer gained notoriety when he recognized a scorekeeper's error as he pored over decades-old box scores, discovering that Nap Lajoie's 1910 batting average was several points higher than Ty Cobb's, causing the official Major League Baseball record books to be re-written. Palmer also innovated the Linear Weights method of estimating a player's offensive contributions, an invention that will likely be his lasting legacy.

Many of Palmer's early works were written in partnership with John Thorn, including The Hidden Game of Baseball and Total Baseball; the latter book also featured, in later editions, the contributions of editor Michael Gershman. Palmer edited or served as a consultant for many of the sports reference books produced by Total Sports Publishing. Palmer's most recent work has been in collaboration with Gary Gillette. Since 2003, the pair has produced five editions of the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, and several other baseball annuals.

Football work
Palmer has also played a significant role in the field of football statistics. In the seventies, he served as editor for several editions of the A.S. Barnes football encyclopedia. In 1973, he joined the stat crew of the New England Patriots, compiling the official statistics for the team's home games. Palmer continued this task through the 2005 season.

In 1988, Palmer published The Hidden Game of Football, with co-authors Thorn and Bob Carroll. The book was updated and re-released in 1998, and is still considered the seminal work on football analysis. He was also co-editor (with Gillette, Sean Lahman, et al) of the ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia.

Authored:
The Hidden Game of Baseball, 1985 (with John Thorn and David Reuther)
Edited many editions of Total Baseball.

[Bill Burgess]

Martin Eliot Appel---AKA Marty Appel

Born: August 7, 1948, Brooklyn, NY
Died: Still Alive

Baseball book author;
Graduated State University of New York (SUNY), with degree in political science (at Oneonta), 1970

Marty is a Brooklyn-born Yankee fan, a rare thing in the early 1950's. He began a sports casting and sports writing career in Rockland County, NY, when only 15. After graduating from the State University of New York at Oneonta with a degree in political science, he worked for the Yankees for 9 seasons, becoming Director of Public Relations at the age of 26. He co-wrote Thurman Munson's autobiography, and also served on the staff of Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

Marty Appel is a public relations executive most famous for his work for the New York Yankees and a baseball writer and author. He attended SUNY Oneonta, graduating in 1970 with a degree in political science. He was the editor-in-chief of the State Times, Oneonta's student newspaper, and began his career in baseball while still a student, after writing then-Yankee public relations chief Bob Fishel.

Appel started out handling the fan mail for Mickey Mantle and was named PR Director of the Yankees in 1973 -- the youngest in Major League Baseball history. His time with the Yankees saw the sale of the team from CBS to a group headed by George Steinbrenner, an infamous "wife swap" involving pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, renovations to Yankee Stadium and the team's temporary relocation to Shea Stadium, free agency (most notably the signing of Catfish Hunter), and the "Bronx Zoo" era, with Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson and Billy Martin. During this period, the Yankees captured their first pennant in 12 years, and surpassed the two million mark in attendance for the first time in the American League since 1950.

After resigning in 1977 and starting a sports management company with Joe Garagiola Jr., Appel joined World Team Tennis to do PR for the New York Apples, a team featuring Billie Jean King and Vitas Gerulaitis. When the league folded at the end of the season, Appel joined the staff of Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. He also was an Emmy-winning executive producer of Yankee telecasts for WPIX, where he also served as the station's VP for Public Relations, and produced pre-season football for the New York Giants and New York Jets. Appel has also worked for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and The Topps Company, both in public relations capacities. He currently heads his own firm, Marty Appel Public Relations.

Appel has written 16 books, including his memoir, Now Pitching for the Yankees, a biography of King Kelly, and children's biographies of Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio. He has collaborated with Eric Gregg, Larry King, Bowie Kuhn, Lee MacPhail, Thurman Munson, and Tom Seaver. He has also written forewords to books and contributed to a variety of publications, including Sports Collectors Digest, Yankees Magazine and Encyclopedia Americana. His Kelly biography, Slide, Kelly, Slide, won the Casey Award in 1996 as best baseball book of the year.

He has served a member of the Board of Directors for the Yogi Berra Museum and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Sports Museum and Hall of Fame and is a member of the Advisory Council to the Israel Baseball League. He is also involved with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, serving as Editor-at-Large to their quarterly magazine (Memories and Dreams). For 21 years, he helped write the text that appears on the plaques of the inductees.

Appel is frequently interviewed for YES Network, HBO and ESPN Classic programming. He was a consultant for 61*, a Billy Crystal film aired on HBO, and The Bronx is Burning, a movie airing on ESPN, in which he played himself in one scene. He also appeared in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo as a restaurant patron, and as himself in a film about Barry Bonds' 73rd home run ball, called Up For Grabs.

Appel married Patricia Alkins in 1975 and they were divorced in 1996. They have two children, Brian (Promotion Director for the Boston Phoenix) and Deborah (a music industry executive). Married Lourdes Magbanua, July, 2009.

Marty Appel Public Relations
100 W 57 St
New York NY 10019
212 245-1772
877 298-1932 fax - NEW
www.AppelPR.com
Email: AppelPR@aol.com

Authored:
Baseball's Best: The Hall of Fame Gallery, 1977, 1980 (Marty wrote the text, Burt Goldblatt provided the photos.)
Joe DiMaggio, 1990 (juvenile age group)
Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, Reggie and George, 2003
Slide, Kelly, Slide: The Wild Life and Times of Mike "King" Kelly, Baseball's First Superstar, 1996
The First Book of Baseball, 1988
Yogi Berra (juvenile age group)
Batting secrets of the major leaguers, 1981
Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, scheduled for release, July, 2009
Yesterday's Heroes: Revisiting the Old-time Baseball Stars, 1988
162-0: The Greatest Wins, 2010.

[Bill Burgess]

Walter Lloyd Johnson

Born: January 23, 1960
Died: Still Alive

Lloyd was Senior Research Associate at the National Baseball Hall of fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Following that, he was Executive Director of SABR from 1985-89. He later served as President of SABR, and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which he co-founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1990. He is also Chairman of he Negro Leagues Advisory Group to the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee.

Lloyd had written numerous articles appearing in SABR publications and elsewhere. Lloyd has appeared on NBC's "This Week in Baseball" and on many radio broadcasts. An expert on 19th Century town ball, he has taught the game to museum personnel for historic recreation of games. He also teaches a course in baseball history at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
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Lloyd Johnson is a baseball historian, writer and consultant. He is the founder of the baseball information, research and consulting company Double Play. Johnson was formerly Executive Director (1985-1989) and President (1991-1992) of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). He chaired the SABR National Convention in 1996, and the Jerry Malloy Negro Leagues Conference, in Kansas City, in 2001 and 2006. Between stints with SABR Johnson, along with John “Buck” O’Neil and Larry Lester, founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and served as its first Director and Executive Director. He also brought the RBI program (Revitalizing Baseball in the Inner City) to Kansas City in 1992. As Senior Research Associate for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Library, Johnson helped to found the Leather Stocking Base Ball Club, a town ball team.

Johnson edited The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Third Edition (Baseball America) with Miles Wolff, as well as The Complete Book of the Negro Leagues (Hastings House). Recently published works are The Total Baseball Catalog and Baseball’s Book of Firsts, Fifth Edition. The Encyclopedia… won the prestigious SABRMacmillan Award for best baseball research book, and was also nominated for the Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year.

Authored:
Baseball's Book of Firsts, 2006
Baseball's Dream Teams: The Greatest Major League Players Decade by Decade, 1990
Baseball a Pictorial Tribute
Highlights from Drugs and American High School Students 1975-1983
The Baseball Timeline: A Chronological History of All the Teams, Stars and Seasons in Major League Baseball
The Minor League Register

[Bill Burgess]

Norman Lee Macht

Born: August 4, 1929, Brroklyn, NY
Died: Still Alive

Baseball Author:
Graduated University of Chicago, 1947: Bachelor of Philosophy
Graduated California State University, 1982: At Sonoma: Masters, Political Science

Norman is a SABR member and has authored over 30 books. Norman's Connie Mack book immediately stamps him as arguably the leading Connie Mack authority today, as well as one of the most knowledgable authorities on the Philadelphia Athletics. He is a member of the Philadelphia Athletics' Historical Society.

Norman has over 25 years service as president, secretary, treasurer or director of taxpayers' associations, cultural alliances, and the Society for American Baseball Research. He also has extensive business/Government Experience: U.S. Air Force, minor league baseball general manager, stockbroker, adjunct professor finance and management, antiques dealer, innkeeper, editor, book packager, author of 34 books.

Norman Macht was born in Brooklyn, and after many intervening stops now lives in San Marcos, Texas. A SABR member since 1985, he has authored more than 30 books, the next of which is his long-awaited biography of Connie Mack (through 1914), due to be published in spring 2007 and tentatively titled Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball. Norman is currently a Director of SABR, and has served in various roles on the Board of Directors for one-third of SABR’s existence.

Authored:
Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball, 2007. (This 708 page book ends with the dismantling of the 1914 team.)
Connie Mack: The Turbulent Triumphant Years, 1915 - 1931, 2012 (Norm is continuing to prepare the next book which will finish Mack's life.)
Rex Barney's Thank You for 50 Years in Baseball from Brooklyn to Baltimore
Roberto Alomar: An Authorized Biography
Roger Clemens
Roy Campanella: Baseball Star
Uncle Robbie, 1999 (with Jack Kavanagh)

Norm authored many baseball books for the juvenile age group for the 'Greatest Legends' series.

Norm's email address is: nlm@grandecom.net

[Bill Burgess]

Marcus Okkonen---AKA Marc Okkonen

Born: July 21, 1933, Muskegon, MI
Died: Still Alive

Baseball book author;
Marc is one of the leading Ty Cobb historians/researchers/advocates of his times.
Graduated from University of Michigan at Dearborn, 1968-70; (BA degree in Economics.)
Graphics artist/writer:
Born and raised in Muskegon, MI, and returned in 1989. Spent much time in California. Marc has been a Tigers' fan all his life.

Authored:
Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century: The Official Major League Baseball Guide, 1991, 1993
Baseball Memories, (1900-1909), 1992
Baseball Memories (1930-1939): A Complete Pictorial History of the "Hall of Fame" Decade, 1994
Baseball Memories (1950-1959): An Illustrated Scrapbook of Baseball's Fabulous 50's: All the Players, Managers, Cities & Ballparks, 1993
The Federal League of 1914-1915: Baseball's Third Major League, 1989
MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TOWNS OF MICHIGAN: ADRIAN TO YPSILANTI: THE TEAMS & THE BALLPARKS OF THE WOLVERINE STATE FROM THE 1880'S TO THE PRESENT, 1997
The Ty Cobb Scrapbook: An Illustrated Chronology of Significant Dates in the 24-Year Career of the Fabled Georgia Peach, 2001

Marc's email address is: OkkonenM@aol.com

[Bill Burgess]

Daniel Evan Ginsburg--- AKA Dan Ginsburg

Born: January 13, 1956, Pittsburgh, PA
Died: August 12, 2009, Washington, DC, age 53---d. pancreatic cancer

Baseball book author;
Graduated Northwestern University (Evanston, IL),
Helped found SABR, 1971 (at age 15)

Daniel E. Ginsburg, who at 15 in 1971 was the youngest founding member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), died August 12 of pancreatic cancer. He was 53.

"Dan's impact on SABR was huge. He accomplished so much in his life and was able to find time for SABR and to be a strong voice not only for the founders and early members of SABR, but also throughtout his 38 years in the organization. His influence will be felt far into the future," said SABR Executive Director, John Zajc.

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Ginsburg began his baseball research at a young age and his work was mentioned by Lee Allen in his "Cooperstown Corner" column in The Sporting News.

Ginsburg's baseball research continued throughout his life. Perhaps the highlight occured in 1995 when McFarland published his book on baseball's gambling scandals, "The Fix is In." The book was re-published in 2004. Throughout his life, he collected autographs of Hall of Famers and other stars. In the late 1990s, he donated that collection to the Elliot Museum in Stuart, Florida.

Dan served on the SABR Board of Directors, being named to replace Harry Rothgerber in July 2002. He was elected by the membership the following year to complete the term.

"Dan brought a new level of professionalism to the SABR board," Zajc added. "He brought the same incisive thinking to the SABR board room as he did to his business career, and we all learned from him."

Ginsburg also served on the SABR Fundraising Committee and gave leadership gifts annually. He had a special fondness for the Lee Allen Award at National History Day as he considered Allen to be a baseball mentor of his.

Dan was a graduate of Northwestern University and made his professional mark in advertising and marketing, retiring as president of Draft Worldwide in the late 1990s. He became a part owner of the Class AA Norwich Navigators and the majority owner of Champagne de Meric, the only American-owned winery in Champagne.

Recently, he started a new chapter as president of TAG Media, India's first In-Store Television Network. He was also president of The Sparrow's Song Foundation, and active in a number of charitable causes.

Authored:
The Fix Is in: A History of Baseball Gambling and Game Fixing Scandals, 1995

[Bill Burgess]

Maury K. Allen

Born: May 2, 1932, Brooklyn, NY
Died: October 3, 2010, Cedar Grove, NJ, age 78,---d. at home of lymphoma.

Baseball book author;
Graduated City College of NY (CCNY)(NYC); majored journalism
New York Post, 1961 - 1988
Journal News (Westchester, Rockland, Putnam counties, NY)
Thecolumnists.com
US Army (served in Japan/Korea).
Wife: Janet; Daughter: Jennifer; Son: Ted

Maury's wikipedia page, the free encyclopedia

Maury Allen (born 2 May 1932 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American sportswriter, actor, and former columnist for the New York Post and the Journal-News. He is also a voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Allen has written 40 books on American sports icons. He is currently a contributor to Thecolumnists.com.

Early life
Maury Allen was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Harry and Frances Allen. Harry Allen was a coffee salesman and Frances a homemaker. He attended James Madison High School where he covered sports for the school paper. Other notable graduates of James Madison High School include Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg, sports announcer Marty Glickman, and professional baseball player Harry Eisenstat.

As a young man, Allen was a Brooklyn Dodgers fanatic. His book, Brooklyn Remembered: The 1955 Days of the Dodgers, recalls the glory days of the team, before they were moved to Los Angeles.

After high school, he attended City College of New York where he majored in journalism and played for the football team. Allen has one older brother. Following college, Allen was drafted to the Army. He served in Japan and in Korea during the Korean War.

Early career
Allen wrote for the City College newspaper, The Campus, covering sports. When he was drafted to the Army, he continued as a reporter, writing for the Pacific Stars and Stripes. After his service, he wrote for papers in Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York.

In 1959, Allen was hired as sports writer at Sports Illustrated. He wrote for Sports Illustrated for two years. His next major magazine job was reporting for the New York Post from 1961-1988. From 1988-2000, he wrote articles for The Journal News, owned by Gannett. Following his retirement from The Journal News, Allen continued to write books and to write articles for Thecolumnists.com.

Radio Broadcasts
From 2002-2008, Allen co-hosted a weekly radio show called Talking Sports with Maury and Bill with the owner of Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant, Bill Liederman. The show was broadcast live from Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant, near Central Park in New York City. The one-hour long show featured sports talk and interviews with athletes.

Film appearances
Allen has been interviewed on numerous occasions in documentary films, such as Toots (2006), Mantle (2006), and Howard Cosell: Telling It Like It Is (1999). He has also portrayed a sports journalist in the original Odd Couple (1968) movie, and more recently in the TV movie, The Bronx is Burning (2008).

National Baseball Hall of Fame voter
Allen is a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and has been a voter for the National Baseball Hall of Fame for 35 years. He became eligible to vote in 1973 after more than 10 years as a traveling sports reporter.

One of the biggest controversies he faced while on the BWAA’s induction voting committee was in 1991, when the BWAA decided not to allow Pete Rose to be nominated for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame, following accusations that Rose gambled on Cincinnati Reds games while he was a player and manager.

Recent work
Allen recently completed work on a book about Dixie Walker, a right fielder for the Yankees, White Sox, and Brooklyn Dodgers, and controversial figure in baseball in the 1940s for his stance against integration in Major League Baseball. Dixie Walker of the Dodgers is scheduled for release in April 2010.

Authored:
After the Miracle: The 1969 Mets Twenty Years Later
Baseball: The Lives Behind the Seams
Damn Yankee: The Billy Martin Story
Memories of The Mick: Baseball's Legend
Mr. October: The Reggie Jackson Story
Our Mickey: Cherished Memories of an American Icon
Sweet Lou
Yankees World Series Memories
Yankees: Where Have You Gone?
1969 the incredible mets world series shea stadium
After the Miracle
All Roads Lead to October: Boss Steinbrenner's 25-Year Reign over the New York Yankees
Baseball's 100
Big-time baseball: A complete record of the national sport
Bo: Pitching and Wooing with the Uncensored cooperation of Bo Belinsky
Brooklyn Remembered: The 1955 Days Of The Dodgers Sports Publishing, Inc. Champaign 2005
Greatest Pro Quarterbacks [American Football, Players and Sports hereos]
Jackie Robinson: a Life Remembered Easton Press Norwalk, Ct 1996
Jim Rice Power Hitter
Joe Namath's Sportin' Life / How Football Starr Joe Namath Scores-on the Field and Off
Now Wait a Minute Casey!; an Up-to-Date History of the New York Mets.
Reggie Jackson, the three million dollar man
Roger Maris: A Man for All Seasons
Ron Guidry, Louisiana Lightning
Ten Great Moments in Sports
The Incredible World Champ Mets
The Record Breakers: Moment of Outstanding Achievement in the Lives of 15 Great Athletes
Voices of Sport
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?: The story of America's last hero
You Could Look It Up: The Life of Casey Stengel

[Bill Burgess]

Gene Roy Schoor

Born: July 26, 1914, Passaic, NJ
Died: December 13, 2000, NYC, age 86

Wife: Sheryl Nicole Stoloff; Married on May 24, 1979.

Gene Schoor
By Marty Appel; January, 2001
It was in fourth grade that I did a book report on Mickey Mantle of the Yankees by Gene Schoor.

Come to think of it, I did a book report on the same book in fifth and sixth grades too.

Gene was to baseball biography what John R. Tunis was to the baseball novel – the author you couldn’t avoid. He wrote ‘em faster than you could read ‘em, and they must have loved him at Messner and Putnam, his two primary publishers in the ‘50s. He probably didn’t miss any deadlines.

For Messner, he wrote biographies of Jim Thorpe, Leo Durocher, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, Casey Stengel, Christy Mathewson, Pee Wee Reese, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, Red Grange, Jack Dempsey, and Bart Starr. For Putnam, aside from Mantle, there were biographies of Roy Campanella, Willie Mays, Red Schoendienst, Lew Burdette, Bob Turley, and Sugar Ray Robinson.

Over the course of nearly half a century of writing, he also found other publishers for biographies of Joe DiMaggio, Babe Didrikson, Vince Lombardi, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Dave Winfield and Tom Seaver.

Out of sports, there was Douglas MacArthur, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy.

And there were team histories and great rivalries, and did we mention The History of the World Series?

When Gene Schoor passed away just before Christmas at the age of 79, there is a good bet that they found him with his fingers curled in typing position. He surely knew his way around the ol’ Royal manual typewriter.

It would be fashionable today to look back at the body of his work and say it was too filled with hero worship, too glamorized a vision of individuals who could have well been viewed warts and all. That seems to be the way we like our biographies today. It would almost be unthinkable to finish Richard Ben Cramer’s current biography of Joe DiMaggio and follow it with a Gene Schoor book.

But Gene was not only a product of his time, he really defined it. Give him the player’s year by year stats, throw in some good newspaper clips with some quotes about how the scout discovered him, create some locker room conversation between the star and his manager, sprinkle in some self-doubt after that .222 average in the first month of the rookie season, and bang, you had a 190-page book at $4.95 with a handful of some of the team’s best free publicity photos tucked in.

It was a formula that worked beautifully until Warren Spahn got hold of a biography written about him by Milton Shapiro and decided that unauthorized bios didn’t put much cash in his wallet. Spahn sued – over a small misstatement – and for a time, laid rest to the quickie sports hero biography while the matter moved slowly through the courts.

That was when Schoor went onto team histories and pretty much left the bio business to others.

In the sixties, Jerry Kramer wrote a breakthrough book about the Green Bay Packers with Dick Schaap, and looked at Lombardi, warts and all. Instant Replay was a new way to cover sports personalities, and the ‘50s style stepped aside.

Schoor was born in Passaic, New Jersey on July 26, 1921. He graduated from Miami University in Coral Gables, was an amateur boxing champion, and then was a phys. ed. instructor at NYU, the University of Minnesota, and City College of New York. During World War II, he was a Public Information Officer in the Navy.

He set up a PR business in New York after the war, and represented such people as Jayne Mansfield, Cindy Adams and Bess Myerson. He became a radio producer for Joe DiMaggio, Jack Dempsey, Tommy Henrich and Phil Rizzuto. His programs had titles like “Champ of the Week,” “Sports Club of the Air,” and “Hour of Champions,” and stressed good sportsmanship and good citizenship. He later did PR for New York- based restaurants, like the landmark Luchow’s, and opened his own place, Gene Schoor’s Steak House.

His first book, the Giant Book of Sports, was published in 1948.

Gene was an affable type, but he was not a frequent figure at the ballpark, and later day journalists came to resent his style of researching material from their columns, and then expanding it into books. He didn’t invent that style, but he certainly mastered it.

The last two years of his life were spent at a home for the aged in Manhattan. His wife had died, he had no other family, and the nursing home costs depleted all of his remaining money. Kind people at the home tried to sell his remaining author copies of his own books to get him some spending cash, but he was suffering from mild dementia and lacked memory recall.

In researching this column, I went to Amazon.com to see which of his books might still be in print.

It turned out, there is one more still to be published.

In February, 2001, comes The Illustrated History of Mickey Mantle, by Gene Schoor. It will be his 54th book.

And maybe there will be a fourth grader out there to do a book report on it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update:

In July 2010, 9 1/2 years after the above column was written, a Terrance Shore contacted us to say that he was Gene Schoor's son, born out of wedlock while Schoor was married, and not raised by Gene. The accompanying documentation including letters to Terrance and the dedication of one of Gene's books to him makes the story highly likely to be correct, and thus, updating the story, he did appear to have "other family" who survived him.

Marty Appel, best-selling author of Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, is also the author of 162-0: The Great Wins! with a foreword by Bucky Dent. He runs Marty Appel Public Relations at www.appelpr.com

Update:
Milton Shapiro was hired by Gene Schoor to write some of Schoor’s books! Gene Schoor had a ghost writer! No wonder he was able to turn out so many! Shapiro says he was actually the writer of the biographies of Leo Durocher, Joe DiMaggio and Pee Wee Reese. And when he asked Schoor for more money and a co-author credit on Bob Feller, he was turned down and “quit.”

Authored:
Jim Thorpe Story, America's Greatest Athlete, 1951
The Story of Ty Cobb, Baseball's Greatest Player, 1952
The Jack Dempsey Story, 1956
Scooter: The Phil Rizzuto Story
Seaver
Stan Musial Story
The Complete Dodgers Record Book
The History of the World Series: The Complete Chronology of America's Greatest Sports Tradition
The Illustrated History of Mickey Mantle
A Pictorial History of the Dodgers
Billy Martin
Bob Feller: Hall of Fame Strikeout Star
Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Manager
Christy Mathewson: Baseball's Greatest Pitcher
Dave Winfield: The 23 Million Dollar Man
Jackie Robinson: Baseball Hero
Lew Burdette Of The Braves
Mickey Mantle of the Yankees
Roy Campanella Man of Courage
The Leo Durocher Story
The Pee Wee Reese story
The Ted Williams Story
The Thrilling Story of Joe DiMaggio: 100 Pictures One Dozen Pinups
Willie Mays: Modest Champion
Yogi: A Fascinating Biography of One of Baseball's Most Illustrious Hall-of-Famers

Gene Schoor following game-winning home-run on last day of 1951 season.

[Bill Burgess]

David L. Diles, Sr.---AKA Dave Diles

Born: October 14, 1931, Middleport, OH----296-20-2471
Died: December 26, 2009, Athens, OH, age 78,---d. after a long battle with cancer.

Detroit sports writer;
Ohio University (Athens, OH),
Associated Press (Louisville, KY), 1951 -
Associated Press, regional sports editor, (Detroit)
WXYZ-TV (Detroit)
ABC sportscaster, 1961 - 1981

Dave Diles Sr. was a long time national sports broadcaster and a mainstay of Detroit radio and television in the 60's, 70's and 80's, before transitioning to ABC sports assignments. Diles, who has been retired for 20-plus years and currently resides in rural Athens County in Ohio , spent 20-plus years at ABC. During that time he covered pro bowling, track & field, the Indy 500, the Olympics and even hosted the Wide World of Sports. Most people probably remember him as the host of the Prudential College Football Scoreboard on Saturday afternoons on ABC, a position he held for well over 10 years.

He also dabbles in writing, and although he hasn't wrote anything for several years, the 73-year-old Diles has produced eight books to date. He has done books on Archie Griffin, Terry Bradshaw, Denny McLain, a book on ABC Sports and four spiritual books.

This Athens, Ohio native needs no introduction! Mr Diles is best known for being the host of the "Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show" on ABC in the 60's and 70's. He has written 8 books and was a sportscaster for ABC for over 25 years. "Saying that it is an honor to have Mr Diles on staff is a complete understatement! He is an icon in the college football world! Thank you Mr Diles for joining our fight!"
------------------------------------------------------
Athens Messenger obituary (OH) - Wednesday, December 30, 2009
MIDDLEPORT-Middleport native David L. Diles, 78, who rose in the field of journalism from a reporter at a local newspaper to a sportscaster on national television, died Saturday, Dec. 26, 2009, at his home in Athens after a long battle with cancer.

For 21 years, Dave was with ABC-TV and is best remembered as the longtime host of College Football Scoreboard. He also hosted or appeared on broadcasts for Wide World of Sports, the Indianapolis 500, the Olympics, NASCAR auto racing, professional golf, track and field and college football play by play.

Shortly after leaving Ohio University, Dave started a 12-year writing career. His work with the Associated Press as regional sports editor in Detroit led him into his career in television, first with WXYZ-TV Detroit and then on to ABC-TV.

Highlights of his career included hosting the nationally syndicated "The Race for No. 1" and "The Big 10 Today". He was the play-by-play voice for the Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Lions and Pistons and Ohio State Basketball, and hosted the radio series Sports Classics on 600 stations nationally.

During his longtime career in writing and broadcast journalism, Dave also wrote eight books about network television sports, the experiences of coaches and players. He became a versatile speaker and gave hundreds of speeches across the country during his career.

Several years ago, Dave was recognized for his accomplishments by his hometown, which named a park in his honor. Dave Diles Park is located in downtown Middleport along the banks of the Ohio River.

Dave received the distinguished alumni award from Ohio University where he later established a scholarship for Bend area students. Over the years he served as a trustee for Rio Grande College.

He was inducted into the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and received The Silver Circle Award from The National Academy of Television Arts and Science.

Three times he was named the Associated Press Sportscaster of the Year. In 1983, he was inducted into the Michigan Media Hall of Fame. He was named president of both the Football Writers of America, Michigan Chapter, and the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association, received four Associated Press documentary awards, the National Sports Service Award from Sport magazine, and awards from the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Dave, born on Oct. 14., 1931, was the son the late Lisle and Lucille Diles of Middleport.

He is survived by his wife, Kay; a daughter, Beverly Susan Diles Fenton (Dave) of Cincinnati; a son, Dr. David Lisle Diles (Suzanne) of Ann Arbor, Mich.; four grandchildren, Melissa and Conner Fenton and Matthew and Mitchell Diles; and a brother, William Diles. Also surviving are stepchildren, Peri and Graham Phillips of Atlanta, Ga. and Charles and Beth Koch, of Union, Ky.; step grandchildren, Grayson and Ian Phillips and Michael and McKenzie Koch; and several nieces and nephews.

Besides his parents he was preceded in death by three sisters, Lois Diles Bush, Phyllis Diles Jividen and Marjorie Diles Mitchell, all of Athens.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at The Plains United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a charity of choice, The Dave Diles Scholarship Fund, Box 289, Pomeroy, OH 45769, or Appalachian Community VNA Hospice and Health Services, Inc., 30 Herrold Ave., Athens, OH 45701.

Authored:
Nobody's Perfect: Denny McLain
Twelfth Man In The Huddle
One Man's Journey From Slippery Rock, Russell Wright
Up Close and Personal/The Inside Story of Network Television Sports, by Jim Spence
Terry Bradshaw The Man of Steel
From Ashes to Glory, Bill McCartney
What Makes a Man?: 12 Promises That Will Change Your Life
Archie: The Archie Griffin Story


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dave Diles is 3rd from left.

[Bill Burgess]

John Maurice Rosenburg

Born: June 2, 1918, Mountainhome, PA
Died: June 25, 2010, Newton Square, PA, age 92

Baseball book author;
Graduated Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY),
United Press International, sports writer / general news correspondent

When he was a newspaperman in New York, he wrote a column called "Great Moments in Sports," most of which involved baseball. In those days, he also wrote many stories about Broadway and TV personalities.

Authored:
The Story of Baseball: A completely illustrated and exciting history of America's national game, 1962, 1977.
They Gave Us Baseball, 1989
Baseball for Boys
Basic Basketball

John lives in Radnor, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia.

[Bill Burgess]

John Dennis McCallum

Born: June 27, 1924, Tacoma, WA
Died: December 17, 1988, Tacoma, WA, age 64

free-lance baseball author;
Newspaper Enterprise Association, staff correspondent, July 4, 1952? - ?

John Dennis McCallum (born 1924) was a sportswriter, as well as a writer on strength training topics. Married to television and movie actress Marjie Millar from 1960 to ?.

As a sportswriter, McCallum wrote books on a variety of topics. One of his most famous works is The Tiger Wore Spikes, a biography of baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb (A.S. Barnes, 1956). Mr. McCallum covered the baseball scene for many years with the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He had moved to NYC by at least July 4, 1952 and possibly much earlier.

In strength training, McCallum is most famous for his Keys to Progress magazine series, which ran in Strength & Health magazine from 1965 to 1972. The series has been collected and republished by IronMind as the book The Complete Keys to Progress. Reprints of McCallum's columns have been a regular feature in Milo since October, 1993.

Authored:
Australia's New Aged: Issues for Young and Old
Belonging
Big Eight Football
Big Ten football since 1895
College Basketball, U.S.A. Since 1892
PAC-10 football, the Rose Bowl conference
Reforming the Scottish Parish
Six Roads from Abilene Six Roads from Abilene: Some Personal Recollections of Edgar Eisenhower Some Personal Recollections of Edgar Eisenhower
The Complete Keys to Progress
The Long Way Home
Unequal Beginnings: Agriculture and Economic Development in Quebec and Ontario Until 1870
As It Is Played Today
Book Hollywood Stories Vintage Scooper
Buzo
Dave Beck
Encyclopedia of World Boxing Champions Since 1882
Crime Doctor: Dr. Charles P. Larson, world's foremost medical-detective, reports from his crime file
Getting into Pro Football (Getting Into the Pros)
Going Their Way
Ivy League Football Since 1872
Life with Googie
Not By Bread Alone: Conversations with Art Jordan
Prose And Criticism
Scooper: Authorized Story of Scoop Conlon's Motion Picture World
Southeastern Conference football
The Story of Dan Lyons S.J
This Was Football
We Remember Rockne
Everest Diary: Based on the Personal Diary of Lute Jerstad, One of the First Five Americans to Conquer Mount Everest
That Kelly Family, (family of Grace Kelly)
The Tiger Wore Spikes: An informal biography ofg Ty Cobb, Baseball's Greatest Player, 1956 (Juvenile age group)
Ty Cobb, 1975
Wrote many books on football, many as a co-author. Authored over 22 books.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sporting News' obituary, January 16, 1989, pp. 53.

[Bill Burgess]

John T. Kavanagh---AKA Jack Kavanagh

Born: February 21, 1920, Brooklyn, NY
Died: September 11, 1999, Greenville, RI, age 79,---Buried: Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery, Exeter, RI.

Baseball book author:

When Jack Kavanagh retired, he started a new career. He had always wanted to be an author, but a steady paycheck was more important than bylines and book credits. By the time he reached 75, a new career would be well underway.

Jack grew up near Ebbets Field. His Dad had been bat boy, 1903-04 at Washington Park, the pre-Ebbets Field home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jack himself had been an usher at Ebbets Field, culminating with the Dodges' next pennant in 1941.

After a successful career as an administrator with New York City, national advertising agencies, and in the emerging television industry, he resigned from Capital cites Broadcasting to serving as the Director of the Washington County (RI) Association for the Mentally Handicapped when his son, Brian, a paraplegic with mental retardation, was transferred to a group home made retirement and a switch to writing possible.

Jack's post-retirement writing career got its toehold in SABRA publications, which led to a series of juvenile biographies for ages 10-14. Inevitably, his sights were set higher, and a full-length biography of Walter Johnson, one of the players included in the 'juvvies' series, was the result. He is a former vice president of the Society for American Baseball Research and the author of numerous sports biographies

Authored:
Ol' Pete: The Grover Cleveland Alexander Story, 1990
Rogers Horsnby (Baseball Legends Series), 1990
Dizzy Dean, 1991
Walter Johnson (Baseball Legends Series), 1992
Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1994
Honus Wagner, 1994
Walter Johnson: A Life, 1995
The Heights of Ridiculousness: The Feats of Baseball's Merrymakers, 1998
Uncle Robbie, 1999 (with Norman Macht)

[Bill Burgess]

William Frederick Kirk

Born: April 29, 1877, Mankato, Minnesota
Died: March 25, 1927, Chippewa Falls, WI, age 49---d. cancer

sports writer;
Family moved to Chippawa Falls at age of 4, 1880
He resided in Chippewa Falls, WI from 1882 - 1898.
He moved to St. Paul, MN in 1898.
Chippewa Falls Herald (his column was Fleeting Fancies)
St. Paul (MN) stenographer, 1900
Milwaukee Sentinel, 1903
Boston Daily Globe, 1904-05
Moved to NYC to work for Hearst organization, 1905
New York American, 1905
New York Evening Journal,
Lived in Madelia, Minnesota, 1910
Returned to Chippewa Falls, 1918
Lived in Chippewa Falls, MN (correspondent for the New York Journal), 1920
Father: David; Mother: Caroline

William Frederick Kirk (1877-1927) was a well-known poet, songwriter, humorist and baseball writer. A longtime newspaperman, he first worked at The Chippewa Falls Herald and The Milwaukee Sentinel.

Mr. Kirk was born in Mandato, MN April 29, 1877. The family move to Chippewa Falls, WI in 1880 when his father David got a job as the City & County Surveyor. They resided in Chippewa Falls from 1880 to 1898 and in 1898 Billy went to St. Paul, MN, where he was employed as a stenographer in the wholesale house of Nicols, Dean & Gregg. Shortly aftger locating in St. Paul he began contributin to the Twin City papers, his verses attracting some locl notice, and he also wrote for magazines and eastern papers.

Billy had graduated from Chippewa Falls High School in 1894. The summer after graduation, he took a job as a typesetter in the print shop for the local morning newspaper, The Daily Independent.

A brief stint at the Chippewa Herald was followed by a two-year stint at the Eau Claire Morning Telegram. He then spent half a decade as stenographer in Chippewa Falls and then St. Paul, where he began to find his voice as a writer. Unhappy with the exposure his verse was getting, he jumped at the chance to return to Chippewa Falls where he took over as the editor and feature writer for the Chippewa Herald.

This was around November of 1902, and he quickly found an audience for his column entitled Fleeting Fancies. One of those followers was Charles Pfister, editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel. Pfister offered to double Kirk’s wages, plus pay for housing if he brought the column to the Sentinel. Kirk made the move and spent the next few years enjoying an enormous following. It was during this time that he published his first book – a compilation of his columns, appropriately named Fleeting Fancies. A second one followed a year later; this one entitled Norse Nightingale. Drawing on his childhood in the Northwoods, the humorous verse was written in a Scandinavian dialect.

Shortly after the release of Norse Nightingale, Kirk was once again called to a larger stage, this time to New York City by William Randolph Hearst. For the next 13 years Kirk lived the big city life, becoming an internationally recognized writer. A lifelong fan of baseball, he was assigned to follow the New York Giants. Hearing the call of Broadway, he wrote a handful of show tunes. Finally, he published two more books: the baseball-inspired Right Off the Bat and the World War I-inspired Song of Sergeant Swanson, once again utilizing Scandinavian dialect.

It’s unclear what brought about a need for a change of scenery, but in late 1918 Kirk decided to return to Chippewa Falls. He continued to write weekly for the Hearst papers. He dove headlong into local organizations, lending his words and voice to numerous efforts. In 1920 he was named to “Who’s Who in America.” He put out two more books of poetry: Out of the Current and The Harp of Fate.

Kirk began suffering excruciating stomach pain after a fall at his Lake Wissota cabin. Always a large man, he began to rapidly drop weight. It was soon found that he had cancer. The diagnosis didn’t change his demeanor as he cheerily entertained numerous visitors at his bedside at the Hotel Northern. In the early morning hours of March 25, 1927, Kirk succumbed to the disease that had ravaged his body. Flags in the city flew at half-mast.


Mr. Kirk abandoned this free lance work in the Fall of 1902, and returned to Chippewa Falls to accept the editorship of the Chippewa Herald, an afternon paper published i that city. In June, 1903, he went to the Milwaukee Sentinel asspecial writer, ad has since contributed to that paper a daily column of prose and verse under the heading "Fleeting Fancies."

Although his "Hiawatha" parodies and other humorouis poems have been widely copied in exchanges throighout the coiuntry, he isbest known for his Norwegian dialect poems entitled "The Norsk Nightingale."

Mr. Kirk was recently elected secretary-treasurer of the American Press Hmorists, and contributes to various magazines, but it is his column in the Milwaukee Sentinel that has made him known t newspaper readers. He has lately published through the Gorham Press, of Boston, a book of his poems entitled "Fleeting Fancies."

In 1905 he signed a contract with the Hearst organization and moved to New York, where he was employed at two of William Randolph Hearst’s papers: The New York American and The New York Evening Journal. After returning to Chippewa Falls in 1918 he continued working as a nationally syndicated columnist.

Kirk was born in Mankato, Minnesota in 1877 and came to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin at the age of four. He graduated from high school there and began his career in journalism on a local paper. His humor column, “Fleeting Fancies”, was a popular feature at The Chippewa Falls Herald and later at The Milwaukee Sentinel. It brought him to the attention of metropolitan dailies and was the name of his first book, published in 1904. Kirk's lyrics drew comparisons with those of other poets, whose work he sometimes parodied: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Eugene Field and James Whitcomb Riley.

For eighteen years Kirk was distributed by the International Features Syndicate and reached a national audience as he wrote on subjects as diverse as baseball, temperance, women's suffrage and divorce. His pieces were seen in everything from “The Smart Set” to trade union publications.

Recent works on baseball's deadball era have had numerous samples of Kirk’s sports writing. One can, for instance, read his account of Fred Merkle's infamous blunder or his rhyming tribute to the Flying Dutchman, Honus Wagner. The Unforgettable Season by Gordon H. Fleming recounts the 1908 National League pennant race through contemporary press coverage by Kirk and others. In 1911 he published a collection of baseball ballads called Right Off The Bat.

In 1918 Kirk moved back to Chippewa Falls, desiring to live among old friends in his boyhood home. He belonged to several fraternal organizations and was a prominent figure in the town.

Failing health caused his early retirement, and after an illness of many months he died of cancer in 1927.

William F. Kirk is especially remembered for his Scandinavian dialect poetry, written for a daily column and later published in book form. His byline, “The Norsk Nightingale”, was a familiar sight in newspapers across the country. His first collection of dialect verse, The Norsk Nightingale, presented a Norwegian lumberjack from the Upper Midwest. It was his most popular book with sixteen editions printed over a period of thirty-five years. At the time of its publication one reviewer wrote: “Novelty and freshness, and no little ingenuity as a parodist, salute us in this volume of dialect verse hailing from the haunts of the lumberjack or, more locally, northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, where dwell so many neo-Americans of Scandinavian birth.”

His second volume of dialect verse, Songs of Sergeant Swanson, reflected the experiences of a Swedish-American doughboy in World War I. A book of more limited appeal, it only had one edition.

Kirk's ethnic poetry put forth the notion that Scandinavian-Americans were good-natured but a little slow. This humorous stereotype had been employed in the 1890s by the playwright Gus Heege in such theatrical works as “Ole Olson” and “Yon Yonson”.

Authored:
Fleeting Fancies
Right Off the Bat; Baseball Ballads
Songs of Sergeant Swanson (1918)
The Norsk Nightingale being the Lyrics of a "Lumberyack"

National Magazine for July, 1904, pp. 474.--------------------------New York Times' obituary, March 26, 1927, pp. 17.

[Bill Burgess]

William Frederick Havermeyer Koelsch

Born: November 7, 1874, NYC (Greenwich Village)
Died: October 30, 1942, Dobbs Ferry, NY, age 67

Sporting Life correspondent:
book publisher, 1918
banking

New York Times' obituary, October 31, 1942, pp. 15.

[Bill Burgess]

William Ingraham Harris

Born: September 28, 1857, Washington, DC
Died: July 8, 1891, NYC, age 33,---d. at home of tuberculosis.

Boston / New York sports writer;
Lived Washington, DC and worked in Treasury Dept., 1872-1878. He then quit his position and moved to Massachusetts.
Boston Globe, reporter, January 1, 1885 - 1886; baseball editor, 1886 - April, 1888
New York Press, sports editor, April, 1888, Dramatic critic
Sporting Life, (New York correspondent)


--------Appeared in 1889 book-------------------------------------Chicago Daily Tribune obituary, July 8, 1891, pp. 1.---------------------------------Washington Post obituary, July 8, 1891, pp. 8.


Sporting Life obituary, July 11, 1891, pp. 2.

[Bill Burgess]

William Livingstone Crounse

Born: July 17, 1861, Milwaukee, WI
Died: Nevember 22, 1935, Washington DC, age 74,---d. at home.

Washington sports writer;
New York Press (Washington DC bureau)

-------------------------------------------------------------------Washington Post obituary--------New York Times' obituary
-----------------Appeared in 1889 book-------------------------November 23, 1935, pp. 24.-------November 23, 1935, pp. 19.

[Bill Burgess]

Jesse Franklin Matteson

Born: August 3, 1879, Cortland, IL
Died: September 14, 1935, Chicago, IL, age 56,---d. at home of heart ailment. Had only been ill a few days.

Chicago sports writer / editor;
Graduated from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), 1901
Gundlach Advertising Company, President, 1901
Chicago Chronicle, 1899 - ?, night city editor, 1900
Chicago Evening American, sports editor, ? - 1907
Chicago, advertising, 1907 - September, 1918
President of he American Association of Advertising Agencies, 1920-21.
President of Matteson, Fogarty, Jordan Co., ? - 1932.

Authored:
How To Bat
How To Play the Outfield

[Bill Burgess]

Hugh L. Brown

Born: September 28, 1906, New York
Died: January 23, 1985, Savannah, TN, age 78,

Philadelphia sports writer;
Chicago Sun
Hartford Courant
Philadelphia Record, telegraph wire editor, 1936 - 1948
Philadelphia Bulletin, sports columnist, 1948 - 1971, (covered Philadelphia Eagles)
Moved from Philadelphia to Savannah in 1971.

Somerville, MA, 14-year old, (January 13, 1920 census)
Springfield City, MA, newspaper, copy editor, (April 16, 1930 census)
Radnor, PA, newspaper work, (1940 census)

Father: Hugh, born Scotland, around 1871; Mother: Jessie, born Scotland, around 1878; Wife: Hazel D., born Massachusetts around 1910; Daughter: Nancy, born Pennsylvania around 1937; Son: Noel, born Connecticut around 1935;

Authored:
NORM VAN BROCKLIN'S FOOTBALL BOOK: Passing Punting Quarterbacking, 1961 (with Norm Van Brocklin)

Sporting News' obituary, March 11, 1985, pp. 46.

Philadelphia Inquirer obituary (PA) - Saturday, January 26, 1985

[Bill Burgess]

Peter Jay Donohue---AKA Peter J. Donohue

Born: June, 1859, Harlem, NYC
Died: November 16, 1894, Lakewood, NJ, age 37,---d. pulmonary tuberculosis. He had went to Lakewood, NJ, 2 months earlier to receive treatment.

New York sports writer;
New York World, sports editor, 1880-1890.
New York Recorder, sports editor, 1890 - 1894, death.
In 1886, he co-founded Sporting Times, with James C. Kennedy, John B. Day and James Mutrie. It dealt with baseball, boxing and current sports.
He became a boxing referee of great respect.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Boston obituary, November 17, 1894, pp. 7.

Appeared in 1889 book------------New York Times' obituary, November 17, 1894, pp. 8.---Bangor Daily Whig & Courier obituary, (Bangor, ME)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Saturday, November 17, 1894.----Sporting Life obituary; November 24, 1894, pp. 4, column 4.

[Bill Burgess]

Robert Martin Larner

Born: July 14, 1856, Washington, DC
Died: August 18, 1906, Washington, DC, age 50,---d. at home after a lingering illness.

Washington sports writer;
United Press, reporter, (2 years)
Washington Herald,
Washington bureau (Baltimore Sun)
Washington correspondent (Charleston News and Courier)

-------------------Appeared in 1889 book-------------------------Washington Post obituary, August 19, 1906, pp. E1.

[Bill Burgess]

John H. Mandigo

Born: 1857?, NYC
Died: April 15, 1908, Brooklyn, NY, age 50

New York sports writer;
New York Sun, clerk, 1875 - 1880; baseball editor, 1880 - 1888; sports editor, 1888 - 1908.

---------------------------Appeared in 1889 book----------------------New York Times' obituary, April 16, 1908, pp. 9.---Sporting Life obituary, April 25, 1908, pp. 13.

[Bill Burgess]

Philip F. Nash

Born: January 9, 1858, Pottsville, PA
Died: October 4, 1914, New York City, age 55,---d. died suddenly in NYC.

Philadelphia sports writer;
Graduated St. Mary's University (Baltimore, MD), 1880
Studied at Catholic seminary (18 months)
Philadelphia Times, reporter
Philadelphia Daily News, 1884 (city editor, drama, assigned baseball in 1885)
Philadelphia Evening Star, dramatic editor
Entered the theatrical business, 1891.
Manager, Bijou Theatre (Philadelphia for BF Keith)
Moved to NYC, 1899
Manager, F. F. Proctor, 1899
Started working for B. F. Keith, 1901
United Booking Offices, New York, NY

---------------------Appeared in 1889 book-----------------------------New York Times' obituary, October 5, 1914, pp. 11.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sporting Life obituary, October 10, 1914, pp. 12.