Meet The Sports Writers

[Bill Burgess]

Robert Salvador Klapisch---AKA Bob Klapisch

Born: August 14, 1957, New York City
Died: Still Alive

New Jersey / New York sports writer:
Graduated Columbia University (NYC), majored political science
New York Post, sports writer, 1980 - 1987 (general assignment sports writer to Yankees beat writer
New York Daily News, sports writer, 1988 - 1994
Hackensack Record (Hackensack, NJ), sports writer, 1995 - present, baseball writer

wikipedia
Robert Salvador "Bob" Klapisch is a sportswriter for the The Bergen Record and ESPN. He has previously written for The New York Post and New York Daily News, and has written five books about baseball. He has been a voting member of the Baseball Writers Association of America since 1983.

Klapisch was born in 1957 in New York City and grew up in Leonia, New Jersey, where he attended Leonia High School. He was awarded a bachelor's degree, majoring in political science, from Columbia University, where he played varsity baseball and was sports editor of the school's newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator.

In response to his book on the 1992 Mets, The Worst Team Money Could Buy: The Collapse Of The New York Mets (ISBN 0-8032-7822-5), New York Mets outfielder Bobby Bonilla confronted Klapisch in th team's clubhouse, apparently trying to instigate a fight.

Klapisch was married to Stephanie Stokes, a singer and boxing ring announcer, from 1995-1999. Klapisch is a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey.
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Bob Klapisch has been covering baseball for The Record since 1996. He previously worked at the New York Post and New York Daily News and is currently a regular contributor at Fox Sports.com. An author of five books, including “The Worst Team Money Could Buy,” Klapisch was recently voted among the nation’s Top 5 columnists in the Associated Press Sports Editors contest. Klapisch is a graduate of Columbia University where he played varsity baseball. He now lives in Westwood with his wife and two children.
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Bob Klapisch (Sportswriter. Born, New York, Aug. 14, 1957.) A former Columbia relief pitcher, Roberto Salvador Klapisch has covered New York baseball for three major newspapers since 1980. Klapisch started at the New York Post, where he remained until 1987, rising from general assignment sportswriter to Yankees beat man. He then spent six years at the Daily News (1988-94) before moving to The Record of Hackensack, N.J., in 1995. For The Record, Klapisch is the principal baseball columnist.

He has written four books, the first of which, The Worst Team Money Could Buy (1993), was critical of the Mets’ failed extravagance in the early 1990s. Co-written with John Harper (q.v.), the book led to an angry clubhouse confrontation with highly-paid underachieving outfielder Bobby Bonilla. Three more baseball books followed, including one on the 1996 champion Yankees and another with Dwight Gooden (1999).

At Columbia, where he majored in political science, Klapisch was a righthander with a quirky delivery who was 4-3 over his last two seasons with several saves. An all-B.C.S.L. pitcher at Leonia H.S., he began pitching in New Jersey’s Metropolitan League in 1977 and continues to do so.

Authored:
The Worst Team Money Could Buy, 1993---co-written with John Harper
High and Tight: The Rise and Fall of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, 1997
Champions!: The Saga of the 1996 New York Yankees, 1996
The Braves: 125 Years of America's Team, 1996
Heat: My Life on and Off the Diamond, 1999

[Bill Burgess]

William Paul Plaschke---AKA Bill Plaschke

Born: September 6, 1958, Louisville, KY
Died: Still Alive

Los Angeles sports writer;
Baylor University (Waco, TX),
Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville, IL), 1980, (Bachelor's degree, Mass Communications)
Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Los Angeles Times, 1987 - present

Bill's wikipedia page
William P. "Bill" Plaschke (born September 6, 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American journalist who has written for the Los Angeles Times since 1987, and a sports columnist at the Times since 1996, has made nationally recognized contributions in both journalism and public service.. He attended Ballard High School in Louisville. In 1980, he received a bachelor's degree in mass communications from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois where he was the sports editor for the school's paper, the Alestle. Has also been a sportswriter with the San Diego County edition from 1987 to 1996. Afterwards worked as a sportswriter for the Fort Lauderdale News-Sun Sentinel and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer before The Los Angeles Times. Currently, Plaschke is one of the panelists on the sports-themed show Around the Horn on ESPN, where he is often referred to by Woody Paige as "Reverend Bill." He is a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Professional Football Writers Association.

Plaschke once was named National Sports Columnist of the Year by the Associated Press. Plaschke is known for his human interest stories, including his 2003 portrait of Sarah Morris.
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As a journalist, Plaschke, in his 18th year with the Times, has been named National Sports Columnist of the Year by a variety of organizations, including Associated Press, Sigma Delta Chi, and National Headliners. He has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize [2004] and his work has been featured in several editions of the annual "Best American Sports Writing" book. He has also published a collection of his columns entitled, "Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoil Sports, Foul Balls and Odd Balls."

Plaschke was recently named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles chapter of Big Brothers/Big Sisters for his longtime involvement as a Big Brother. He has also received a "Pursuit of Justice'' award from the California's Women's Law Center for his coverage of women's sports. In 2002, Plaschke was selected to carry the Olympic Torch for a couple of blocks through downtown Los Angeles as it worked its way to Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics.

Plaschke is also a regular panelist on the ESPN daily talk show, "Around The Horn" and made his film debut with three lines in the Will Smith movie, "Ali." In what some more cynical colleagues considered a stretch, Plaschke played the part of a sports writer.

Bill Plaschke is known for his heart-warming portraits of sports figures. He is a U.S. journalist who has been a writer for the Los Angeles Times since 1987.

He received a bachelor's degree in mass communications in 1980 from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. Currently he is a panelist on the sports-themed show Around the Horn on ESPN. He also is a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Professional Football Writers Association.

In his career as a sports writer, he has been named National Sports Columnist of the Year by the Associated Press. Prior to becoming a columnist, Plaschke covered the Los Angeles Dodgers.

[Bill Burgess]

Michael Paul Klis

Born: January 24, 1959
Died: Still Alive

Denver sports writer;
Graduated Oswego HS (IL), 1977
Graduated Murray State (KY), 1981
Denver Post,

Mike covers the Denver Broncos for the Denver Post.

[Bill Burgess]

David E. Van Dyck

Born: February 14, 1947
Died: Still Alive

Chicago sports writer;
Chicago Tribune,

Dave has written baseball for more than 30 years in Chicago as well as making many radio and television appearances, including as a longtime member of The Sportswriters show on WGN radio. He has been a nominee for the baseball Hall of Fame and serves on the veterans committee for the Hall.

Some of Dave's interests included motorcycles, any kind of racing and sandy beaches with books of poetry are preferred during downtime.

[Bill Burgess]

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[Bill Burgess]

William Forrest Sherrod---AKA Blackie Sherrod

Born: November 9, 1919, Belton, Texas
Died: Still Alive

Texas sports writer:
Justice Precinct 2, Bell County, TX, 2-month old, (1920 census)(listed Wm Forrest Sherrod)
Belton, TX, 10-year old, (April 12, 1930 census)(listed as W. Forrest Sherrod)
Temple Daily Telegram,
Fort Worth Press, 1946 - 1958
Dallas Times Herald, 1958 - 1984
Dallas Morning News, 1984 - 2008

Father: Marvin F., born Texas, 1891?; Mother: Leola H., born Texas, 1895?;

Blackie Sherrod was born, reared, and educated in Texas. After a failed career as a wingback at Howard Payne College, he spent most of World War II as a torpedo plane gunner in the Pacific.

Sherrod attended Baylor University for one year (1937-38), but transferred to Howard Payne University, where he graduated in May 1941 with a BA in English. He served in the United States Navy during World War II in the Pacific Theatre, completing 22 missions and earning three medals. Following the close of the war in 1945, he returned to Texas and began writing for the Temple Telegram in 1946.

The following year, he moved to north Texas, working for the Fort Worth Press from 1947 to 1957. His tenure at the Dallas Times Herald began in 1958. While there, Sherrod worked as both a columnist and as sports editor. Although his primary occupation was covering sports, his work as a journalist also included national events. For example, Sherrod reported on the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the 1969 Apollo moon landing.

Blackie Sherrod transferred to the Dallas Morning News in 1985, and continued his writing there until his 2003 retirement. He wrote regular columns, including his Sunday "Scattershooting" section, as well as authoring several books: Blackie Sherrod: Scattershooting (1975); The Blackie Sherrod Collection (1988); and Blackie Sherrod at Large (2003). Sherrod also co-authored two other books; one with University of Texas Football Coach Darrell K. Royal, and one on University of Texas football player Freddie Steinmark.

Sherrod began his sportswriting career in 1946 with the Fort Worth Press. He joined the Dallas Times Herald in 1958, and since 1984 his writing has graced the pages of the Dallas Morning News. His lengthy list of honors includes the Red Smith Award for distinguished contributions to his craft, a National Headliners Club Award, inclusion in the National Sportscasters-Sportswriters Hall of Fame, and an honorary doctorate from his alma mater. For the last dozen years, his work also has included general columns on the Morning News’ Viewpoints page.

Tuesday | June 17, 2008
BLACKIE SHERROD RETIRES
Texas legend
Sherrod renowned as 'the best that is, was and ... ever will be'

By KEVIN SHERRINGTON
The Dallas Morning News
After nearly 60 years building a reputation, in the words of his most famous prodigy, as "the best sports columnist in the history of Texas newspapers as well as one of the greatest in the history of earth," Blackie Sherrod called it quits in January.

Blackie Sherrod spent the last 18 years of his career with The Dallas Morning News.
In his last column, a collection of his "two-cent" observations, Sherrod, 83, gave only the slightest hint of his intentions.

"Retirement is like a steam bath," read one of the last items. "Once you get used to it, it's not so hot." So why do it at all?

"I've had a job for 72 years, since I was 11 years old," he said. "I've been working long enough."

Few could match his achievements in several lifetimes.

A 16-time winner of the Texas Sportswriter of the Year Award, as well as a recipient of the national Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement, Sherrod is a newspaper icon.

"Blackie Sherrod has been the most popular Texas newspaper columnist for decades," said Bob Mong, president and editor of The Dallas Morning News. "He has it all — writing ability, a sharp mind, endless sources, a deep curiosity and a literary flair built on years of reading great books.

"I have no doubt he could have been editor-in-chief of this newspaper had he wanted to be. It has been a privilege to work with him."

In his work with four Texas newspapers, from the Temple Daily Telegram near his native Belton, to the Fort Worth Press, Dallas Times-Herald and, finally, The News, Sherrod mentored some of the best in the business.

At the Press, he hired and shaped Dan Jenkins, who would become one of the most famous sports writers and novelists of the last century.

And it was Jenkins who once wrote of Sherrod, "I always thought he was as great an all-around newspaperman as he was a columnist."

Sherrod seemed to agree, saying he achieved more satisfaction from editing, which included everything from helping redesign papers to writing eye-catching headlines to posting pretentious leads on bulletin boards.

"I always thought I was a better editor than a writer," he said. "I was never a very confident writer.

"Never thought it was good enough."

Legions of peers and fans would argue. In a letter typical of dozens that reached The News just this past December, a reader from Pineville, La., wrote: "Mr. Sherrod, you are the best that is, was and, I know in my lifetime, ever will be at the sports desk."

He'll get no argument at The News.

"When you talk about legendary sports columnists, you routinely refer to such greats as Grantland Rice, Jimmy Cannon, Jim Murray and, of course, Red Smith," said Dave Smith, executive sports editor of The News. "But the list must also include the name Blackie Sherrod.

"Blackie loves the English language and he loves great writing. And there are few who could weave words in as masterful a way as he can."

Former News publisher Burl Osborne, who hired Sherrod away from the Times-Herald in 1985, called the hiring, "one of the symbolic events that occur in the history of an institution. That was a turning point."

Told at the time of his move that he could have any of several roles, including the one he's now giving up on the op-ed page, Sherrod chose to continue writing sports for another decade.

But editors say he easily could have made the shift sooner.

At the Times-Herald, he played a pivotal role in the coverage of John F. Kennedy's assassination. He also covered the 1960 Democratic national convention in Los Angeles and won a Headliners Award in science writing for his coverage of the 1969 moon landing.

"What he brought to sports is more widely known," Osborne said.

"But, on the op-ed pages, I thought he was a breath of fresh spring air in a place that, if you're not careful, can be very dull."

Asked if he had any regrets about his long and distinguished career, Sherrod said, "I'd have probably liked to do more, yeah. But, everything considered, it turned out all right."

As for what he'll do next, Sherrod said he'd probably spend a month cleaning out his book-cluttered office at The News.

"And then I'll sleep for a month," he said.

Once an accomplished musician and artist, he said he'd like to return to painting now that he has more time on his hands.

And one thing won't change.

"He is," Osborne said, "a legend."

Right: Fort Worth Press sports writers (front row from left) Bud Shrake and Andy Anderson. Back row (from left), Jerre Todd, Blackie Sherrod and Dan Jenkins.

[Bill Burgess]

Dan Thomas Jenkins

Born: December 2, 1929, Fort Worth, TX
Died: Still Alive

Texas sports writer:
Fort Worth, TX, 1-year old, (April 4, 1930 census)
Fort Worth, TX, 11-year old, (April 16, 1940 census)
Graduated Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, TX), 1953
Fort Worth Press,
Dallas Times Herald,
Sports Illustrated,
Retired from newspaper work in 1985.
Dan still calls Fort Worth home.

Father: Elsa, born Texas, 1904?; Mother: Catherine, 1911?;

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dan Jenkins is an American author and sportswriter, most notably for Sports Illustrated.

Jenkins was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where he attended R.L. Paschal High School and Texas Christian University, where he played on the varsity golf team. Jenkins has worked for many publications including the Fort Worth Press, Dallas Times Herald, Sports Illustrated, and Playboy. In 1985, he retired and began writing books full time, although he maintains a monthly column in Golf Digest magazine.

Larry L. King has called Jenkins "the quintessential Sports Illustrated writer" and "the best sportswriter in America." Jenkins has written numerous works and over 500 articles for Sports Illustrated. In 1977, Jenkins wrote his first novel, Semi-Tough. Jenkins now lives in Florida with his family.

His daughter, Sally Jenkins, is a sportswriter for the Washington Post.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fort Worth Press sports writers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Top: Jerre Todd, Blackie Sherrod, Dan Jenkins.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bottom: Bud Shrake, Andy Anderson.

[Bill Burgess]

Steven J. Goldman

Born: October 25, 1974
Died: Still Alive

Baseball Prospectus

Steve's wikipedia page
Steven Goldman is a sports writer on baseball and a commentator on the New York Yankees and at times on the New York Mets. During the summer, he is a semiweekly baseball columnist for The New York Sun 's sports section on the Yankees and for times on the Mets, along with fellow baseball columnist Tim Marchman. During the winter, he is a biweekly columnist for the Sun. Goldman also writes "The Pinstriped Bible"[1] and "The Pinstriped Blog"[2] for the Yankees' YES Network website.[3] He also is on the staff of Baseball Prospectus, and writes the "You Could Look it Up" column during the season.

Goldman has a humorous writing style and for comic effect he often uses exaggerated analogies when describing players' skills. He is bold in criticizing decisions of general managers and coaches and humorously deriding them.

In his writings on the YES Network and the Sun, he criticized Yankees manager Joe Torre for moves that he thought cost the Yankees the World Series. He repeatedly claimed that one of Torre's major mistakes in the 2003 World Series was when in Game 4 in the 11th inning Torre inserted Jeff Weaver, who had not pitched in more than 12 days, as the relief pitcher instead of the Baseball Hall of Fame candidate and closer Mariano Rivera. Rivera was considered the best closer of all time and is the all time Major League postseason leader in saves and ERA. He was also considered the best postseason relief pitcher of all time. Instead, Weaver gave up a walk-off home run in the 12th inning to the Florida Marlins' Alex Gonzalez. Goldman also attributed partial blame to both Torre and hitting coach Don Mattingly for the Yankees' playoff losses in 2004 and 2006.[citation needed] During both the last four games of the 4-3 loss in the 2004 American League Championship Series to the Boston Red Sox and the 3-1 loss in the 2006 American League Division Series to the Detroit Tigers, Goldman claims the Yankees did not hit well because they were not patient at the plate, unlike during the regular season.

One of Goldman's themes is the Yankees' lack of success in developing young pitchers. He attributes it partially to the Yankees' expensive free-agent acquisitions that cost them draft picks, but he also notes how at times young pitchers who struggled with the Yankees were traded to other teams and fared better there, and even sometimes won a World Series with the new team. He suspects that lack of skill and impatience in coaching are the causes.

Another theme in Goldman's writings is the Yankees' lack of young pitchers in recent years. He mentions that during the 2003-2004 off-season, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and David Wells all left the Yankees as free-agents to pitch for their hometown teams, and after that the Yankees' pitching deteriorated, though both Pettitte and Clemens were again with the Yankees in the 2007 season (Clemens joining only halfway through the season).

Goldman was a fan of Bernie Williams during his peak but after the 2006 season believed Williams was no longer the player he once was and should not take at-bats away from the young fourth outfielder, Melky Cabrera.[citation needed] His skepticism about Williams brought upon him the criticism of Yankee fans who remembered Williams at his peak when the Yankees won four World Series. Williams was, in fact, dropped from the Yankees lineup.

Goldman stands out as a staunch supporter of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez who went through fielding and hitting slumps in the 2006 regular season and did not hit well in the post-season as a Yankee since game 3 of the 2004 ALCS. Goldman repeatedly rebuffed his critics and was strongly against trading Rodriguez, despite the rumors circulating in the 2006-2007 off-season that Rodriguez would be traded. Goldman claimed that even if Rodriguez were traded for someone of equivalent value, the Yankees would deteriorate in hitting because of a downgrade at third base. The only third basemen who was then hitting better than Rodriguez were the Mets' David Wright and the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera. Rodriguez went on in 2007 to win the Most Valuable Player Award in the American League, though once again his performance in the playoffs was disappointing.

Goldman frequently engages in non-baseball-related discussions on topics of food, music, American history, politics, and obscure movies, writing at length about those topics in the Pinstriped Blog and his chats on Baseball Prospectus.com. He is also a vocal critic of President George W. Bush's administration and its decision to send troops to Iraq. He occasionally writes about politics in the Pinstriped Blog and refers to it in the Sun. There has been no reported conflict between him and the Sun's conservative editorial board.

Goldman edited BP's books Mind Game (2005 — ISBN 0-7611-4018-2) and It Ain't Over 'til It's Over (2007 – ISBN 0-465-00284-6), as well as authored his own book Forging Genius: The Making of Casey Stengel (2005 — ISBN 1-57488-873-0) (2006 — ISBN 1-57488-874-9). He also co-edited the 2006 and 2007 editions of the Baseball Prospectus annual.

Goldman has both Jewish and French ancestry.

[Bill Burgess]

King Kaufman

Born:
Died: Still alive

Baseball writer;
Graduated UC-Santa Cruz; transferred to Berkeley as a junior. (Master's degree in journalism.)
Grew up in Los Angeles, CA
Lived St. Louis, MO (6 years)
San Francisco Examiner, 1989 - 1996
Salon.com, sports writer, 1997 - January, 2011
Bleacher Report, writing program manager, January, 2011 - present

King's wikipedia page
King Kaufman is the current writing program manager at Bleacher Report and former daily sports columnist for Salon.com. Kaufman grew up in Los Angeles, lived for six years in St. Louis, and moved back to San Francisco in the summer of 2007. In January 2011, King left Salon.

In addition to covering the major American sports leagues and international events such as the Olympics and the World Cup, Kaufman's columns often deal with issues related to the state of American sports. Some specific concerns of Kaufman include the role of race in sports and American culture, publicly financed stadiums, performance enhancing substances, the inequalities and hypocrisy in the NCAA, and the poor quality of television sports announcing.

His articles feature light-hearted humor, typically with a degree of self-deprecation. A former Angeleno, he enjoys relating stories of his fond memories of the Dodger games he listened to as a child.

Annually, he tracks the performance of NFL prognosticators, himself included, along with his son Buster, the "coin-flippinest 4-year-old in North America", who flips coins to randomly predict the outcome of (presumably) closely contested games. Kaufman also has a 2-year-old daughter, Daisy.

Kaufman has proposed changing the rules of nearly every organized sport, including removal of field goals from American football, the elimination of free throws from basketball, and the abolishment of offsides from soccer.

Kaufman is a frequent critic of sports announcers who use shoddy statistics or generally do not care about the sport which they are announcing. He has particular distaste for coverage of Major League Baseball on the Fox Network, including the playoffs, World Series and All-Star Game.

Kaufman, an admirer of sabermetrician Bill James, made his own contribution to baseball statistics by creating the Neifi Index. Named for infielder Neifi Pérez, this statistic measures a player's ability to contribute to his team's success by not playing. Introduced as an award that "we, the great whiffing, grounder-booting, sedentary lifestyle-leading masses, wouldn't just have a chance of winning if we were allowed to play. We'd be a lock", the Neifi Index is the difference between a player's team's winning percentage when he does not play and when he does play. It is called the Neifi Index because when Kaufman first computed it, the San Francisco Giants winning percentage when Pérez did not play was .929, but was only .542 when he did play, thus giving Neifi an index of .387.

Under the stage name the King Teen, Kaufman was the singer for the Smokejumpers, "purveyors of hampster-slappin' punk rockabilly in San Francisco from 1996-2000."
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King's Bleacher Report blog.
I am the manager of the writing program at Bleacher Report. I joined BR in January 2011 after spending 14 years at Salon.com, where I wrote the King Kaufman's Sports Daily column/blog from 2002 to 2009. I was also copy chief, associate managing editor, features writer and cover editor at various times at Salon. From 1989 to 1996 I worked for the (Hearst) San Francisco Examiner, where I covered boxing, as well as working as a writer and editor on a variety of desks.

I served as the advisor for the student newspaper Student Life at Washington University in St. Louis from 2002-2004, and I have freelanced for the New York Times and MLB, among other places. My work has been anthologized in "Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Player of All Time" (Da Capo, 2010), "Afterwords: Stories and Reports From 9/11 and Beyond" (Washington Square, 2002), "Iron Mike: A Mike Tyson Reader" (Da Capo, 2002) and, my favorite because it's a rhetoric textbook, "Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader, 4th Edition" (Longman, 2003).

I grew up in Los Angeles and attended the University of California at Santa Cruz before transferring to Berkeley, where I graduated with a history degree and a master's in journalism. I have lived in the Bay Area ever since, mostly San Francisco, except for six years I spent in St. Louis. I am married and have two kids.

-----------------------------------------------------------King is on the left.

[Bill Burgess]

Vernon N. Plagenhoef

Born: September 23, 1946,
Died: June 3, 1992, age 45, Livonia, MI---d. in Chicago on Wednesday night of heart attack in a taxi cab.

Detroit sports writer;
covered the Tigers for the Booth Newspaper Group, 1974-1992

New York Times' obituary, June 5, 1992

[Bill Burgess]

Timothy Y. Marchman---AKA Tim Marchman

Born: August 31, 1978, Queens, NY
Died: Still Alive

New York sports writer;
Attended Allegheny College (Meadville, PA),
New York Sun, fiction writer, 2002 - ?, sports writer

Tim Marchman was born and raised in New York City. A baseball columnist for the New York Sun, his reporting and criticism has appeared in national and local publications such as The New Republic, the Weekly Standard, National Review, and New York Press. He lives in Chicago with his wife and son, and is writing a book on pornography.

Tim Marchman is a baseball columnist who most recently wrote for the now-defunct New York Sun newspaper. His columns focus on the New York Yankees and New York Mets, as well as other Major League Baseball teams.

[Bill Burgess]

Gary Smith

Born: October 27, 1953, Lewes, Delaware
Died: Still Alive

Sports Illustrated

Gary's wikipedia page

Gary Smith (born 1953) is one of America's most acclaimed sports writers. He is best known for his lengthy human interest stories in Sports Illustrated, where he has worked as a senior writer since 1983.

Some of his literary peers have called him "the best magazine writer in America" and "America's best sportswriter". He also has been cited as a role model by younger sportswriters. He has won the National Magazine Award, the magazine equivalent of the Pulitzer, four times. His pieces have also appeared in The Best American Sports Writing series more than those of any other writer.

Smith worked as a sports writer for the Wilmington News-Journal, the Philadelphia Daily News, the New York Daily News, and Inside Sports before joining Sports Illustrated. His writing has also appeared in Time, Rolling Stone, and Esquire.

For many years, Smith's role as senior writer at Sports Illustrated has been to write four lengthy feature articles per year, most of which are in-depth personality profiles. His wife, Sally, has described his motivation as follows: "He is not satisfied with putting facts together. He wants to understand what is the core conflict that has driven that person. He hopes to tell a secret that a person might not be aware of." Several of Smith's subjects have attested to his profound insight.

Smith has received many awards and honors for his work at Sports Illustrated. He won the National Magazine Award for non-fiction, the magazine equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, a record four times and was a finalist for the award a record ten times. His stories have appeared in The Best American Sports Writing series a record eight times.

Smith's pieces are generally long feature stories. Two of his most acclaimed pieces were features on Pat Tillman and George O'Leary.

Smith is a graduate of La Salle University. His writing has also appeared in Time, Rolling Stone, and Esquire.

A collection of his work, Beyond The Game: The Collected Sports Writing of Gary Smith, was published in 2001.

[Bill Burgess]

Gregg Edmund Easterbrook

Born: March 3, 1953, Buffalo, NY
Died: Still Alive

Gregg's wikipedia page
Gregg Edmund Easterbrook is an American writer, lecturer, and a senior editor of The New Republic. His articles have appeared in Slate, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Wired, and Beliefnet. In addition, he is a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C. think tank. During the National Football League season, Easterbrook writes a column called Tuesday Morning Quarterback, currently on ESPN.com.

Gregg Easterbrook was born in Buffalo, New York on March 3, 1953, the son of George Easterbrook, a dentist, and Vimy Easterbrook. One of his childhood heroes was his home state Senator, Charles Goodell, the father of future NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. In 1970, Easterbrook, then 17, volunteered in Goodell's failed re-election campaign. Though he was raised as a Baptist, he now attends a Presbyterian church; he self-identifies as a born-again Christian.

Easterbrook has a bachelor's degree in political science from Colorado College and a master's in journalism from Northwestern University. He is married and has three children, two sons, born in 1989 and 1995, and a daughter born in 1990. He is the brother of Judge Frank H. Easterbrook and Neil Easterbrook, English professor at Texas Christian University.

Easterbrook's journalistic style has been characterized as "hyper-logical" and he himself as "a thoughtful, deliberate, and precise journalist ... a polymath and a quick study." His main areas of interest are environmental policy, global warming; science; space policy; "well-being" research; Christian theology; and sports, most notably professional football.

[Bill Burgess]

Joaquin M. Henson

Born: 1950?
Died: Still alive

Phillipine sports writer;
Graduated De La Salle University (Manila, Philipinnes), 1973
Graduated Asian Institute of Technology (Pathumthani, Thailand), (Masters, business management)
AB-BSC cum laude, (Economics, East Asian studies)
Phillipine Star, sports columnist, August, 1987 - present
Joaquin is married and has a daughter, Christina.
Primarily a basketball writer.

Quinito's wikipedia page
Joaquin M. Henson (aka Quinito Henson) is a Filipino sports journalist and television color commentator. His newspaper column, Sporting Chance, has appeared in the Philippine Star since the 1980s. Dubbed as "The Dean", he himself has laced his writing with nicknames given to various athletes, such as "Captain Lionheart" for Alvin Patrimonio and "Tower of Power" for Benjie Paras.

Henson graduated from the De La Salle University-Manila in 1973 and began his career in sports journalism shortly thereafter. Beginning in 1982, Henson was featured as one of the color commentators in the television broadcast of the games of the Philippine Basketball Association by Vintage Sports. He was retained as a television analyst by the various television networks that acquired the broadcasting rights over the PBA games after Vintage lost the rights to 2002. As of 2007, he was among the pool of sportscasters who covered the broadcast of PBA games on ABC.

Henson is noted as an expert on the National Basketball Association, a frequent subject of his newspaper column. In the 1980s, he served as host of the then once-a-week broadcast of NBA games on GMA Network. In the 1990s, he was a commentator on the Philippine live broadcast coverage of the NBA Finals. He presently is a member of the NBA Blog Squad, a group of bloggers whose blogs are featured on the official website of the National Basketball Association.

Henson also frequently writes about boxing and has frequently worked as an analyst on marquee fights featuring Filipino boxers, such as those of Super Featherweight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao. He is often paired on these broadcasts with the Sri Lankan-born play-by-play announcer Ronnie Nathanielsz.

Henson was honored with the first-ever Olympism Award from the Philippine Olympic Committee for excellence in journalism in 2004, as well as the first-ever Philippine Catholic Mass Media Award in the sports column category in 2005.

Henson counts the American Muppets creator Jim Henson as a distant relative. His wife Menchu was a commercial spokesperson featured in Philippine advertisements for Maggi.
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Joaquin M. Henson, better known as “Quinito,” graduated with A.B. (major in East Asian Studies) and B.S.C. (major in Economics) degrees, cum laude, at the De La Salle University in 1973. A true green-blood, he was salutatorian of his grade school class in 1964 and First Honorable Mention of his high school class in 1968. He was in the last high school class to finish at Taft Avenue.

Quinito was editor of the Junior Archer grade school organ and the La Sallite high school newspaper. In college, he was class president for five years and vice president for external affairs of the student council.

After earning a Master in Business Management degree at the Asian Institute of Management in 1975, Quinito worked for an investment house where he rose to vice president. Today, he is managing director of the highly-successful North-Central Luzon microfinance company Kaunlaran Sa Kabuhayan Microcredit Corp. and the Eduardo Cojuangco Foundation, which on its 25th anniversary in 2010, partnered with the Department of Education, University of St. La Salle Bacolod and Tarlac State University to provide masteral and doctorate scholarships for over 2,000 Tarlac public school teachers who upon graduation, will receive La Salle diplomas.

Quinito has lectured on microfinance before the United Nations in Geneva and Lyon and met with Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank at a microcredit summit in Washington, D.C.

Quinito’s other passion is sports. He has been a sportswriter since 1972 and gained the moniker “Dean” as a multi-awarded columnist for the Philippine Star. He is the only sportswriter to receive back-to-back Catholic Mass Media Awards and the Olympism award of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

He is a much-sought-after speaker on leadership, commercial endorser and event host and has delivered lectures for Metrobank, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, University of Sto. Tomas, Far Eastern University, University of the Philippines, University of Negros Occidental Recoletos, the Department of Education, Ateneo de Manila University, St. Louis University at Tuguegarao, Ateneo de Davao, Teodoro F. Valencia Foundation, various Rotary Clubs, Davao State College, Rizal Technological University, Immaculate Conception Academy, AMA Computer University, University of Manila, Polytechinic University of the Philippines, Philippine Women’s University, Graciano Lopez Jaena Elementary School, Koronadal National Comprehensive High School, Angelicum College, San Pedro College of Business Administration, Philippine Air Force, Philam Life, Pasay City West High School, Ramon Magsaysay High School, Mabini Elementary School, Don Alejandro Roces Sr. Vocational High School, University of St. La Salle Bacolod, De La Salle University Dasmarinas and De La Salle University Manila, among others.

Quinito appears on TV as a sports commentator for the Philippine Basketball Association, professional boxing bouts and other sports shows. He has also covered numerous international events, including the NBA Finals, the NBA All-Star Game and world title fights involving Manny Pacquiao, Luisito Espinosa, Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria in nearly three decades of sportscasting.

In 2004, Quinito was inducted into the De La Salle Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions to sports as a pillar in the media industry.

He is married to Carmencita Genato and they have one child, Cristina.

[Bill Burgess]

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