Meet The Sports Writers

[Bill Burgess]

Kirk Crothers Miller

Born: September 19, 1888, Bloomington, IL
Died: November 30, 1954, Washington, DC, age 66,---d. committed suicide with shotgun to head. Had chronic life-long pain.

Washington sports writer;
Cuban government news bureau, (WWI Civilian Draft Registration)
Kent, MD, 11-year old, (June 29, 1900 census)
Kent, MD, architect, (May 3, 1910 census)
Washington Star, news writer, (January 3, 1920 census)
Washington newspaper editor, (April 7, 1930 census)
District of Columbia, Publicity man, office building, (April 11, 1940 census)
blue eyes, black hair

Father: Daniel B., born Indiana, August, 1850; Mother: Martha P., born Indiana, May, 1859; Wife: Antonine, born Canada, born 1902; Son: Kirk, Jr., born District of Columbia, 1924?; Daughter: Antonine, born District of Columbia, 1925?;

Washington Post obituary, December 1, 1954, pp. 16.-------------------------------------------------------------Letters to the Editor
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Washington Post and Times Herald,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------December 10, 1954, pp. 22.

[Bill Burgess]

Kenneth Davey Fry

Born: September 28, 1902, Schenectady, NY
Died: July 9, 1971, Waynesville, NC, age 68,---d. emphysema

United Press sports writer;
Indianapolis, IN, 7-year old, (April 16, 1910 census)
Lyons, IL, 17-year old, (January 6, 1920 census)(listed Kenneth Frye)
Chicago, IL, newspaper, sports editor, (April 3, 1930 census)
Alma College (Alma, MI), 1920 - 1923, English
University of Chicago, 1925, (Philosophy major)
Chicago Evening Post, July, 1923, cub reporter, sports editor, 1928-32.

Father: Florien, born Indiana, 1880?; Mother: Thomasina, born England; 1882?; Wife: Margaret B., born Ohio, 1903; Daughter: Nancy K., born Illinois, born 1928;

Biography from Current Biography (1947)
During World War II the United States Government first became active in transmitting short-wave foreign language broadcasts to other nations although other Governments years before had taken advantage of the far-reaching scope of radio for propaganda and educational purposes. By 1947, however, the Voice of America was on a full twenty-four-hour-day, seven-day-week schedule; in that year the first American broadcasts to Russia were instituted. Kenneth D. Fry, director of the State Department's International Broadcasting Division joined the OWI shortly after that war agency initiated the first Government-transmitted international radio programs. He had previously organized and built up the news and special event activities of the Chicago office of a major radio network. In 1948 he will return to commercial broadcasting, having in December 1947 announced his resignation from IBD.

Kenneth Davey Fry, of English and Pennsylvania Dutch descent, was born to Florien and Thomizine (Davey) Fry on September 28, 1902, in Schenectady, New York. He was not reared in the city of his birth, however: his father, an insurance underwriter, moved with his family to the Midwest and later to the South. Young Kenneth attended grade school in Indianapolis (Indiana) and in Sanford and Jacksonville (Florida). By the time he had entered high school, the Frys were living in Chicago; he attended the Hyde Park High School in that city and Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Illinois (a Chicago suburb). In secondary school, from which he was graduated in 1920, he already showed the interest in sports and writing (he played tennis and football and edited the yearbook) that was to guide the choice of his first job. For three years (1920-23) he specialized in English at Alma College in Alma, Michigan; there he also edited the college annual. Two years afterward, in 1925 he became a philosophy major at the University of Chicago. Meanwhile, in July 1923 Fry had been hired as cub reporter for the Chicago Evening Post. His duties included coverage of sports events and the writing of a daily column; occasionally, too, he wrote editorials and covered general news. In 1928 Fry was promoted to the sports editorship of the Post, which discontinued publication in 1932.

For a brief period (November 1932 to July 1933) Fry was sports editor of the central division of the United Press Association. He then joined the public relations department of the central division of the National Broadcasting Company as news editor. Under Fry's direction, news coverage was disassociated from the press relations section and established as an independent division; in 1936 Fry became director of news and special events in the Chicago office of NBC. When Fry joined the network, the news staff had consisted of one writer; when he left in 1943 the department had grown to twelve. In addition to supervising the broadcasting of news and commentary, Fry planned, wrote, and produced all central division special events programs. These included on-the-spot coverage of headline events, sports, and political conventions, and the broadcasting of speeches and election returns; special programs such as the Army Hour also came under Fry's direction. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fry planned and had in operation the NBC coverage of the Pacific area.

In February 1943 Fry became head field representative of the Alaska outpost of the overseas division of the OWI. A few months before, this war information body had taken over the short-wave broadcasting previously carried on by two major networks and other private units. Part of OWI's activities included "live" broadcasting; another aspect was the supplying of recorded programs to outposts, of which Fry's Alaska station was one. Because they could be sent out on medium-wave transmitters and because a great deal of atmospheric interference was eliminated, these transcriptions reached a larger audience than the short-wave programs. The outposts also broadcast recorded shows prepared for the armed forces stationed in their areas. In June 1943 Fry closed the Alaska outpost and returned to the United States as assistant director of Pacific operations, with an office in San Francisco. Under the supervision of Fry and his superior, programs were beamed to the Far East, Australia, and Honolulu. Nine hundred employees, at the peak of operations, worked for the California office, preparing or actually sending programs, twenty-four hours daily, over ten short-wave transmitters and relays in Honolulu and Manila. With three major objectives (psychological warfare, the supplying of important information to Allies and the armed forces in the Pacific, and the reassurance to people on Japanese-occupied islands that they had not been forgotten), programs were broadcast in English, French, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Siamese, Annamese, Korean, and Malay.

At the end of the war, the Department of State decided to continue the broadcasting activities of both OWI and the Office of Inter-American Affairs, which had been transmitting programs to Latin America. Fry supervised the merger of the work of the San Francisco offices of both groups and was appointed chief of the western office of the State Department's Interim International Information Service. Early in 1946 the radio activities of the two offices were permanently assigned to the Office of International Information and Cultural Affairs as the International Broadcasting Division; at that time, Fry, still in San Francisco, was named associate chief and was given charge of all broadcasting to the Far East and of English language broadcasts to Latin America. Six months later, after supervising the liquidation of the California office and the centralization of all work in New York, Fry became chief of the International Broadcasting Division of the State Department.

The title of these foreign language broadcasts, Voice of America, had been established in OWI days. During the war, the programs had been prepared in forty languages; in peacetime the number of languages dropped to twenty-four (until the beginning of 1947 when a twenty-fifth was added). According to the Christian Science Monitor, about 17 per cent of the programs transmitted by Fry's department are news broadcasts, about 34 per cent are commentaries or background information on current events, and about 49 per cent are feature broadcasts. The latter may be speeches, interviews, "quiz" programs, on-the-spot broadcasts of news events, round-table discussions, the dramatization of events in American history, the lives of famous Americans, discussion of American books or plays, lectures on homemaking or child care, or programs answering listeners' questions about the United States. About half of these are actually produced by Fry's staff; the rest are prepared under contract with domestic radio companies or networks. Often, in addition to receiving the programs on short-wave bands, foreign listeners may hear the Voice of America over the facilities of their local stations, which retransmit IBD's programs. In response to a request for audience reaction, Fry by early 1947 had received over fifty thousand letters.

The activities of Fry's division had received little publicity until February 17, 1947, when the first American broadcast was sent to Russia. Much note was made of the insistence that the Voice of America was not planned for propaganda purposes but merely to familiarize the rest of the world with American customs, history, and opinion. The Russian audience was told, "The purpose of our broadcasts is to give listeners in the U.S.S.R. a picture of life in America, to explain our various problems, and to point out how we are trying to solve these problems." The format of the program, which is on a daily schedule, includes late news, music, information about the Government and the history of the United States, and scientific lectures. The Russian language broadcasts raised the monthly total of program hours to sixteen hundred.

Later in 1947, a controversy arose in Congress concerning IBD's operation: the House, because the State Department had not been legislatively authorized to carry on its short wave broadcasts, refused funds for the Voice of America in passing an appropriation bill. The Senate, however, restored the necessary money and, to insure House approval, added an amendment to the general bill authorizing the continuation of IBD. Fry himself, on December 26, announced his resignation effective January 16, 1948. The reasons, he said, were the difficulty of planning the "Voice of America" programs with the constant threat of their elimination by Congress, and the fact that his salary was "frozen." Fry planned to return to commercial broadcasting.

Fry has retained his membership in the San Francisco Press Club, although his IBD duties are centered in Washington, where he lives with his wife, the former Margaret Freshley, to whom he was married on September 19, 1925, and their two daughters, Nancy and Susan. Fry's hair is now gray; he has blue eyes and is five feet seven and a half inches in height and 140 pounds in weight. The official, who claims no political affiliation, attends the Congregational Church.

He died of emphysema in Waynesville, NC on July 9, 1971.

[Bill Burgess]

Lucius Clinton Harper

Born: November 11, 1894, Augusta, GA
Died: February 10, 1952, Chicago, IL, age 57,---d. uremic poisoning in Chicago's Billings Hospital.

Chicago editor;
Augusta, GA, 5-year old, (June 8, 1900 census)
Augusta, GA, 16-year old, (April 19, 1910 census)
Chicago, IL, newspaper, editor, (March, 1920 census)
Chicago Defender (June 5, 1918 WWI Civilian Draft Registration)
Chicago, IL, newspaper, editor, (April 3, 1930 census)
Chicago, IL, Daily Newspaper, editor, (April 17, 1940 census)
Chicago Defender, 1916 - 1952 (cub reporter, columnist, 1942 - 1952 executive editor)

Father: James S., born Georgia, November 1854; Mother: Ellen, born Georgia, August, 1858; Wife: Lillian Eggleston. She married Lucius on February 8, 1952, just 2 days before he died. Wife: Lorraine K. Cooper, married March 21, 1938; Wife Amy, born Illinois, 1894?; Daughter: Ruth, born Illinois, 1921?; Son: Robert, born Illinois, 1927?;

Jet Magazine obituary, February 21, 1952.
Lucius Harper, Exec Editor of Chicago Defender, Dies

[Bill Burgess]

Wesley Rollo Wilson

Born: June 9, 1890, Brooklyn, PA
Died: November 11, 1956, Philadelphia, PA, age 66,---d. at Temple University Hospital, after suffering a heart attack during a football game.

Philadelphia sports writer;
Franklin, PA, 9-year old, (June 19, 1900 census)(listed Rollo W.)
Pittsburgh, PA, druggist, drug store, (January 13, 1920 census)(listed Wesley Wilson)
Philadelphia, PA, newspaper, Press representative, (April 26, 1930 census)(listed Rollo Wilson)
Philadelphia, PA, US lawyer?, treasury Department?, (April 9, 1940 census)(listed W Rollo)
Attended Temple University
Graduated University of Pittsburgh
Practiced pharmacy in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Athletic Commission, deputy commissioner
Pitsburgh Courier, sports writer, (Philadelphia correspondent)

Father: born Pennsylvania; Mother: born Pennsylvania; Wife: Irma M. Holland, born Pennsylvania, 1902?;


---------------------------------------------------------------Sporting News' obituary, November 21, 1956, pp. 22.

[Bill Burgess]

Frank Albert Young---AKA Fay Young

Born: October 19, 1884, Williams Porte, PA
Died: October 27, 1957, Chicago, IL, age 73,---d. intestinal obstruction at his home in Chicago, IL.

Chicago editor;
Chicago, IL, railroad, porter, (April 23, 1910 census)
Chicago, IL, railroad, Waiter, (January 6, 1920 census)
Chicago, IL, newspaper, managing editor, (April 7, 1930 census)
Chicago, IL, newspaper, editor, (April 22, 1940 census)
Chicago Defender, (free-lance sports writer, 1912-1914; managing editor, 1914-1918; sports editor, 1918-1929; managing editor, 1929-1934; sports editor, 1937-1949. Continued his weekly column, 'Fay Says' until his death.
Kansas City Call, managing editor, 1934-1937
Pittsburgh Courier, (Chicago correspondent), sports columnist, August 15, 1931 - ?. His column was 'Fay Says'.
Illinois Athetic Commission, time keeper at fights.

Father: born Pennsylvania; Mother: born Pennsylvania; Wife 1: Adaline Harrison, 1906; Wife 2: Cora Bowman, born Illinois, 1895?; Son: Frank Albert Young, Jr.; Daughter: Louis Anna Young; Son: Frank A., born Illinois, 1907?; Daughter: Louise M., born Illinois, 1909?;

Early life
Frank Albert Young was born John Luke Caution, Jr. on October 19, 1884 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the eldest of four children of John Luke Caution and Annie C. (Collins) Caution. The elder Caution, descended from Haitian immigrants, was originally from Washington County, Maryland and worked in a lumber mill in Williamsport. Annie Caution's mother was Julia C. Collins, who in 1865, produced the first serialized novel written by an African-American woman, Curse of Caste, or the Slave Bride. The family lived at 342 Front Street in Williamsport.

In November 1889, Annie Collins Caution died of pneumonia at the age of twenty-seven, leaving four young children aged between one and five. In June 1892, John Caution was fatally injured at an accident at the mill where he worked. Orphaned, the four children were taken to Cambridge, Massachusetts by their father's brother; upon his death sometime later, all four were placed in a local orphanage. The two eldest, John Luke and Belva Lockwood Caution, were adopted by an African-American couple, William F. and Margaret E. Overton, of West Medford, Massachusetts where they lived until 1900 when John, known as John Overton, ran away from home, changing his name to Frank Albert Young.

Under that name he worked at a number of jobs until he got work as a Pullman porter. By 1905, he was working as a dining car waiter for the Chicago and Northern Railway when he married eighteen year old Adaline Harrison in Chicago; they would have two children, a son and a daughter. The marriage was not successful, and in 1918, he married native Chicagoan Cora K. Bowman (1893–1960), who survived him.

Career
Around 1910, Young contacted J. Hockley Smiley, managing editor of the Chicago Defender newspaper as to the possibilities of a job as a reporter. Smiley told him that there were no jobs available, but anything Young could contribute on a free-lance basis would be greatly appreciated. Young started contributing pieces to both the Defender and the Indianapolis Recorder, another black-owned newspaper and, by 1912, was taken on as a sportswriter (again free-lance) by the Defender.

In 1914, Young joined the staff of the Defender and the next year became managing editor until 1918. He developed the first weekly black sports section, serving as sports editor from 1918 to 1929. Young was also the first sportswriter to regularly cover sports at historically black colleges. He also served as managing editor of the Defender from 1929 to 1934, followed by a stint as managing editor of the Kansas City Call from 1934 to 1937. Young then returned to the Defender where he continued to write until his retirement in 1949, although he continued to produce his weekly column, "Fay Says" until his death.

He helped organize the Negro National League in 1920, and served as statistician until the league disbanded in 1933. He also served as an official for the Illinois Athletic Commission, serving as a timekeeper at prizefights; he was also a former secretary of the Negro American League.

Death
Young died in 1957 of an intestinal obstruction at his home in Chicago shortly after receiving news that his sister Belva Overton had died in New York. Funeral services were held at Everybody's Church, a nondenominational church that he had helped establish at 60th Street and Wabash Avenue on the south side of Chicago, and he was buried at Mount Glenwood Cemetery in Thornton, Illinois.

Legacy
Considered the "Dean" of black sportswriters, Fay Young wrote about the African American influence on American sport. He supported Jack Johnson as he tried to return to boxing after serving his prison sentence, and was actively involved in promoting the inclusion of African Americans into professional sport during the early years of the twentieth century; he was also a staunch and unwavering supporter of black collegiate sports and auto racing.

Young influenced a whole generation of black sportwriters. One was A.S. (Doc) Young (no relation), who in a 1970 article in Ebony Magazine said, "I listened to Fay Young and learned a great deal from him." Another was Russ J. Cowans who succeeded him as sports editor at the Defender.

The Frank A. Young Poultry Plant at Tennessee State University was named in his honor.

Chicago Defender, December 18, 1948, pp. 14.
L-R: Inman Breaux, Fay Young, President Dr. G. Lamar Harrison.


Pittsburgh Courier, August 15, 1931, pp. 1.

[Bill Burgess]

Romeo Leonard Waldamar Dougherty

Born: June 20, 1885, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Died: December 9, 1944, Jamaica (Queens), NY, age 59

New York sports writer;
NYC, newspaper sporting editor, (February 10, 1920 census)
NYC, newspaper editor, (February 3, 1930 census)
NYC, newspaper journalist, (April 10, 1940 census)(listed Romes Dougherty)
Migrated to US in 1893, when only 8 years old.
New York News, sports editor, September 23, 1916? - December 4, 1920"
NYC newspaper editor, (September 12, 1918, WWI Civilian Draft Registration)
New York Amsterdam News, sports editor; drama editor, December 6, 1922? - September 12, 1936?
Lived in NYC, unemployed, (April 27, 1942, WWII Civilian Draft Registration)(stated he died December 9, 1944, in Jamaica, NY, it was written in as if it were inserted later.)
Free lance writing

Wife: Frances N. (Gant), born Washington, DC, 1894?;

Cleveland Gazette obituary, December 23, 1944, pp. 10.

[Bill Burgess]

Russell J. Cowans

Born: July 29, 1896, Chicago, IL
Died: December 20, 1978, Detroit, MI, age 72

Chicago sports writer;
Detroit, MI, unemployed, (June 3, 1918 WWI Civilian Draft Registration)
Chicago Defender, sports writer, June 1, 1935 - January 10, 1959. (his column was 'Russ' Corner')

Wife: Thelma Cowans

Chicago Defender, December 11, 1955, pp. 11.
L-R: Audry Patterson, Russ Cowans, Jean Patton Latimer.

[Bill Burgess]

Marion E. Jackson

Born: February 3, 1915, Buena Vista, GA
Died: January 8, 1987, Birmingham, AL, age 71

Atlanta sports writer;
Birmingham, AL, 6-year old, (January 15, 1920 census)
Birmingham, AL, 15-year old, (April 13, 1930 census)
Birmingham, AL, new worker, (April 12, 1940 census)
Graduated Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA), 1938
Atlanta Daily World, sports editor, 1947-1974, retired

Father: William B., born Georgia, October, 1889; Mother: Louie, born Georgia, 1910?; Wife: Fannie Jackson; Son: Marion Jackson, Jr.; Harvey Ovington Jackson; Daughter: Taffey Benson.

Mr. Jackson was one of the most talented journalists ever to grace the editorial offices of the World, Jackson was an avid reader of mystery novels, a follower of the Metropolitan Opera, favoring such operas as "Madam Butterfly," and "Carmen."

He held close associations with both black and white police officers, sometimes writing stories about them. His older brother, Emory O. Jackson was a famous managing editor of the Birmingham World (AL).

ATlanta Daily World obituary, January 11, 1987, pp. 1.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Marion and his siblings: Top, L-R: Calvin, Lovell, Bernard. Bottom, L-R: Marion, Emory, William.

[Bill Burgess]

Dr. Emory Overton Jackson

Born: September 8, 1908, Buena Vista, Georgia
Died: September 10, 1975, Birmingham, AL, age 67,---d. after several months of illness.

Birmingaham sports editor;
Buena Vista, GA, 1-year old, (April 6, 1910 census)
Birmingham, AL, 11-year old, (January 15, 1920 census)
Birmingham, AL, 21-year old, (April 13, 1930 census)
Birmingham, AL, teacher, city school, (April 12, 1940 census)
Graduated Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA), (further study at Atlanta University)
Birmingham World, sports editor, 1943 - 1975
WWII service,

Father: William B., born Georgia, October, 1889; Mother: Louie, born Georgia, 1885?;

Pioneer in civil rights crusade. Mr. Jackson moved moved with his family from Georgia to Birmingham, AL, in 1919, when only 11 years old. He was active in the national Newspaper Publishers Association where he was a member of the organization's board of directors. The Birmingham World is a sister paper to the Atlanta Daily World. It began in 1930.

Father: William B., born Georgia, 1888?; Mother: Louie, born Georgia, 1910?;

Atlanta Daily World obituary, September 14, 1975, pp. 1.



Emory and his siblings: Top, L-R: Calvin, Lovell, Bernard. Bottom, L-R: Marion, Emory, William.

[Bill Burgess]

Lucius L. Jones---AKA Melancholy Jones

Born: 1910?, Columbia, SC
Died: October 12, 1952, Columbia, South Carolina, age 42,---d. after an extended illness.

Atlanta sports writer;
Atlanta, GA, 11-year old, (January 17, 1920 census)
Graduated Clark College (Atlanta, GA)
Atlanta Daily World
Pittsburgh Courier (managing editor of the Louisiana Edition of the Courier), ? 1950
Atlanta Daily World,
The Carolinian
Baltimore Afro-American

Father: born South Carolina; Mother: born South Carolina;

Mr. Jones spent his childhood and early manhood in Atlanta. In 1930, Mr. Jones organized the Adelphi Junior Club, which functioned until 1942, when it was disbanded due to WWII. It trained many fine athletes to stardom.

Atlanta Daily World obituary, October 14, 1952, pp. 1.

[Bill Burgess]

Eric Burwell Roberts---AKA Ric Roberts

Born: May 26, 1905, Gainsville, FL
Died: September 12, 1985, Washington, DC, age 80,---d. kidney ailment at Howard University Hospital.

Atlanta sports writer;
Gainsville, GA, 8-year old, (May 4, 1910 census)
Gainsville, GA, 14-year old, (January 17, 1920 census)
Gainesville, GA, 25-year old, (April 11, 1930 census)
Graduated Clark College (Atlanta, GA), 1930
Atlanta Daily World
Norfolk Journal and Guide
Baltimore Afro-American, 1936 -
Pittsburgh Courier, 1941 - 1954 (Washington bureau), 1954 - 1966 (Pittsburgh bureau)
Howard University, public relations, ? 1966 - 1976

Father: Delley, born Florida, 1880?; Mother: Frances Cornelia English, born Florida, 1881?;

He was the first sports editor of the Atlanta Daily World while a sophmore at Clark College. He was an artist of rare ability and an outstanding athlete. He was a member of the Pigskin Club.

In September, 1934, Roberts and assistant sports editor Lucius Jones conferred with then publisher C. A. Scott who came to that post in February. They got permission to start the 100% Wrong Club of the Atlanta Daily World which still owns the club which has grown to capacity since.

Atlanta Daily World obituary, September 15, 1985, pp. 1.

--------------------------------------------------------------Washington Post obituary, September 19, 1985, pp. D6.

[Bill Burgess]

Buewell Towns Harvey, Jr.---AKA B. T. Harvey

Born: July 18, 1892, Griffen, GA
Died: October 15, 1971, Atlanta, GA, age 79,---d. Georgia Baptist Hospital (Atlanta, GA), after surgery.

Atlanta athletic coach,
Atlanta, GA, 7-year old, (June 11, 1900 census)(listed Burrell T.)
Lakewood, NJ, 17-year old, (May 10, 1910 census)(listed Burwell, Jr.)
Atlanta, GA, teacher, college, (January 14, 1920 census)(listed Burwell)
Atlanta, GA, teacher, college, (April 9, 1930 census)(listed Burdell T.)
Atlanta, GA, chemistry teacher, college, (April 8, 1940 census)(listed Burwell T.)
Graduated Colgate University (Villlage of Hamilton, NY),
Taught at Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA), (49 years)(chemistry); (football coach)

Father: Burwell T., Sr., born Alabama, April, 1864; Mother: Sadie S., born Georgia, May, 1870; Wife: Mae W., born Georgia, 1893?; Daughter: Ethel, born Georgia, 1919; Daughter: Jeanette W., born Georgia, 1922?; Sadie E., born Georgia, 1924?;

Mr. Harvey co-founded the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Southern Coaches and Official Association, with coach Cleveland L. Abbott.

[Bill Burgess]

William Clarence Matney, Jr.

Born: September 2, 1924, West Virginia
Died June 13, 2001, Bethesda, MD, age 76,---d. respiratory failure after hip replacement surgery, at Civista Medical Center in La Plata, MD.

Sports writer / social commentor;
Bluefield, WV, 2-year old, (April 4, 1930 census)
University of Michigan, (Journalism degree)
Michigan Chronicle, 1946 - 1950's, managing editor
Michigan Athletic Board of Control, secretary, 1954
Detroit News, reporter, 1962 - 1963, assistant city editor
NBC, 1963 - 1970 (Chicago bureau)
NBC, 1970 - 1972 (Washington, DC bureau)
ABC News, 1972 - 1978 (covered the White House / Congress)

Father: William Clarence, Sr., born Virginia, 1898?, Mother: Jane A. born Alaama, 1905?;

BETHESDA, Md. - William Matney Jr., the first black correspondent for NBC News, has died of respiratory failure. He was 76. Matney's journalism career in print and broadcast spanned more than 30 years.

He served as a correspondent for NBC and ABC from 1963-1978, where his beats included Capitol Hill and the White House.

Born in West Virginia, Matney graduated from the University of Michigan with a journalism degree.

He took his first reporting job in 1946 with The Michigan Chronicle.

He eventually became managing editor, a post he held for 10 years.

William C. Matney Jr., 76, who was credited by the Associated Press as being the first black correspondent to work for NBC News, died of respiratory failure June 13 at Civista Medical Center in La Plata.

The Bethesda resident died after hip replacement surgery.

Mr. Matney joined the NBC network news staff in 1963 in Chicago, where he was based while covering the auto industry, urban unrest and the 1968 Nixon-Agnew presidential campaign. He also produced programs for NBC radio and appeared on the network's "Today" television show at that time. In 1966, he won an Emmy Award.

Los Angeles Sentinel obituary, June 28, 2001, pp. A5.--------------------------------Jet Magazine, September 2, 1954.

[Bill Burgess]

Othello Nelson Renfroe---AKA Chico Renfroe

Born: March 1, 1923, Newark NJ
Died: September 3, 1991, Atlanta, GA, age 68,---d. Smyrna Hospital of heart attack.

Atlanta sports editor;
Clark College (Atlanta, GA),
Negro League, baseball player, 1945 - 1950
Played baseball with various black teams, 1951 - 1954
Atlanta, GA, Post Office,
Atlanta radio station, WERD, sports announcer
Atlanta radio station, WIGO, sports announcer,
Atlanta Daily World, sports writer, 1972 - 1975, sports editor, 1975 -
Montreal Expos, scout
Altanta Braves, official scorer, 1975 -

Father: Rev. Willie Renfroe; Mother: Emma Renfroe; Wife: Louise B.;

[Bill Burgess]

------------------------------And then there were Literary Writers who wrote short stories with sports humor. Here are some prominent writers of that category.

Cornelia Otis Skinner

Born: May 30, 1899, Chicago, IL
Died: July 9, 1979, New York City, New York, age 80

Literary author / actress / screenwriter;
Cornelia was the daughter of a famous actor, Otis Skinner (b.1858, Cambridge - d. 1942). She was an actress and monologuist. She married Alden S. Blodgett (1928).

After attending the all-girls' Baldwin School and Bryn Mawr College (1918-1919) and studying theatre at the Sorbonne in Paris, she began her career on the stage in 1921. She appeared in several plays before embarking on a tour of the United States from 1926 to 1929 in a one-woman performance of short character sketches she herself wrote. She wrote numerous short humorous pieces for publications like The New Yorker. These pieces were eventually compiled into a series of books, including Nuts in May, Dithers and Jitters, Excuse It Please!, and The Ape In Me, among others.

With Emily Kimbrough, she wrote Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, a hilarious description of their European tour after college. Kimbrough and Skinner went to Hollywood to act as consultants on the film version of the book, which resulted in We Followed Our Hearts to Hollywood. Skinner was portrayed by Bethel Leslie in the short-lived 1950 television series The Girls based upon Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.

Author, producer, and actor of Edna His wife (a monodrama, from the novel by Margaret Ayer Barnes), The Wives of Henry VIII, The Empress Eugenie, and many shorter sketches; author of the play Captain Fury, and books of light essays, as Excuse It, Please (1936).

She appeared in the films, Will Shakespeare, Blood and Sand, The Wild Westcotts, et.; "The Swimmer (1968), "The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing" (1955), "The Uninvited" (1944), "Stage Door Canteen" (1943) and "Kismet" (1920). She wrote, "The Pleasure of His Company" (1961) and "Our Hearts Were Young And Gay" (1944). She appeared on television in "The Alcoa Hour" (1955 to 1957) and "The General Electric Guest House" (1951) and in a play, "Lady Windermere's Fan" (1946). She was the daughter of actor Otis Skinner and actress Maud Durbin.

Among many other writings, wrote many short stories. Contributed a short story to 'A Treasury of Sports Humor, edited by Dave Stanley, October 24, 1946. Her contribution was 'On Skating'.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Maurice Chevalier/Cornelia Skinner, October 27, 1967.

Cornelia, on the right, appears to be in a hunting lodge, giving dictation to her secretary, assisting in the transcription.


At home in her sumptuous den.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Los Angeles Times' obituary, July 10, 1979, pp. SD.

Authored:
Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals
Life With Lindsay and Crouse
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay: An Unforgettable Comic Chronicle of Innocents Abroad in the 1920s
Bottoms Up!
Dithers and Jitters
EXCUSE IT,PLEASE! 19 Hilarious Sketches by One of America's Warmest Most Delightful Wits
Family Circle: The Theatrical Skinner Family.
Happy Family
Nuts in May
One Woman Show: a Collection of Monologues By Cornelia Otis Skinner
Popcorn
Soap Behind the Ears
That's Me All Over
The Ape in Me
Tiny Garments
Madame Sarah - Sarah Bernhardt Biography