by Frank Deford
First published 2012
Frank Deford takes readers through his unconventional journey as a sportswriter. He starts at Sports Illustrated in 1962, straight from Princeton, and moves through the Mad Men era of the magazine. Deford becomes Editor-in-Chief of The National Sports Daily in 1990, an ambitious newspaper that ultimately fails. He writes ten novels, wins an Emmy, and delivers over fourteen hundred commentaries on NPR's Morning Edition. The book follows his encounters with sports heroes and characters across nearly every medium. Deford travels to apartheid South Africa with Arthur Ashe and witnesses his friend's courageous but tragic end. He traces American sportswriting from the Police Gazette's sensational beginnings through legends like Grantland Rice and Red Smith to the ESPN era. The memoir weaves together personal stories with the evolution of sports journalism, creating a funny and touching portrait of both the author and his profession.
Genres: 20th-century, american, autobiography, sports, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, journalism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: memoir, personal-journey
Setting: Africa, South Africa
Period: 1962, 1990
288 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press