Oldest American sports writer

Inspired by this thread on the Jobs board...

Odessa American sports writer
« on: July 09, 2008, 05:19:31 PM »

... I started wondering who the oldest active sports writer in the country might be. Let's limit it to old-timers who are at least half-timers, rather than the once-a-week columnist in mothballs.

Sid Hartman in the Twin Cities is something like 87 or 88. Furman Bisher in Atlanta has to be in that ballpark, too. But I'm guessing that, maybe in smaller markets, there are some guys who might call Hartman or Bisher "Sonny."

 

Nope. They were all bought out here.

 

If there's somebody older than those two, he's probably not aware he's alive.

 

The really old guys refuse the buyouts and threaten to sue if they're let go.

 

He's a Canadian obviously but Red Fisher is 82 and has been the beat writer for the Montreal Canadiens since 1954.

The only thing he doesn't do anymore apparently is go to the dressing room because as he says, "Those guys have nothing to say"

 

When you're right, you're right.

 

This honor might go to Dan Magill, who is at least 86 and still knows more Georgia sports history than anyone. Coach Magill graduated from Georgia in 1942, served in the Marine Corps during WWII, then came home to write for the Atlanta Journal. A few years later he took a job as Georgia's SID (my mom was his secretary for several years in the late 1960s) and was named the men's tennis coach in 1954.

After winning two national championships in the 80s, Magill stepped down as tennis coach. Ever since, he's been writing columns for any section of the Athens Banner-Herald that will have him. I guarantee you he turns out three times as many columns a year as Bisher. And he remains the curator the the college tennis hall of fame, which is located at the Georgia tennis center that bears his name. The press box at Sanford Stadium also is named after him.

I could go on for days about this man, who has been like a grandfather to me and who has led the most fascinating life of anyone I've ever known. He still plays tennis a couple of times a week, too, and I'm always honored when he asks me to join him when I'm in town.

 

Never met the guy, but always loved the stories about him Lewis Grizzard put in his books.

Speaking of which, I would pay cash money to see someone tell Grizzard that he needed to master blogs and Twitter in order to connect with readers.

 

It has to be Sid, though calling him a sportswriter is a stretch.

 

He's lucky he died before all this Internet crap.

 

Peter Finney of the Times-Picayune recently celebrated 60 years in the business, so I would assume he's at least close to 80, if not older.