Who's on your sports writing Mount Rushmore?

[tapintoamerica]

I agree it's impossible to stop at four. Charlie Pierce is tremendous. Particularly his pieces on Don Haskins and the final season of Tiger stadium as exemplified by Jim Walewander. Trust me on this.

 

[Slacker]

 

[I Should Coco]

As great as many of these names are, my Mount Rushmore would have to consist of sportswriters I read growing up in Chicago.

Off the top of my head, they would include Bob Verdi, Don Pierson, Dan Pompei and Paul Sullivan. And there are many others.

Sullivan wrote one of my all-time favorite notebook items when he compared a destroyed pool table in a baseball clubhouse to the monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey."

 

[Typist Clerk]

Four in general: Grantland Rice, Red Smith, Jim Murray, Bob Verdi

Four in golf: Bernard Darwin, Henry Longhurst, Herbert Warren Wind, Dan Jenkins

Four in Chicago: Ring Lardner, Bill Gleason, Jerome Holtzman, Bernie Lincicome

Four more: Wells Twombly, Furman Bisher, Frank Deford, Chuck Culpepper

As Lou Holtz said, you could go on and on.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I agree it's impossible to stop at four. Charlie Pierce is tremendous. Particularly his pieces on Don Haskins and the final season of Tiger stadium as exemplified by Jim Walewander. Trust me on this.

I agree on Pierce. I did not put him on my list because I think of him as a political writer. He really has not done a lot of sports for a long time.

I am from Denver and went to the University of Colorado so I started reading Reilly when he was in college working at the Boulder Daily Camera. I an in awe of both men's talent.

But I think the writing of both men, particularly Reilly, suffered at times by working to hard to be humorous. I think that is one reason that I find Dan Jenkin's work has not aged well. And in the work of writers less talented (which is the rest of the world) who try the attempts at humor fall flat. Far better to only use your best lines rather than turn a story into series of one-liners.

 

[Schmadtke]

This is an impossible: Mount Rushmore is 4 out of 40+ and this is 4 out of 25,000+

Better to split this into decades or generations. Or by jobs: columnists, feature writers, beat writers (now you got 12 slots).

But 4? Give me Frank Deford, Jim Murray, Rick Reilly, and Dave Kindred

Under consideration: Gary Smith, Tony Kornheiser, S.L. Price, Sally Jenkins, Martin Fennelly, Charlie Pierce, Tom Archdeacon, Vahe Gregorian, Dan Shaughnessy, Woody Paige (before TV)

There are/were so many great local columnists who always get lost in these lists, way too many to mention.

Finally, I thought this was a great read for this group: Where has Gary Smith gone?

 

[BTExpress]

sj.com Writers Pariah Rushmore: Albom, Mushnick, Lupica . . . ?

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

sj.com Writers Pariah Rushmore: Albom, Mushnick, Lupica . . . ?

… Whitlock.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

View attachment 20847

Best writer I ever worked with

 

[Woody Long]

Deford, Nack, S.L. Price, Plimpton.

 

[OscarMadison]

Only four? And they say Southern Wimmen are mean as snakes...

Really trying here...

Frank DeFord for being the John Milton of sports writers, Grantland Rice for his golf writing which almost saved my eventually and mercifully terminated engagement, Fred Russell for being that guy who was not only a mensch, but funny as all get out and always speaking up for truth, justice, and what used to be the American Way, early career Rick Reilly for remembering the story is the point.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Four in general: Grantland Rice, Red Smith, Jim Murray, Bob Verdi

Four in golf: Bernard Darwin, Henry Longhurst, Herbert Warren Wind, Dan Jenkins

Four in Chicago: Ring Lardner, Bill Gleason, Jerome Holtzman, Bernie Lincicome

Four more: Wells Twombly, Furman Bisher, Frank Deford, Chuck Culpepper

As Lou Holtz said, you could go on and on.

I know he rubbed some people the wrong way, but I couldn't agree more on Bernie Lincicome.

Even if I disagreed with him, I always thought he was outstanding at his craft and approach.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I agree it's impossible to stop at four. Charlie Pierce is tremendous. Particularly his pieces on Don Haskins and the final season of Tiger stadium as exemplified by Jim Walewander. Trust me on this.

Is that Haskins piece available anywhere online?

 

[tapintoamerica]

Is that Haskins piece available anywhere online?

https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/03/...se-but-to-sit-tight-through-these-rocky-times

 

[Songbird]

I'll try to do 4 over multiple posts.

The first one I think of is HST because he finagled his way into Nixon's car and talked football.

 

[MeanGreenATO]

In terms of sheer impact on the rest of the profession: W.C. Heinz, Wright Thompson, Bill Simmons, Gary Smith.

Think it's hard to find four who molded the industry more.

 

[hondo]

Man, an SI Rushmore is almost impossible, let alone everyone. Just from who I grew up with and who I still seek re-reading:

Dan Jenkins, DeFord, Gary Smith, Shirley Povich.

Jenkins was always my favorite. Chickened out three times at a U.S. Open to say hello to him. I was just too in awe. Had my beaten up "Dead Solid Perfect" in my bag each time to have him sign. Couldn't do it.

He would have signed it and likely invited you to have a scotch with him.

 

[hondo]

Dan Jenkins
Frank DeFord
Bob Verdi
Dave Anderson

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

sj.com Writers Pariah Rushmore: Albom, Mushnick, Lupica . . . ?

He's taken a lot of deserved hits here, but Lupica in his prime was a fǔcking force of nature. He was the absolute (and last) epitome of a big-city sports columnist. He was fearless, funny and could turn a phrase. I waited all week for his Sunday column and dog-eared the shít out of his Shooting From The Lip collection. He eventually became a caricature of a caricature (by focusing on his increasingly bland books at the expense of his columns and still carrying himself like the BMOC), which, given the state of the business, just hastened the inevitable. But 30-35 years ago, man, there was nobody better.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Dan Jenkins (You Gotta Play Hurt was recommended to me by the late Marino Parascenzo and I've bought copies to give to friends)

Rick Reilly pre-2000 (His story about Norman melting down in the final round of the 1996 Masters is one of my favorites)

Gary Smith (The gold standard for me in terms of long feature stories. Go read the story he did on a dying Jim Valvano or the boating accident that killed Steve Olin and Tim Crews)

Jim Murray (Funny story that shows what I dumbass I am. I live across the street from a Salvation Army Thrift store and am a frequent buyer of used books. One of the biggest used book sales on the east coast is an hour from me every year and I picked up Murray's autobiography, which I got halfway through a and put down and forgot about. One day, I get a hankering to finish that book and I can't find it. Searched my two bookcases, the boxes in the closet. Nowhere to be found. I toss on my flip flops and walk across the street to the thrift store and, there it is on the shelf. I obviously donated it and forgot that I had. So the Salvation Army got a sale and I got to finish the book. Oh and that book was totally worth buying twice).