Art Spander, 86 and nearly blind, writes on

[HanSenSE]

Wow. I never knew. Should not be paywalled.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/64...2RVof3pPELe83q0nPw_aem_nIwPhav-IYCaFw472E8VdQ

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Damn that was terrific. Shocking The Athletic decided it was worth running. Also ******* how is Chuck Culpepper 63 and Scott Ostler 77?!

 

[MileHigh]

Saw it this morning. Great read.

 

[Pickleballgolds]

I run into Art two or three times a year and every time, I think of Bear Bryant: What would I do if I didn’t do what I’ve done for the last 50 or 60 years?

 

[DanOregon]

Growing up in the Bay Area during the 70s and 80s, you had Spander, Glenn Dickey, Dave Newhouse, Mark Purdy. It was such an era of sports fandom. A's, Giants, Warriors, 49ers, Raiders. What an era.

 

[ChrisLong]

Incredible story. I've known Art for decades, but haven't seen him in the last few. I really got to know him on three Pac-10 Skywriters Tours in the early '80s. His start at the Santa Monica Evening Outlook in 1963 is the same paper where I got my start in 1970.
Lots of local connections, Art having gone to Dorsey High on the western edge of south-central L.A., and Al Michaels at Hamilton High, in the Palms-Culver City area. Another in that group is Mike Waldner, former sports editor of the South Bay Daily Breeze, who also attended Hamilton High and started at the Evening Outlook. Spander and Waldner are very similar personalities.
One of my memories is when I was covering UCLA and the Bruins were going to play Stanford that week. Mark Soltau was the Cardinal beat writer, but he took the week off for something personal. Art took the beat for the week. I called him to get info on Stanford. Two hours later, he stopped talking.
It was always a welcome occasion to bump into him in a press box.

 

[SixToe]

Never knew any of the West Coast guys like them but always tried to read them when I could. Also couldn't believe Culpepper is 63 and Ostler is 77. Damn.

Fine story, written well. Glad to see (and surprised) they published it.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Great read. And kudos to his wife.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Wow. I never knew. Should not be paywalled.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/64...2RVof3pPELe83q0nPw_aem_nIwPhav-IYCaFw472E8VdQ

Can't access it. I'll take your word for it.

 

[Typist Clerk]

Growing up in the Bay Area during the 70s and 80s, you had Spander, Glenn Dickey, Dave Newhouse, Mark Purdy. It was such an era of sports fandom. A's, Giants, Warriors, 49ers, Raiders. What an era.

And until he died in 1977, Wells Twombly, who could spin a tale like nobody else. But gone at 41.

 

[Slacker]

And until he died in 1977, Wells Twombly, who
could spin a tale like nobody else. But gone at 41.

WIKI GOLD: In his writing, Twombly was known best for his irreverent attitude towards the traditional sporting establishment and for a writing style his New York Times obituary called "both literate and literary." During one particular interview with Reggie Jackson, when given a series of non-answers, Twombly cut the interview short, saying: "I'm as good a writer as you are a home run hitter. If you want me to write about you, you'll have to call me."

 

[playthrough]

Damn that was terrific. Shocking The Athletic decided it was worth running. Also ******* how is Chuck Culpepper 63 and Scott Ostler 77?!

Never knew any of the West Coast guys like them but always tried to read them when I could. Also couldn't believe Culpepper is 63 and Ostler is 77. Damn.

Fine story, written well. Glad to see (and surprised) they published it.

Why are you shocked/surprised? (not being snarky, btw)

 

[SixToe]

Why are you shocked/surprised? (not being snarky, btw)

Because I don't think anyone thinks about their age, the ages of peers or those older they admired or appreciated, or their mortality. So seeing that is kind of a "Oh, damn. Huh." moment.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Why are you shocked/surprised? (not being snarky, btw)

Haha shocked/surprised at which part? The Athletic running the story or Culpepper and Ostler's ages? The Athletic gave up any semblance of in-depth coverage of anything but the most covered of things long ago, so it was surprising to see them devote so much space to a story about a well-liked writer nearing retirement, And I had no idea Ostler was anywhere near that old. I remember him from The National and it's hard to believe he was in his 40s then. As for Culpepper, he always seems perpetually 40-something. Sure doesn't look in his 60s.

 

[playthrough]

Haha shocked/surprised at which part? The Athletic running the story or Culpepper and Ostler's ages? The Athletic gave up any semblance of in-depth coverage of anything but the most covered of things long ago, so it was surprising to see them devote so much space to a story about a well-liked writer nearing retirement, And I had no idea Ostler was anywhere near that old. I remember him from The National and it's hard to believe he was in his 40s then. As for Culpepper, he always seems perpetually 40-something. Sure doesn't look in his 60s.

Surprised at the dig at The Athletic. I have no dog in that fight; I follow their golf coverage closely since that's my biz. Their golf writers don't do a ton of news but do some strong feature work, in part because they're not tied to the news cycle (must be nice!). Quinn in particular seems to have the luxury of doing his own stuff at his own pace, usually with great results.

As for this story, I've covered majors the last few years and have marveled at the Spanders. I've also seen them struggle off and on shuttle buses enough to wonder why some tournaments don't help them a bit more (though it's possible they don't want special treatment).

 

[HanSenSE]

About the only hole I saw in the story, maybe because the author was writing from a golf perspective, was his incredible streak of Rose Bowls attended that was broken by this year's game (he gets a mulligan for the one moved to Jerry's World). Wonder if the regular trip to Europe for Wimbledon and the British Open is still on? I know when I was still in the business, I used his stories instead of Doug Ferguson, which is not a knock at Ferguson.