Frank DeFord

[pseudo]

Highly recommend each of Double Down's links, especially "The Boxer and the Blonde," which opens SI's Fifty Years of Great Writing. And I'll add the piece that closes it, "The Best There Ever Was".

He's speaking at Chautauqua at the end of June. I've already asked for a vacation day.

 

[BTExpress]

How do you print a daily paper in one part of the country, and distribute it in downtown L.A., Dallas, Miami and New York?

Sounds to me like they jumped out of a plane without a parachute. Somebody will catch me . . . won't they?

Call it "business". Call it "infrastructure." I call it stupid and hopelessly shortsighted.

 

[DanOregon]

The Toughest Coach There Ever Was was my favorite Deford piece. And I actually think he stole his look from Grandpa Munster.

 

[Pencil Dick]

Run, don't walk, to your local library and find a copy of Deford's "The World's Tallest Midget." It's a compilation of his best work.

And one of its stories, "The Toughest Coach There Ever Was," remains to this day my all-time favorite sports story. Which, as Deford is quick to credit, was based on a newspaper story written by the Clarion-Ledger's Rick Cleveland.

A co-worker in her early 30s saw Deford recently at a writers conference in Alabama. She came back in awe of the stories he told and has my copy of "Midget."

 

[JayFarrar]

The reason why I went into writing was because of Deford.
He did a piece, actually it was a play for Sports Illustrated on the death of Nolan Richardson's daughter.
I dug around the SI vault to find the link and but it was in 1986 1988, I was 16 18 and I thought it was one of the most spectacular things ever.

Edit to add link:
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1127093/index.htm

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Distribution.

Minimal advertising.

Insane expenses.

Shuffle and deal.

 

[mpcincal]

The reason why I went into writing was because of Deford.
He did a piece, actually it was a play for Sports Illustrated on the death of Nolan Richardson's daughter.
I need to go did around the SI vault to find the link and the details are a little fuzzy now but I think it was in 1986, I was 16 and I thought it was one of the most spectacular things ever.

"Got To Do Some Coachin'" I believe it was called.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I hate his NPR spots. But when Deford cares about his subject, there aren't many, if any, out there who are better...

 

[Bob Cook]

The Indy scene story I mentioned earlier. It's from 1982.

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125576/1/index.htm

Most people, when they're doing scene stories, fall to easy cliches about cities, or fans, or whatever. What's impressive here is that Deford doesn't care for Indy, but comes with an open mind, still doesn't care for it, but reports what he sees without easy, your-city-and-event-sucks hack work.

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

Deford was flat-out captivating. I have become a fan.

Here's my story. He talked from about 8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., giving me about an hour to write my story.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/040308/SPO_BG821S76.077.php

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Fenian,

How dare you imply that Gannett might do something unethical...

I lost my head in the heat of battle.

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

Deford was flat-out captivating. I have become a fan.

Here's my story. He talked from about 8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., giving me about an hour to write my story.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/040308/SPO_BG821S76.077.php

Oh, and he still has the John Waters moustache and Pauly Walnuts hair, although both are a little more grey and a little thinner.

A couple of photos
http://pjstar.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=488290

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Distribution.

Minimal advertising.

Insane expenses.

Shuffle and deal.

I was a subscriber and I used to have to walk to the 7-11 near my school to pick up my copy. It was there about half the time. I would eventually get all of them, but at least half were there a day or two late.

 

[Pete Wevurski]

Yo, CentralIllinoisan: Did Frank tell the story about the letter he received from a minister in Alabama after quoting Bear Bryant's self-deprecating comment in a magazine piece?

 

[Write-brained]

RIP, Frank.



Wait. He's not dead?

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

Yo, CentralIllinoisan: Did Frank tell the story about the letter he received from a minister in Alabama after quoting Bear Bryant's self-deprecating comment in a magazine piece?

Indeed he did.

DeFord wrote about Bryant as a tired, old man who felt pushed to attain college coaching records.

A minister from Tuscaloosa Methodist Church wrote DeFord a letter, on church stationary:

"Dear Mr. Deford: If your parents ever decide to get married, I welcome the opportunity to perform the ceremony at no charge."

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Here's the question: Why the hell would he let John Feinstein fly back from the French Open to take care of his sick cat, then fly him back to cover the finals? On the Concord.

Please, let's not lose sight of the fact that the cat was <i>not feeling well.</i>

 

[JayFarrar]

Did anyone catch DeFord's piece on the minor-league baseball coach killed by the foul ball last night on HBO?
It was amazing. Incredibly moving.

 

[Flip Wilson]

Did anyone catch DeFord's piece on the minor-league baseball coach killed by the foul ball last night on HBO?
It was amazing. Incredibly moving.

It was indeed very moving. I had tears in my eyes several times. And that was after reading Jones' piece in Esquire on a flight earlier in the day. Teared up several times there as well.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I once rode a subway with him. Random encounter. It was at least 10 years ago. We were both on for several stops, so we got to share about 15 to 20 minutes just shooting the ****. He was sitting right next to me. Nice guy. I can't remember everything we talked about, but I do remember George Steinbrenner being a topic of conversation. I realize this wouldn't have helped CI with his story, even if I told it before the speech, but it was actually one of those encounters I walked away from thinking "wow" and "living in NY is awesome sometimes."