Gary Smith to retire

[Glenn Stout]

According to Thomas Lake on Twitter, Gray Smith is retiring from Sports Illustrated.

More BASW appearances than anyone. Four NMA's (I think).

A giant of the writing craft.

 

[MileHigh]

He heard Moddy was coming to tear apart his stuff before it was published?

Loved his stuff ... when he wrote.

 

[The Big Ragu]

He came a long way after being scooped on the Gene Banks recruitment story. ...

Loved a lot of his stuff, too. He'll be missed.

 

[Riptide]

His letter of retirement ran 37 pages.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

And it began in the second person.

 

[Boom_70]

My favorite Gary Smith story :
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1016500/1/index.htm

"Moment of Truth" its about a locker room photo of TCU football team
just before they play Syracuse / Jim Brown in Cotton Bowl

 

[Rhody31]

He had 50-100 sources in his announcement.

 

[joe]

My real introduction to Gary Smith's reporting/writing:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1138505/12/index.htm

 

[goalmouth]

Maybe it's because we are who we are, but the lack of posts and number of insults thrown Smith's way surprise me.

 

[AD]

place has become like high school. if you're uncool enough to show enthusiasm for a piece or a writer, you'll quickly be derided as a suck-up -- especially, god forbid, if it's about long-form stuff. far easier to rip than to praise, or to even-handedly take in someone's faults and talents and understand why they affect you still. welcome to hack city.

and don't tell me that gary's stuff is not holy writ, and we should be able to have a chuckle or some such. his passing from the scene is an important moment for any site that goes by this name.

it's too bad, really. this would've been a great place to tote up smith's career and look at it from the point of view of craft: why the first pat tillman piece or the phillies pitching staff didn't work, why ali's entourage or richie parker did. in short, what he actually DID that made him an important figure -- and whether his kind of career is even possible now.

 

[BDC99]

Well said, AD. Smith has written some of my favorite magazine pieces, but I haven't read any of his stuff in quite some time, so none of the topics really jump out at me now. Shadow of a Nation is the only one I really recall off the top of my head.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1118885/

 

[BTExpress]

Eh, story on the Phillies didn't work because I kept trying to wrap my head around who was who. Tunnelman? Loose Laser? Late Riser? 346 paragraphs into the story, I kind of lost track.

 

[mr.westerberg]

place has become like high school. if you're uncool enough to show enthusiasm for a piece or a writer, you'll quickly be derided as a suck-up -- especially, god forbid, if it's about long-form stuff. far easier to rip than to praise, or to even-handedly take in someone's faults and talents and understand why they affect you still. welcome to hack city.

and don't tell me that gary's stuff is not holy writ, and we should be able to have a chuckle or some such. his passing from the scene is an important moment for any site that goes by this name.

it's too bad, really. this would've been a great place to tote up smith's career and look at it from the point of view of craft: why the first pat tillman piece or the phillies pitching staff didn't work, why ali's entourage or richie parker did. in short, what he actually DID that made him an important figure -- and whether his kind of career is even possible now.

That last sentence is sad, sad that that even is a question. But you do wonder. There always will be a place for that type of writing, but fewer and fewer outlets care.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Always my favorite Gary Smith piece, for what it is worth: http://si.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1021912/index.htm?src=longreads

I loved his work and idolized him for the longest time. At a certain point after Higher Education, I started to find some (but not all) of his pieces a bit cliche, and a Gary Smith SI being dropped on me lost some of its magic. Even if I still admired his talent and ability to craft a piece.

There is a part of me that now feels guilty for loving Smiths' his work. This is probably not going to make any sense to most other (anyone normal) people, but it does to me. It's the same kind of guilt I have for loving John Irving novels.

 

[BDC99]

Here are some links to SI writers' favorite Smith stories. I remember The Rapture of the Deep as being one of the best stories I have ever read. Will have to give it another look.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/news/20140429/gary-smith-best-stories/

 

[AD]

i'll throw this out: gary's career can be cut into two phases. the first had plenty of stories about figures we all thought we knew -- ali, tyson, dean smith, dale brown, alexis arguello -- and were filled with astonishing reportage and insight that utterly changed how we thought about them.

the second half was filled with stories about obscure people with extraordinary stories to tell. in some ways, the second half left me far colder. in the first half stuff, you always felt that he had uncovered plenty that the rest of the profession missed. in the second half, you felt that he was doing stuff that -- while just as hard, writing-wise -- was lower-hanging fruit. but the second half ones resonated more with the public, i think, and the first-half ones more with other writers.

yes? no? discuss.

 

[BDC99]

Hard to say for me. I am in the journalism business and am not a writer, so maybe that's why I liked the obscure people/extraordinary stories phase. But that is a good way to put it. I guess I also probably didn't read a lot of the early stuff since I was but a young pup when he started at SI. Or at least I don't remember it well. Might be time for another trip into the Vault.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Eyes of the Storm is the most memorable Smith story for me. I loved it, and came away in awe of Pat Summit.
I also prefer One Tough Bird.

 

[BDC99]

Seriously, if you have not read The Rapture of the Deep, I assure you it's worth your time. And ESPN did a very good Nine for IX documentary on the same subject.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/w-in-action/nine-for-ix/article/8948900/nine-ix-film-summary-director-no-limits

 

[AD]

a superb piece on smith's impact, kindness, weaknesses and strengths: http://deadspin.com/what-i-learned-from-gary-smith-1570929568