Status: Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter.
DOB: December 29, 1919 In: Hartford, CT
Childhood Heroes: “Jimmy McLarnin. The Welterweight champion in 1933. His name had the same initials as mine. And because he was Irish didn’t hurt [smiles]. I met him later, in 1960. We played golf at Lakeside in Burbank. I got to know him. And Jimmie Foxx was another hero.”
Nickname: “Bud – short for brother. From my sisters.”
Childhood Dream: “I wanted to be a playwright, like Eugene O’Neill. He was a famous playwright in New York who wrote ‘Strange Interlude’, ‘Desire Under The Elms’, ‘Long Voyage Home.’”
Pre-Writing Feeling/Mindset: “Well, usually I get the interview the day before. I think about it that night. Then, that night, I visualize in my mind the beginning, the middle, the ending, and the point of view. And go from there. I write in the morning usually.”
Favorite Athletes: “Mike Piazza. Jack Nicklaus. Ben Hogan. I revered Hogan. There was a mystique about him. They wrote books about him. Joe Louis. Tremendous respect for him. A very decent person. I think the greatest prizefighter there ever was. Very humble about his abilities. A decent, good man. Not educated, but he had such a faculty for saying the right thing.”
Favorite Movies: “‘Diamond Jim’ – with Edward Arnold. ‘Algiers’. ‘Gone With The Wind’ – like everybody else. Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies. Musicals.”
Favorite TV Shows: “Jackie Gleason, Sid Caesar’s Show Of Shows, I Love Lucy – I did a cover story for Time on Lucy. I mainly watch TV for old movies and sporting events.”
First Job: “Campus correspondent on the Hartford Times in 1939.”
Early Career Memory: “I had a sports-writing model – a guy a lot of people probably never heard of – Dan Parker of The New York Mirror. He was overlooked for guys like Damon Runyon and Ring Lardner. Dan Parker was very, very good and very, very funny. As a kid I glommed on to his writings. I used to go get the Mirror to read them (age 12).”
Greatest Sports Moment: “Hit a hole-in-one once. At the Riviera in 1971. I was looking in the trap and my friend asked what kind of ball I was using. Black Titleist. He found it in the hole.”
Most Painful Moment: “1955 U.S. Open, 18th hole of a playoff at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Ben Hogan was going for his fifth Open. Would’ve been history. No one’s ever won five Opens. Hogan drove the ball into the deep rough. The rough was up to his knees. I was standing behind the green. I asked, Why is Hogan taking all those practice swings? Those aren’t practice swings. Hogan lost the hole and lost the match to Jack Fleck (by three strokes).”
Toughest Competitors Encountered: “Pete Rose. Comes to mind immediately. Pete did not like to lose. Played with a great ferocity and love for the game. Jerry West – tremendous quickness. Wide-set eyes. He could see behind him almost. Elgin Baylor. Bob Cousy. Jack Kramer. Rod Laver.”
Interesting Fact: “I’m very uninteresting [laughs]. An interesting fact in itself. Because I bore myself. But I’m a big fan of boredom. That’s my ambition – to someday sit in front of a TV in a torn sweater and be bored for the rest of my life. Watch a whole lot of old movies.”
Most Treasured Possession: “Oh brother…hmmm. You know, I don’t quite know how to answer that. [Pause]…I’m very proud of the Pulitzer certificate (1990). It’s right next to Ben Hogan’s letter I keep in the living room hallway.”
People Qualities Most Admired: “I admire people that, as I’ve written, don’t get the headlines for hard work, raising families, obeying authority. They never get their names in the paper. Always been taken for granted. Not flashy. All the people that flout authority – they seem to be so revered. They’re usually a pain in the ass. What society always likes, probably always has, they like the outlaw. Society likes Howard Stern and Dennis Rodman. I don’t. I like guys like Jim Gilliam and Cal Ripken.”
Funny Career Memory: “I remember I was following Arnold Palmer around on a practice round before the L.A. Open. He hit the ball to the left, by the fallen trees, beer cans and squirrels. The ball was underneath all that. Palmer was playing with Paul Hornung, Dave Marr and his then-wife Suzy. Palmer looked up and said to me: ‘What would your idol Hogan do here?’ I said, ‘Hogan wouldn’t be there.’”
Education: Trinity College 1943 (English).
Career Accomplishments: Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his 1989 columns; Baseball Hall of Fame awarded him the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 1987; Wrote for Time Magazine (1948-1955), Sports Illustrated (1953-1961), Los Angeles Examiner (1944-1948) and Los Angeles Times (1961-1998).
(Note: This Biofile interview was conducted at the media center of the 1997 PGA Championships at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. He passed away one year later in 1998.)
Copyright 2011 Mark “Scoop” Malinowski.
www.thebiofile.com
Topics: Campus Correspondent, Childhood Heroes, Damon Runyon, Desire Under The Elms, Edward Arnold, Eugene O Neill, Fred Astaire, Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers, Ginger Rogers, Ginger Rogers Movies, Hartford Times, Jack Nicklaus, Jackie Gleason, Mike Piazza, Nickname Bud, Ring Lardner, Sid Caesar, Strange Interlude, Welterweight Champion, York Mirror
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