DOCSLIB.ORG

Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} the Best of Frank Deford I'm Just Getting Started

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} the Best of Frank Deford I'm Just Getting Started Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Best of Frank Deford I'm Just Getting Started... by Frank Deford Cookie Consent and Choices. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. See details. You may click on “ Your Choices ” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. If you click “ Agree and Continue ” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. Frank Deford, renowned sportswriter, dies at 78. Frank Deford, the renowned sportswriter and commentator, has died. He was 78. The death was confirmed Monday by NPR, where Deford delivered commentaries for 37 years. "Frank [left] us 1,656 of his signature insights into the world of sports and the human stories behind athletic triumphs," NPR President and CEO Jarl Mohn said in a statement. "The world of sports commentaries will never be the same." Deford was also well known for a decades-long career at Sports Illustrated, where he started working in 1962. The SI Twitter account called him a "titan and a gentleman." Deford wrote lengthy features on iconic sports figures like Bob Knight, the cantankerous Indiana basketball coach, and Billy Conn, the boxer known as "The Pittsburgh Kid." He was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama in 2013 "for transforming how we think about sports." "A dedicated writer and storyteller, Mr. Deford has offered a consistent, compelling voice in print and on radio, reaching beyond scores and statistics to reveal the humanity woven into the games we love," Obama said. Deford wrote regularly for NPR and delivered commentaries on "Morning Edition" until just a few weeks ago. "From the Super Bowl as Shakespeare to the Sports Curmudgeon, to his regular castigating of the NCAA over how it treats its student athletes, to America's complicated love affair with the NFL, Frank made every week memorable," NPR noted at the time. In his final appearance, Deford said he was grateful to have reached an audience that included people who "haven't necessarily given a hoot about sports." "Nothing has pleased me so much as when someone -- usually a woman -- writes me or tells me that she's appreciated sports more because NPR allowed me to treat sports seriously, as another branch on the tree of culture," he said. Deford was voted U.S. Sportswriter of the Year six times, and was elected to the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. His 1981 novel "Everybody's All-American" was adapted into a movie. Prominent sportswriters weighed in with their memories of his life and work. "I loved reading Frank Deford in SI and I loved The National," tweeted Bill Simmons, referring to the short-lived daily sports newspaper where Deford was editor-in-chief almost three decades ago. "Sad to hear he passed away." "R.I.P. Frank Deford, a very nice man every time I met him," wrote Will Leitch, the Sports on Earth editor and Deadspin founder. I loved reading Frank Deford in SI and I loved The National. Sad to hear he passed away. My favorite Deford piece: https://t.co/aq4NHCNyBw — Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 29, 2017. R.I.P. Frank Deford, a very nice man every time I met him. This 2008 Daulerio interview with him was quite a thing. https://t.co/69IfzCnTD1 — Will Leitch (@williamfleitch) May 29, 2017. A great writer, father, inspiration & soul: Frank Deford RIP. Talent, character, kindness. Handsome to boot. — Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) May 29, 2017. I just saw the news about Frank Deford. He hadn't been well but I'm in shock. The best of the best as a writer and as a man. On radio right — John Feinstein (@JFeinsteinBooks) May 29, 2017. The Best of Frank Deford. Few writers have been as closely identified with anyone place as Frank Deford was with Sports Illustrated. In two separate stints at the magazine, first from 1962 to '89 and then from 1998 to 2017, Deford established himself as the best sportswriter in America. His bonus stories for SI became the stuff of legend. Here are 10 of his very best. They are presented in no particular order. Each one is its own gift. Deford was a longtime supporter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Readers wishing to make a donation in his memory can contact the foundation at www.cff.org. The Boxer and the Blonde. Issue Date: June 17, 1985. The boxer is going on 67, except in The Ring record book, where he is going on 68. But he has all his marbles; and he has his looks (except for the fighter's mashed nose); and he has the blonde; and they have the same house, the one with the club cellar, that they bought in the summer of 1941. A great deal of this is about that bright ripe summer, the last one before the forlorn simplicity of a Depression was buried in the thick- braided rubble of blood and Spam. What a fight the boxer had that June! It might have been the best in the history of the ring. Certainly, it was the most dramatic, alltime, any way you look at it. The boxer lost, though. Probably he would have won, except for the blonde—whom he loved so much, and wanted so much to make proud of him. And later, it was the blonde's old man, the boxer's father-in-law (if you can believe this), who cost him a rematch for the heavyweight championship of the world. Those were some kind of times. Read the whole story. Raised By Women To Conquer Men. Issue Date: August 28, 1978. Playing, competing, with a racket in his left hand, Jimbo is more a Thompson than a Connors—in a sense, he is Jimmy Thompson. Has any player ever been more natural? But then, in an instant, he wiggles his tail, waves a finger, tries to joke or be smart, tries too hard—for he is not facile in this way and his routines are forced and embarrassing, and that is why the crowds dislike him. He is Jimmy Thompson no more. He is trying so hard to be Jimmy Connors, raised by women to conquer men, but unable to be a man, to be Big Jim or Bill Riordan. He is unable to be one of the boys. Read the whole story. The Ring Leader. Issue Date: May 10, 1999. It was 30 years ago, and the car containing the old retired basketball player and the young sportswriter stopped at a traffic light on the way to the airport in Los Angeles. (Of course, in the nature of things, old players aren't that much older than young writers.) The old player said, "I'm sorry, I'd like to be your friend." The young writer said, "But I thought we were friends." "No, I'd like to be your friend, and we can be friendly, but friendship takes a lot of effort if it's going to work, and we're going off in different directions in our lives, so, no, we really can't be friends." And that was as close as I ever got to being on Bill Russell's team. Read the whole story. The Rabbit Hunter. Issue Date: Jan. 16, 1981. As Bobby Knight is the first to say, a considerable part of his difficulty in the world at large is the simple matter of appearance. "What do we call it?" he wonders. "Countenance. A lot of my problem is just too many people don't go beyond countenances." That's astute—Bobby Knight is an astute man—but it's not so much that his appearance is unappealing. No, like so much of him, his looks arc merely at odds. Probably, for example, no matter how well you know Coach Knight, you have never been informed—much less noticed yourself —that he's dimpled. Well, he is, and invariably when anyone else has dimples, a great to-do is made about them. But, in Bobby's case, being dimpled just won't fly. After all: DIMPLED COACH RAGES AGAIN. No. But then, symbolically, Knight doesn't possess dimples, plural, as one would expect. He has only the prize one, on his left side. Visualize him, standing in line, dressed like the New Year's Baby, when they were handing out dimples. He gets the one on his left side. "What the bleep is this?" says little Bobby drawing away. "Wait, wait!" cries the Good Fairy or the Angel Gabriel or whoever's in charge of distributing dimples. But it's too late. Bobby has no time for this extraneous crap with dimples. He's already way down the line, taking extras on bile. Read the whole story. The Kid Who Ran Into Doors. Issue Date: September 1, 1975. The late Tony DeSpirito could have been the best there ever was on a horse, the very best. He knew that himself. When he visited his children, who had been too young to see him when he was great, sometimes he would laugh and say, "I'm the king.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Over Time My Life As a Sportswriter by Frank Deford Sportswriter Frank Deford on Life, Love & Loss
    Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Over Time My Life as a Sportswriter by Frank Deford Sportswriter Frank Deford On Life, Love & Loss. If you have ever listened to NPR on a Wednesday morning, then you've heard Frank Deford offer his commentary--cantankerous as it may be-- on everything happening in the world of sports. On Thursday, Deford joins Steve Kraske on Up to Date to discuss his new memoir, Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter . Covering over fifty years of life on the sidelines, as well as his personal triumphs and tragedies, Deford's reminisces are a remarkable account of a life lived court side. Note: Book excerpts are provided by the publisher and may contain language some find offensive. Excerpt from Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter. From Chapter 3: In Which I Encounter Faster Guns. High schools are our commonest common denominator. Good Lord, they even all smell the same, that stale institutional odor that can be disturbed only by another ringing bell. The children fall out into the corridors, moving with a special rhythm, at a pace they will never again employ in life. Nothing else in the human experience resembles the break between classes. — "When All the World Was Young, Lad," Sports Illustrated , 1977. Besides prefaces counting their pages in Roman numerals, the other thing about books that always confounds me is that we authors go on and on, tediously, with acknowledgments, but we usually make a mystery of our dedication. So, here is who this book is dedicated to: my high school adviser and my high school basketball coach.
    [Show full text]
  • Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution
    Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution Aram Goudsouzian "We see each other as men," said Bill Russell, explaining the 1969 Na­ tional Basketball Association championship of the Boston Celtics. "We judge a guy by his character."1 Russell had just concluded his glorious career, winning his eleventh NBA title in thirteen seasons and ensuring his status as the greatest winner in the history of American team sports. His defensive mastery, moreover, transfigured the game's patterns, compelling a faster and more athletic sport. But Russell's legacy stretches deeper and wider. It concerns the emerging link between bas­ ketball and blackness, both in terms of cultural style and political import. It intersects with the achievements of the civil rights movement, the impulses to­ ward racial brotherhood, and African-American self-pride. It touches upon Russell's explanations of his team's success: manhood and character. Russell did not desegregate the NBA, but he integrated it. He became the first black superstar—the first to generate copious publicity, the first to alter the sport's texture, the first to shape a team's championship destiny. Moreover, in the midst of the civil rights movement, Russell presided over basketball's model of successful racial integration. As the Celtics won title after title, Russell ex­ changed public praise and private loyalty with his white teammates and coach, and other blacks became critical cogs in the Celtics machine. He further em­ bodied sport's cherished values of selflessness, integrity, and intelligence in his perpetual triumphs over celebrated rival Wilt Chamberlain. In 1966 Russell became the first African-American coach of any professional American sport, 0026-3079/2006/4703/4-061S2.50/0 American Studies, 47:3/4 (Fall-Winter 2006): 61-85 61 62 Aram Goudsouzian and as player-coach he led the Celtics to two NBA titles in three years.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Analysis of American Sportswriting Jonathan Schreiber University of Connect, [email protected]
    University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Honors Scholar Theses Honors Scholar Program Spring 5-10-2009 The weetS Script: A Critical Analysis of American Sportswriting Jonathan Schreiber university of connect, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses Part of the American Popular Culture Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Mass Communication Commons, and the Other English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Schreiber, Jonathan, "The wS eet Script: A Critical Analysis of American Sportswriting" (2009). Honors Scholar Theses. 78. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses/78 The Sweet Script: A Critical Analysis of American Sportswriting Jonny Schreiber Senior Honors Thesis Professor Hufstader May 1, 2009 Sportswriting often explores controversy to capitalize on the drama and give the author a forum for moral expression. Yet the genre itself exists at the center of debate. For some, “sportswriting by journalists in the United States is abysmally low,” rife with “the worst tendencies of academic writing – tortured syntax, cant diction, passive voice, grammatical conjunctivitis . hedging, indirection, obfuscation . a bedraggled stock of clichés” claims George Core in an issue of The American Scholar (Core 282). Numerous others share his opinion if not his passion that “there is little place in sportswriting for the academic mind” (Core 286). Despite the sports section “[accounting] for more than 20 percent of editorial content in metropolitan daily newspapers – more than any other category of news” (Anderson 355-356), its practitioners are accused as cheerleaders and hero-worshippers. They face “more lenient standards than reporters on other beats” (Anderson 356) since general fandom forgives their myriad of sins out of blithe ignorance (academics draw a clear line; PhDs over here, simpleton chest-painting-beer-swigging-hooligans over there) or fervor (fans want to read articles root, root, rooting for the home team).
    [Show full text]
  • On Individuals -- Autobiographies, Biographies, Memoirs, Short Profiles, Obituaries
    On Individuals -- Autobiographies, Biographies, Memoirs, Short Profiles, Obituaries Ackert, Kristie. “No More ‘Baby’ Talk. [Column Reflects on Writer’s Encounters with Sexual Harassment Amid ESPN Analyst Ron Franklin Calling Sideline Reporter Jeannine Edwards ‘Sweet Baby’].” Daily News (New York), 9 January 2011, 60. Allen, Maury. “White On! Bill [White] Breaks Color Line in [Baseball] Broadcast Booth. New York Post, 5 February 2006, as reprinted from the New York Post, 10 February, 1971, https://nypost.com/2006/02/05/white-on-bill-breaks-color-line-in-baseball-booth/ Ambrose, Jenny. “Putting Talent in Focus: Ron Vesely Donates Three Decades of Photography Work to the [Baseball Hall of Fame] Museum.” Memories and Dreams: The Official Magazine of the [Baseball] Hall of Fame 35, no. 3 (Summer 2013): 18- 21. Antonen, Mel. “[Baseball Announcer Ernie] Harwell’s Heartfelt Farewell: He Faces Cancer’s Fate with ‘Serenity, Comfort.’” USA Today, 23 September 2009, C1-C2. Appel, Marty. Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, Billy, and George. Kingston, N.Y.: Total Sports Publishing, 2001. Appel, Marty. “Pioneeing [Journalist Jerome] Holtzman Devised the ‘Save’ [Statistic Used in Baseball].” Sports Collectors Digest, 12 September 2008, 24-25. Appel, Marty. “Hapless Phillies Had Early Player-Turned-Sportswriter: [Stan] Baumgartner Went from the Mound to the Press Box with the Philadelphia Inquirer.” Sports Collectors Digest, 23 January 2009, 12, 16. Appel, Marty. “An Old-Time Newspaperman Remembered Fondly: [Baseball Writer Harold Rosenthal] Bragged That He Put ‘Three Tribunes’ Out of Business.” Sports Collectors Digest, 20 November 2009, 14, 16. Associated Press. “Bob Cooke, Sports Editor [of the New York Herald Tribune from 1945-65, Dies at], 75.” New York Times, 9 May 1989, D26.
    [Show full text]
  • Sportswriter Is One Word
    The Red Smith Lecture in Journalism John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics & Democracy University of Notre Dame SPORTSWRITER IS ONE WORD Frank Deford Red Smith Lectures in Journalism James Reston, “Sports and Politics” (1983) Murray Kempton, “Finding an Authentic Voice” (1984) James J. Kilpatrick, “The Art of the Craft” (1985) Charles Kuralt, “The View from the Road” (1986) Art Buchwald, “While the Gipper Slept” (1988) Robert Maynard, “Red Smith’s America and Mine” (1989) Dave Kindred, “90 Feet Is Perfection” (1991) Eugene L. Roberts Jr., “Writing for the Reader” (1994) Georgie Anne Geyer, “Who Killed the Foreign Correspondent?” (1995) David Remnick, “How Muhammad Ali Changed the Press” (1998) Ted Koppel, “Journalism: It’s as Easy as ABC” (1999) Jim Lehrer, “Returning to Our Roots” (2002) Frank McCourt, “From Copybook to Computer: What You Write On and How You Do It” (2003) Ken Auletta, “Whom Do Journalists Work For?” (2005) Judy Woodruff, “Are Journalists Obsolete?” (2007) Tim Russert, “When Politicians Meet the Press” (2008) Frank Deford, “Sportswriter Is One Word” (2010) Red Smith Lectures delivered from 1983 through 2008 are collected in Making Words Dance: Reflections on Red Smith, Journalism, and Writing. Information about the book is available at www.andrewsmcmeel.com. SPORTSWRITER IS ONE WORD Frank Deford THE RED SMITH LECTURE IN JOURNALISM Introduction By Robert Schmuhl SPORTSWRITER IS ONE WORD By Frank Deford UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics & Democracy Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 August 2010 The Red Smith Lectureship in Journalism is sponsored by John P. and Susan McMeel and Universal Uclick.
    [Show full text]
  • Biographical Information About Andrew Zimbalist (December 2017)
    Biographical Information about Andrew Zimbalist (December 2017) photo by Dominic Chavez Andrew Zimbalist received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1969 and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1972 and 1974 respectively. He has been in the Economics Department at Smith College since 1974 and has been a visiting professor at Hamburg University (2011), Doshisha University in Kyoto Japan (2007), the University of Geneva (2003), at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan (1985), and a visiting research fellow at Harvard University (1980). He presently is the Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College and a member of the Five College Graduate Faculty. Dr. Zimbalist was editor of a book series on "The Political Economy of Development in Latin America" for Westview Press from 1987 through 1994. He chaired the Latin American Scholars' Association's Task Force on Scholarly Relations with Cuba during 1992-94. He testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the economic effects of U.S. policy toward Cuba in March 1994 and participated in the congressional program of the Aspen Institute as an expert on the Cuban economy. Dr. Zimbalist has consulted in Latin America for the United Nations Development Program, the Atlantic Council, IRELA, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as for numerous companies around investment in Latin America. Dr. Zimbalist has served as a consultant to Weil, Gotshal & Manges in the litigation of the NFL Players' Association
    [Show full text]
  • Patrick, Verducci, Wilbon Voted to Nsma Hall of Fame
    Contact: Dave Goren, Executive Director [email protected] PO Box 5394 336-655-2976 Winston-Salem, NC 27113 nationalsportsmedia.org PATRICK, VERDUCCI, WILBON VOTED TO NSMA HALL OF FAME HARLAN, WOJNAROWSKI WIN NAT'L AWARDS CARAY, LEDFORD, YOUNG ALSO VOTED TO HALL 110 WIN STATE SPORTSCASTER, SPORTSWRITER OF YEAR AWARDS WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (January 13, 2020) – Dan Patrick, Tom Verducci, and Michael Wilbon have been voted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame, NSMA executive director Dave Goren announced. Three deceased legends, Skip Caray, Cawood Ledford, and Dick Young will also enter the Hall, the results of the annual vote of the NSMA's membership. The NSMA will also honor the 2019 national sportscaster of the year, Kevin Harlan, 2019 national sportswriter of the year, Adrian Wojnarowski, and 110 state sportscasters and sportswriters of the year from 49 states, plus the District of Columbia. They will be honored at the 61st annual NSMA awards banquet, June 29, 2020 in Winston-Salem, N.C. Patrick, host of The Dan Patrick Show, got his start in local television, before becoming a sports reporter at CNN. But it was after moving to ESPN and teaming with Keith Olbermann on the network's nightly SportsCenter shows that he made his mark. After leaving ESPN, Patrick went out on his own with nationally-syndicated radio show. The show is now in more than 300 markets in the U.S., and is simulcast on TV. Patrick is a two-time winner of the NSMA's national sportscaster of the year award. Verducci is senior baseball writer at Sports Illustrated, where has written for 27 years.
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Journalism at Sports Illustrated: Dan Jenkins, Frank Deford and Roy Blount, Jr
    LITERARY JOURNALISM AT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: DAN JENKINS, FRANK DEFORD AND ROY BLOUNT, JR. By TED GELTNER A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MASS COMMUNICATION UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2006 Copyright 2006 by Ted Geltner ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my supervisory committee for their support and guidance during the writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank the subjects of this thesis, Dan Jenkins, Frank Deford and Roy Blount, Jr., for both their gracious assistance in this project, as well as their lifelong devotion to their craft and for the literature that they have created throughout their storied careers. I am honored to have had the chance to study their contributions. Thanks also go to Linda McCoy-Murray for her generous help and support during the gathering of information for this project. Finally, I want to thank my wife, Jill, and my daughters, Cassie and Bethany, for keeping their complaints to a minimum when I had to devote a few too many evenings and weekends to this thesis instead of to gymnastics, spelling tests and household responsibilities. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: THE RISE OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED AND LITERARY SPORTS WRITING
    [Show full text]
  • APSE CONFERENCE GUIDE Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center June 16-19 Table of Contents
    APSE CONFERENCE GUIDE Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center June 16-19 Table of Contents PG. 5 -- NOTABLE LOCATIONS PG. 7 -- SUNDAY, JUNE 16 SCHEDULE PG. 8 -- MONDAY, JUNE 17 SCHEDULE 8 GENERAL SESSION NEWSROOM DIVERSITY: WHAT CAN BE DONE? 11 WORKSHOP HARNESSING THE POWER OF DATA 11 WORKSHOP FAST AND EASY WAYS TO GENERATE CONTENT ON SLOW NEWS DAYS 12 WORKSHOP HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT: HOW TO CONNECT WITH A YOUNG, DIVERSE AND DIGITALLY-SAVVY SOCCER AUDIENCE 13 KEYNOTE LUNCHEON 13 GENERAL SESSION SOURCING: BEST PRACTICES 14 GENERAL SESSION A CONVERSATION WITH AP COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME RECEPTION PG. 16 -- TUESDAY, JUNE 18 SCHEDULE 17 GENERAL SESSION THE BLURRING LINE 18 WORKSHOP GOOGLE FLOURISH AND MAPPING EXERCISES APSE 2019 Conference Guide 2 19 WORKSHOP UNDERSTANDING INTERNAL ANALYTICS and METRICS 20 WORKSHOP HOW TO WRITE THE BOOK 20 RED SMITH AWARD LUNCHEON 21 WORKSHOP GOOGLE EARTH PRO/MAPPING 21 NEWSMAKER SESSION 21 TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME PG. 22 -- WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19 SCHEDULE 22 REGION CAUCUSES 23 GENERAL SESSION THE URBAN MEYER SCOOP 23 CLOSING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING 23 STADIUM TOUR 24 AWARDS BANQUET 26 APSE LEADERSHIP 28 RED SMITH AWARD WINNER / Sandy Rosenbush 29 RED SMITH PRESENTER / Leon Carter 30 RED SMITH WINNERS 31 MEET APSE’S DIVERSITY FELLOWS 32 APSE BULLETIN / SJI CLASS OF 2019 APSE 2019 Conference Guide 3 APSE 2019 Conference Guide 4 NOTABLE LOCATIONS Hotel: Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center Registration: Sycamore Room (North Tower, Level M2) General sessions: International Ballroom F (North Tower, Level M2)
    [Show full text]
  • Last King of the Sports Page: the Life and Career of Jim Murray, 1919-1962
    LAST KING OF THE SPORTS PAGE: THE LIFE AND CAREER OF JIM MURRAY, 1919-1962 By TED GELTNER A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2009 1 © 2009 Ted Geltner 2 To Jill, Cassie, Bethany and Luke 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the members of my doctoral committee, Dr. William McKeen, Ted Spiker, Dr. Maria Coady and Dr. Ronald Rodgers for their support and guidance during the research and writing of this dissertation. Their assistance has been invaluable and without it this project would not have been possible. This project also would not have been possible without the help of the friends, relatives and colleagues of Jim Murray who were willing to answer my questions and offer suggestions as to the best way to pursue this story. Among them were: Andy Crichton, Bill Christine, Bill Thomas, Blackie Sherrod, Bob Steiner, Carol Hamel, Bob Creamer, Frank Deford, Frank McCulloch, Furman Bisher, Gilbert Lilijedahl, Jack Disney, Jerry Suppicich, Joe Santley, Marge Everett, John Hall, Jon Sandberg, Eric Sandberg, Marie Hewins, Melvin Durslag, Richard Patrissi, and Rose D‘Ambrosia. I‘d also like to thank Matt Allen for allowing me to share the valuable research he had previously conducted into the Murray family history. I also wish to acknowledge Dr. Mark Smith and Dr. Pat Miller of Valdosta State University for providing me with the support to pursue this project while at the same time helping to get me up and running as a lecturer and student-newspaper advisor in the English Department at VSU.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Bricenofinaldissdraft 03Apr
    The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of the Liberal Arts ENGENDERING THE PAGEANT: RHETORICAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP THROUGH DRAMA AND CONTEST, 1900-PRESENT A Dissertation in Communication Arts and Sciences by Mia E. Briceño © 2012 Mia E. Briceño Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2012 The dissertation of Mia E. Briceño was reviewed and approved* by the following: Rosa A. Eberly Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and English Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Thomas W. Benson Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Rhetoric Stephen H. Browne Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences Susan M. Squier Julia Gregg Brill Professor of Women’s Studies, English, and STS (Science, Technology, and Society) Kirtley H. Wilson Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences Graduate Officer for the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT This study explores the tradition of pageantry in the United States, focusing on the pageant as an explicitly gendered cultural practice and the rhetorical relationships between that practice and U.S. citizenship. In spite of its reputation as a feminized, low culture artifact, the pageant is a consistently maintained rhetorical practice that continues to be performed in and among diverse publics. Pageantry is thus implicated in political discourses of model democratic citizenship. I explore pageantry’s symbolic influence in U.S. culture and politics in five case studies. These cases are arranged somewhat chronologically, reflecting a kind of rhetorical history of the pageant in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Frank Deford, Bill Nack Among Judges for Stanley Bergstein Award
    February 23, 2012 FRANK DEFORD, BILL NACK AMONG JUDGES FOR STANLEY BERGSTEIN AWARD BILL CHRISTINE, RICHARD ENG ALSO ON PANEL FOR FIRST WRITING HONOR TEAM VALOR INTERNATIONAL IS ACCEPTING ENTRIES FOR $25,000 COMPETITION Frank Deford, Bill Nack, Bill Christine and Richard Eng will serve as judges for Team Valor International’s inaugural Stanley Bergstein Writing Award. Barry Irwin, founder and chief executive officer of Team Valor International, instituted the award last fall to foster the type of writing Bergstein embodied as an influential scribe on important issues in horse racing. A columnist for Daily Racing Form and many harness racing publications, Bergstein died in November at age 87. The inaugural award will go to the writer of a racing-related story published in North America between November 1, 2011 and November 1, 2012. The prize from Team Valor is $25,000. Deford, a member of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, has written with great distinction for Sports Illustrated since 1962. In covering Thoroughbred racing for the magazine, he garnered Eclipse Awards in 1975 and 1984. Deford is a weekly commentator for NPR, a senior correspondent for HBO Real Sports, and is the author of 16 books. He and Red Smith are the only writers with multiple features in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Nack also has a feature in that collection from his unique perspective as the author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion. Nack wrote the seminal horse racing book during his time as the Turf writer for Newsday.
    [Show full text]