Frank Deford
Frank Deford died on Sunday, May 28, at his home in Florida. Remembrances of Frank's life and work can be found in All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and on NPR.org.
Writer and commentator Frank Deford was the author of 20 books. His latest, I'd Know That Voice Anywhere, is a collection of his NPR commentaries and was described by Chicago Tribune as "glorious, hitting all the notes from funny to emotional to profound. ... Once again, his words make sports come alive." Booklist calls it a "rich collection for anyone interested in the sporting life."
The collection was culled from Deford's commentaries on NPR's Morning Edition, dating back to 1980.
On television, Deford was a senior correspondent for 20 years on the HBO show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. In magazines, he was a senior contributing writer at Sports Illustrated for 32 years and later became senior editor emeritus.
Two of Deford's books — the novel Everybody's All-American and Alex: The Life Of A Child, his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis — have been made into movies. Two of his original screenplays, Trading Hearts and Four Minutes, have also been filmed.
President Obama presented Deford with the medal from the 2012 National Endowment for the Humanities. He is the first writer to receive this award primarily for his work in sports.
As a journalist, Deford was elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters. Deford was voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year six times. The American Journalism Review likewise cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review.
Deford had also been presented with the National Magazine Award for profiles, a Christopher Award and journalism Honor Awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University, and he received many honorary degrees. The Sporting News once described Deford as "the most influential sports voice among members of the print media," and GQ called him, simply, "the world's greatest sportswriter."
In broadcast, Deford won both an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award. ESPN presented a television biography of Deford's life and work, "You Write Better Than You Play." A popular lecturer, Deford spoke at more than a hundred colleges, as well as at forums, at conventions and on cruise ships around the world.
For 16 years, Deford served as national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. Deford was a graduate of Princeton University, where he had taught in American Studies.
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Following Kentucky's college basketball victory, commentator Frank Deford wonders about the ethics of the NCAA. -
With the Masters tournament poised to begin Thursday, Tiger Woods continues to dominate golf coverage — despite the fact that he isn't actually winning tournaments. -
NASCAR spent millions of dollars researching how to get people more interested in the sport, but Americans' love affair with cars isn't what it used to be. -
At the end of games in most team sports, the excitement is ratcheted up when a team tries daring new tactics and gambles to win. Basketball seems alone in making the end of its games ugly and boring. And even the referees don't like it. -
In baseball, there were always a fair complement of coaching characters: old cracker-barrel philosophers, feisty wise guys and even a few sardonic intellectuals. But the oddballs are diminishing — with the exception of Bobby Valentine of the Boston Red Sox. -
Fifty years ago, in an unimportant game, basketball star Wilt Chamberlain reached a milestone: 100 points in one game. At the time, it didn't even merit the front page in New York newspapers. -
Cory Weissman didn't get a chance to play much basketball before suffering a stroke during his freshman year at Gettysburg College. But as a senior, for at least one game, the ball was in his court. -
Why are the so-called experts are always looking in the same places? Frank Deford wonders how many talented athletes like Jeremy Lin have been overlooked because of stereotyping. -
Four years ago, Elena Delle Donne was the top basketball recruit in the country. But Delle Donne walked away from an elite college program — so she could be with her severely disabled sister and the rest of their family. Now she's the best college player in America. -
For a moment, put aside how Penn State's Joe Paterno — whose credo was "Success with Honor" — acted with regard to pedophilia, and consider Coach Paterno, which is what he still was barely 11 weeks ago. Will any college coach ever again possess the power he did over his university? It doesn't seem likely.
