
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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Some critics say that women's sports aren't treated the same as men's sports when it comes to coverage, marketing and advertising. Frank Deford has some thoughts about why that is, and how it can change.
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Frank Deford's friend "the Sports Curmudgeon" reflects on some of the things that bother him about the sports world.
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There's more buzz than usual this year around baseball legend Jackie Robinson, who made his major league debut on April 15, 1947. But commentator Frank Deford says there isn't enough buzz in college athletics to help shape the Robinsons of the future.
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When Tiger Woods tees off at Augusta National Golf Club this week, he will have overcome injuries and personal scandal. But commentator Frank Deford wonders whether a Masters win for Woods would be a comeback or his way of getting back at his detractors.
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For years, non-baseball experts have been ringing the death knell for this game. But sports commentator Frank Deford says popular team games are so deeply ingrained in our culture that they're here to stay.
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Frank Deford isn't impressed with the style of play — or the style of uniforms — in this year's March Madness.
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Sports commentator Frank Deford wants to know: When did we stop arguing about sports in the time-honored bar-stool fashion?
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For commentator Frank Deford, it seems unfair that students who pursue other extracurricular talents — like music — should be placed in a subsidiary position to their classmates who happen to play sports.
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A powerful leadership group — the Catholic Seven — is stepping forward and heading in a bold new direction: basketball. These schools want out of the Big (football) East Conference.
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Student-athletes are really sucker-athletes under the organization's structure, says sports commentator Frank Deford. Will no college president speak the words that will break the organization's spell?