All Those Mornings . . . At the Post: The 20th Century in Sports from Famed Washington Post: Columnist Shirley Povich - Hardcover

Povich, Shirley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1586483153 ISBN 13: 9781586483159

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2005

Synopsis

Shirley Povich was the Dean of American sportswriters. As a columnist for The Washington Post for more than seventyfive years, he was an eyewitness to the most thrilling moments in American sports, including: the legendary 1927 Dempsy-Tunney "long count"; the celebrated 1938 race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral; the 1946 signing of Jackie Robinson by the Brooklyn Dodgers; Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series; the Ali-Frazier fight of 1971; and the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

But Povich's columns were about more than sports; they reflected the dramatic changes in American society over the course of the 20th Century. Driven by a strong sense of social justice, Povich called for the integration of major league baseball in 1939, and twenty years later he was still at it, attacking Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall for having an all-white team.

For the 100th anniversary of his birth, Povich's children— David, Maury, and Lynn — and his colleague at the Post, former sports editor George Solomon, have pulled together this panoramic collection of Povich's most beloved columns. The result is a front-row seat to the most awe-inspiring sports moments of our American Century.

About this title

About the Author

Shirley Povich grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Bar Harbor, Maine. As a teenager, he caddied for Edward B. McLean, owner of The Washington Post, who offered him a job. Povich wrote his first sports story for the Post in 1924. He was president of the Baseball Writers of America — he held No.1 on its membership card — and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He wrote his final column for the Post on June 3, 1998, the day before he died.

Reviews

Adult/High School-For more than 75 years, Povich shared his love of sports with readers of the Washington Post. This volume commemorates the 100th anniversary of his birth and has some of his best and most-loved columns. Arranged by decade, they reflect the evolution of organized sports in the U.S. The elegance of Povich's writing never disappeared despite the topic. He did not shy away from the hard subjects, such as the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics or racism in sports. His 13-part series on the integration of major league baseball won a prestigious National Headliners Award. He witnessed Lou Gehrig set his 2,130 consecutive game streak and Cal Ripkin break that same record. Included are tributes written by those who considered themselves fortunate to have known Povich, among them Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. This title will appeal to sports fans and the sports clueless alike, and to journalism students.-Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Shirley Povich wrote his first sports column for this newspaper in 1924 and his last in 1998, and in the intervening years he watched Gene Tunney defeat Jack Dempsey for the heavyweight championship in 1927; Seabiscuit beat War Admiral in their 1938 match race; Don Larsen pitch his perfect game in the 1956 World Series; the Green Bay Packers win the first Super Bowl in 1967; Joe Frazier defeat Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship in 1971; and Cal Ripken play his 2,131st consecutive game in 1995, breaking the record held for 56 years by Lou Gehrig, whom Povich knew and liked very much.

It would be an injustice, however, to think of Povich's career primarily for its longevity. By any measure, he ranks with the heavyweights of his trade. Sports columnists develop -- some might say, cultivate -- a persona, be it the relentless champion of nobility on the playing field (Grantland Rice, a Povich mentor) or the guy on the adjoining barstool with a story to tell and a spleen to vent (New York's Dick Young, most famously). Povich, like his good friend Red Smith, drew on a keen eye, a storyteller's gift for narrative and, when he felt it necessary, a sense of moral outrage to create a voice that was urbane and engaging. It is impossible to envision him sitting in the press box without a coat and tie.

Now, his children and former Post sports editor George Solomon have assembled a volume of his best columns, All Those Mornings . . . at The Post. It contains just over 400 pages, a reasonable figure considering that little of consequence in the world of sports occurred over the last century without Povich in attendance.

Shirley Povich -- yes, his given name; he was inadvertently included in the 1959 Who's Who of American Women -- came to The Washington Post in 1922, after attending Georgetown University, by virtue of the good impression he made as a caddy for the paper's long-ago owner, Edward B. McClean. He started as a $12-a-week copy-boy and within two years was covering the Washington Senators. He wrote his first column about baseball's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The prose was clear and muscular and, over the decades, would change little stylistically. The man came to his work knowing how to say what he wanted to say.

Povich did not write for lines, a curse of cleverness suffered by too many sports columnists, whose works suggests an experience akin to fording a stream by skipping from rock to rock. He saw the piece whole, or rather built his columns around the essential narrative of the event he was covering. He also resisted the temptation to favor style over substance, an affliction that leaves too many otherwise talented columnists saying the same thing repeatedly, each time reaching desperately for another flourish. As a result, Povich's work holds up remarkably well; the great joy in reading this collection is the feeling of freshness and intimacy that comes with being at so many familiar events. Consider this view of the Dempsey-Tunney fight: "Getting up, Tunney ran. The champion ran, but it was no disgrace to run. It was the sensible thing to do under the circumstances, and in running Tunney acted the part of the champion who knew what to do when there was no logical alternative."

Povich had his causes. He was, for instance, an early and outspoken champion of integrating baseball -- a belief that set him apart from many of his contemporaries, who assumed that they were being reasonable when arguing that the safest place for a black man to play baseball was in the Jim Crow world of the Negro Leagues. Povich took the fight to football, as well, hammering at one-time Redskins owner George Marshall's resistance to signing a black man. He had his favorite athletes (Walter Johnson, especially) and games (baseball, above all). In this regard he was a product of a time when sports meant baseball, horse-racing and boxing. He liked football; he cared little for basketball.

Povich was at his best, however, when he played the role of his readers' surrogate, helping them see what he was seeing. He did this at games and, in wartime, at Iwo Jima and, perhaps most poignantly, at a sports event that became something else entirely: the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. He was at his best in Munich, a reporter so enterprising that he slipped into the Olympic Village by changing into a Puerto Rican Olympic team sweatsuit so he could get closer to the action than anyone else. He was 66 years old and not content to wait out the crisis in the press center.

One cannot read this collection, then, without wishing that those who loved him best might have let the columns speak for themselves. Their interstitial material clogs the collection, leaving the reader to wonder where the introductions end and Povich begins.

But that is a small matter. What emerges in these pages is a portrait of a man who, even in his last years, retained his grace, his voice, his excitement at being able to spend a lifetime chronicling so many marvelous games.

Reviewed by Michael Shapiro
Copyright 2005, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.

Povich, Washington Post sports columnist for 75 years (until his 1998 death) and Baseball Hall of Famer, had a reputation for fairness and honesty. This posthumously published work reflects his knowledge, loyalty, integrity and love of athletics through sample articles as well as tributes by such admirers as his son Maury, the talk show host, and Post columnists Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser. Povich's columns and essays are divided into eight decades, from the 1920s through the '90s, and demonstrate Povich's evolution from excitable youth ("I could scarcely wait for the morning paper to see my name in print") to assured professional. Povich describes the "evil Olympics" of 1936, castigating Nazi prejudice but also condemning an American track coach for withholding participation by two Jewish athletes. Shoeless Joe Jackson receives sympathetic treatment, unlike George Preston Marshall, founder of the Washington Redskins, whom Povich criticizes for forcing injured athletes to stay in a train's no-frills coach and baggage section, rather than nicer Pullman cars. Povich brings alive the colorful personalities of golfers Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis and tennis ace Bill Tilden. This enlightening work provides an indispensable overview of American sports in the 20th century. Photos. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1586483153
• ISBN 13: 9781586483159
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 405