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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Frank Deford bids farewell to the Ringling Brothers Circus and has some further thoughts on taking a final bow.
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Commentator Frank Deford isn't crazy about the new boxing movie Southpaw. He says its shortcomings are typical of Hollywood's depiction of boxing. -
If ESPN wants to honor selfless players, it should give awards for courage to unknown people who achieve great feats. -
Tennis players Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic both have the potential to win Grand Slams, one of the rarest achievements in sports. But it's not an easy feat.
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Tom Brady could be guilty of one of the worst transgressions in sport — purposely defiling the part of the game that makes it fair and square. -
Retired baseball player Derek Jeter is leading the charge to find ways for players to speak to fans without media middlemen. -
As some boxing fans await a major welterweight matchup on Saturday, it's clear that the sport is struggling to keep the attention on the boxers' athleticism rather than their riches.
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Baseball players' arms are becoming more like football players' heads — subject to frequent injury and in need of immobilizing surgery.
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The curmudgeonly sports commentator is pessimistic about the sport's prospects in the U.S.
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NCAA basketball fans often strive to rattle free throw shooters — but, for commentator Frank Deford, few efforts match Arizona State's Curtain of Distraction, which he sums up as: "shock and awful."
