 Frank Deford - Among the most versatile of writers,
Frank Deford's work has appeared in virtually every medium. In magazines, he has
returned to Sports Illustrated, where his byline originally appeared from 1962
through 1989. On radio, he may be heard as a commentator every Wednesday on
Morning Edition on National Public Radio and, on television, he is a regular
correspondent on the HBO show, ReaISports With Bryant Gumbel.
Moreover, Frank Deford is the author of 14 books. The next of
his eight novels, An American Summer, is a tender story that takes place
in 1954, and is about an adolescent boy who befriends a young woman with polio.
An American Summer has already been chosen as a Literary Guild selection.
Two other of his 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. Frank Deford also wrote the screenplay for
an original film, the comedy Trading Hearts. Another of his novels, Casey On
The Loose, is presently being adapted as a Broadway musical.
As a journalist, Frank Deford was most recently presented
with the National Magazine Award for profiles for his story on Bill Russell. He
has been elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of
Sportscasters and Sportswriters. Six times Frank Deford was voted by his peers
as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise
cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine
Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review.
Frank Deford has been presented with a Christopher Award and
journalism Honor Awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern
University. The Sporting News has described Frank Deford as "the most
influential sports voice among members of the print media," and the magazine GQ
has called him simply, "the world's greatest sportswriter." In broadcast,
Frank Deford has won both an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award.
For 15 years, Frank Deford served as national chairman of the
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. He resides in
Westport, Connecticut with his wife, Carol. They have two children--a son,
Christian, and a daughter, Scarlet. A native of Baltimore, Frank Deford is a
graduate of Princeton University, where he has taught in American Studies.
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