The Best Of Frank Deford

by Frank Deford

Whether Frank Deford is the voice you hear on National Public Radio's Morning Edition or the name you see in the Newsweek byline, you are sure to be highly entertained with the irreverent musings of this much-acclaimed sports mind. Deford possesses a witty and poignant take on the world of athletics that has earned him a wealth of fans, from the most ardent sports enthusiast to the greenest novice. In this best of the best compilation, Deford creates insightful, richly, drawn yarns on the human drama and the occasional high comedy of athletic competition. The Best of Frank Deford relates not only the specific and the spectacular events that make up great sports writing, but reflects through sports the larger world of American culture. This is a grand collection of his most vivid caricatures, colorful anecdotes, and out-of-left-field observations on the often humbling and humorous nature of sport. The Best of Frank Deford is a treasure of Deford's best writing and will make an instant fan of any reader.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Essays

306 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Frank Deford (born December 16, 1938, in Baltimore, Maryland) is a senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, author, and commentator.

DeFord has been writing for Sports Illustrated since the early 1960s. In addition to his Sports Illustrated duties, he is also a correspondent for HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and a regular, Wednesday commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition.

His 1981 novel, "Everybody's All-American," was named one of Sports Illustrated's Top 25 Sports Books of All Time and was later made into a movie directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Dennis Quaid.

In the early 1990s Deford took a brief break from NPR and other professional activities to serve as editor-in-chief of The National (newspaper), a short-lived, daily U.S. sports newspaper. It debuted January 31, 1990 and folded after eighteen months. The newspaper was published Sundays through Fridays and had a tabloid format.

Deford is also the chairman emeritus of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He became involved in cystic fibrosis education and advocacy after his daughter, Alexandra ("Alex") was diagnosed with the illness in the early 1970s. After Alex died on January 19, 1980, at the age of eight, Deford chronicled her life in the memoir Alex: The Life of a Child. The book was made into a movie starring Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia in 1986. In 1997, it was reissued in an expanded edition, with updated information on the Defords and Alex's friends.

Deford grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended the Gilman School in Baltimore. He is a graduate of Princeton University and now resides in Westport, Connecticut, with his wife, Carol. They have two surviving children: Christian (b. 1969) and Scarlet (b. 1980). Their youngest daughter Scarlet was adopted a few months after the loss of Alex.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank Deford was a brilliant writer, the sportswriter I and my peers wanted to be, but the look back was jarring. Not surprisingly, the takes of a middle-aged sportswriter from an Ivy League college do not hold up well, owing to a blindingly unenlightened viewpoint generally. Seriously, I found myself cringing over some of the NPR scripts and wondering how NPR felt about these opinions emanating through their airwaves.

By the way, this book would have come out just before his soft-core profile of Anna Kournikova for Sports Illustrated, though I will consider his editors gave him marching orders for the kind of story he was to report and write. The story just oozed with something, knowing who wrote it, and I doubt Deford considered it among his best.

Again, though, the man could turn a phrase. Highlights include the profile of a 40-year-old Bobby Knight, and the closing feature on Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Roger Bannister and their respective barriers.

[Frank Murtaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one has influenced my career as a sportswriter more than Frank Deford. I hadn't read this collection in more than two decades (Deford died in 2017). He was a master at mixing clever and compassionate, whether in column form or a feature-length profile. He was one of a kind, and remains the gold standard for me. So much sports talk these days, and so little sports thought.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank DeFord was the best and most insightful sportswriter around for quite awhile. You will gain much from his outlook.

[Devin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deford is witty as ever in this compilation of sports commentary. Spanning a period of time in his career, the commentary not only gives a look into Deford's own views, but also at the sporting landscape of the time. Not a sport is missed (not even bowling) and it includes longer pieces on such prolific sports icons as Wilt Chamberlein and Bobby Knight. Anyone who has ever watched a minute of sports on television or listened on the radio would not be able to put this book down.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I am not much into sports, I absolutely love his vibrant writing style full of figurative language and playing on words. I was hoping to find some short essays for my nonfiction writing class and only ended up finding one called "Jocks". All of the commentaries revolve around sports (most are highly critical of what has become of professional sports) and unfortunately most are quite dated (1980s) in this collection.

[David LaVaque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greatest sports writer of all time. Bobby Knight feature is outstanding.

[Jason Shinkunas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The in between stuff was really stupid and corny...his current ramblings.

[Marty Acks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this just before he passed away. I always loved his story telling on NPR. These stories were a pleasant written reminder of those NPR pieces.