Red Smith: More Than Just a Sportswriter
Red Smith: More than Just a Sportswriter
There is truly no person that has ever deserved to be called a writer more than Red Smith. As a man who loved and believed in the art of writing, he once stated, “All you do is sit down and open a vein and bleed it out drop by drop” (Schmuhl xx). Even more, he was a hardworking and dedicated man that put his all into each piece of literature, despite the constant and restraining deadlines placed on him. His dedication was never more evident than when he stated, “I made up my mind that every time I sat down to a typewriter I would slash my veins and bleed and that I’d try to make each word dance” (Schmuhl xx). Furthermore, his work far exceeded the stigmas placed on sports writing at the time, since he cared more about the literature than the subject matter. This is all evident in his essay, “When I Was an Athlete,” in which he discusses what it was like to try to get out of gym class as a freshman in college. Red Smith’s background, experiences, and writing style propelled him to be one of the greatest sportswriters of all time.
Red Smith’s background helps explain his current position as one of the best sportswriters to ever pick up a pen. Smith graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1927 and wasted no time signing on as a reporter. After working for the Milwaukee Sentinel, Smith took a job as a sportswriter for the St. Louis Star-Times. He went on to write for the Philadelphia Record for nine years, which allowed him to further hone his skills as a writer. Finally in 1945, Smith began his critically acclaimed column, “Views of Sport” in the New York Herald Tribune. This would all culminate in his 1956 victory of the coveted Grantland Rice Memorial Award for outstanding sports writing and a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, which he claimed was one of the two achievements he would like to be remembered for according to Schmuhl. Smith finally joined the staff of the New York Times in 1972, where he continued writing
There is truly no person that has ever deserved to be called a writer more than Red Smith. As a man who loved and believed in the art of writing, he once stated, “All you do is sit down and open a vein and bleed it out drop by drop” (Schmuhl xx). Even more, he was a hardworking and dedicated man that put his all into each piece of literature, despite the constant and restraining deadlines placed on him. His dedication was never more evident than when he stated, “I made up my mind that every time I sat down to a typewriter I would slash my veins and bleed and that I’d try to make each word dance” (Schmuhl xx). Furthermore, his work far exceeded the stigmas placed on sports writing at the time, since he cared more about the literature than the subject matter. This is all evident in his essay, “When I Was an Athlete,” in which he discusses what it was like to try to get out of gym class as a freshman in college. Red Smith’s background, experiences, and writing style propelled him to be one of the greatest sportswriters of all time.
Red Smith’s background helps explain his current position as one of the best sportswriters to ever pick up a pen. Smith graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1927 and wasted no time signing on as a reporter. After working for the Milwaukee Sentinel, Smith took a job as a sportswriter for the St. Louis Star-Times. He went on to write for the Philadelphia Record for nine years, which allowed him to further hone his skills as a writer. Finally in 1945, Smith began his critically acclaimed column, “Views of Sport” in the New York Herald Tribune. This would all culminate in his 1956 victory of the coveted Grantland Rice Memorial Award for outstanding sports writing and a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, which he claimed was one of the two achievements he would like to be remembered for according to Schmuhl. Smith finally joined the staff of the New York Times in 1972, where he continued writing
Cited: Berkow, Ira. Red: A Biography of Red Smith. New York Times, 1986. "Red Smith". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 08 March 2013 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/549849/Red-Smith. Smith, Red, and Robert Schmuhl. Making Words Dance: Reflections on Red Smith, Journalism, a Writing. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Pub., 2010. "Smith, Red." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed..2012. Encyclopedia.com. 8 March 2013 . Works Consulted Brown, Gene. The New York Times Book of Baseball History: Major League Highlights from the Pages of the New York Times. New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Book, 1975. Einstein, Charles. The Baseball Reader: Favorites from the Fireside Books of Baseball. New York, NY: Lippincott & Crowell, 1980. Holtzman, Jerome. No Cheering in the Press Box. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974. Smith, Red, and Ira Berkow. Red Smith on Baseball: The Game 's Greatest Writer on the Game’s Greatest Years. Chicago: I.R. Dee, 2000.