Being a sports writer is every bit as much fun as almost every young man imagines it to be, as described by author in this engaging compilation
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — In this collection of sports columns and stories written over a 36-year career at The Chicago Tribune, author Bob Markus comments on the stories, along with autobiographical details relating to the stories, with the release of his book I'll Play These. These stories helped the author win a dozen State of Illinois writing awards and a National Headliners Award as the nation's best sports columnist. Among the many great athletes and coaches he interviewed and wrote about were Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Clemente, Tony LaRussa, Sandy Koufax, Bob Knight, and Brooks Robinson. He often was at the right place at the right time and as a result, he covered many of his era's most memorable events.
I'll Play These is a combination of history and autobiography. Many sports writers have published collections of their favorite works, but none has done yet, the way the author told his life story – through his writings. "I was present at and wrote about some of the most famous sports events of the 1960s-early 1990s, an era I consider to be a golden age in sports history," says Markus. "I covered the 1972 Munich Olympics and wrote the page 1 story on the massacre of Israeli athletes for The Chicago Tribune. That same day, I toured the infamous Dachau concentration camp and wrote a column that many consider the best I ever wrote. I was present for the famous Franco Harris "Immaculate reception" that propelled the Pittsburgh Steelers into the AFC title game, for Villanova's shocking upset of Georgetown and its glowering Merchant of Menace, Patrick Ewing, for the 1985 national basketball championship, and for the first Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier battle of the unbeaten."
This book is available online and can be purchased at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.
About the Author
Bob Markus spent 36 years as a sports writer and columnist for The Chicago Tribune, winning numerous awards, including a National Headliner Award as best sports columnist and three Illinois Sports Writer of the Year honors. He has been included in Who's Who in America in each of the last 25 years. A 1955 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he was a general assignment reporter and assistant state editor for the Moline (I1.) Dispatch before joining The Tribune in 1959. He and his wife of 49 years, Leslie, live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and they have two daughters, Cathy and Trish, and a son Mike.
I'll Play These by Bob Markus
Publication Date: July 19, 2011
Paperback: $23.99; 586 pages; ISBN 978-1462047673
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