Frank Deford

Frank Deford
Born	December 16, 1938 (1938-12-16) Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Education	Princeton University
Occupation	Journalist
Spouse(s)	Carol Deford
Notable credit(s)	Performance Today Weekend All Things Considered Weekend Edition Sunday Alex: The Life of a Child

Benjamin "Frank" Deford, III (born December 16, 1938, in Baltimore, Maryland) is a senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, author, and commentator for National Public Radio and correspondent for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO.

Background

Deford began writing for Sports Illustrated in 1962. In addition to his Sports Illustrated duties, he has also been a correspondent for HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel since 1995, a regular Wednesday commentator for National Public Radio since 1980. He is the author of eighteen books. 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 film of the same title. However, most of Deford's fiction is set out of the sports realm. The most recent of his ten novels is the acclaimed "Bliss, Remembered," a 1930s romance between a pretty young American and the son of a German diplomat. Deford writes that as a woman. He has also been a screenwriter on the films Trading Hearts (1987) and Four Minutes (2006).

In 1989 Deford left Sports Illustrated and NPR to serve as editor-in-chief of The National, a short-lived U.S. sports newspaper. It debuted January 31, 1990 and folded after eighteen months. The newspaper was published daily in tabloid format. After then writing for Newsweek and Vanity Fair, Deford subsequently returned to Sports Illustrated as senior contributing writer.

Deford served as chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for seventeen years, until 1999, and remains chairman emeritus. He became involved in cystic fibrosis education and advocacy after his daughter, Alexandra ("Alex") was diagnosed with the illness in 1972. 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, the book 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 Calvert School and Gilman School in Baltimore. He is a graduate of Princeton University and now resides in Westport, Connecticut, with his wife, Carol, a former fashion model. They have two surviving children: Christian (b. 1969) and Scarlet (b. 1980). Scarlet was adopted as an infant from the Philippines a few months after the loss of Alex. Deford met his wife in Delaware and they were married in 1965.

Awards and accomplishments

• Member of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame
• Six-time U.S. Sportswriter of the Year winner
• Twice voted Magazine Writer of the Year by the Washington Journalism Review
• National Magazine Award recipient for 1999 Sports Illustrated article on Bill Russell
• Peabody Award recipient for writer on 1999 HBO documentary "Dare to Compete"
• Christopher Award winner
• University of Missouri Honor Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism
• Winner of a 1988 Emmy Award for his work as a writer during the Seoul Olympics
• Winner of a CableACE in 1994 for writing the HBO Sports documentary Arthur Ashe: Citizen of the World
• Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism recipient in 2003
• Received ten honorary degrees, most recently in 2011 from Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland.

Published works

• Five Strides on the Banked Track: The Life and Times of the Roller Derby, Publisher: Little Brown & Company (1971), ISBN 978-0316179201
• Cut 'n' Run, Publisher Viking (1973)
• There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America, Publisher: Viking Press (1975) ISBN 0-670-69858-X
• Big Bill Tilden: The Triumphs and The Tragedy, Simon & Schuster (1976)
• Everybody's All-American, Publisher: Viking (1981)
• Alex: The Life of a Child,' Publisher: Viking (1983) ISBN 0-670-11195-3
• The Spy in the Deuce Court, Publisher: Putnam (1986) ISBN 0-399-13134-5
• The World's Tallest Midget: The Best of Frank Deford, Publisher, Little Brown(1987) ISBN 0-316-17946-9
• Casey On The Loose, Publisher: Viking Press (1988)
• Love and Infamy, Publisher: Viking Press (1993)
• The Best Of Frank Deford, Publisher, Triumph Books (2000) ISBN 1-57243-360-4
• The Other Adonis: A Novel (2001) Sourcebooks Landmark, ISBN 1-4022-0011-0
• An American Summer: A Novel (2002) Sourcebooks Landmark, ISBN 1-4022-0059-5
• The Old Ball Game Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (2005) ISBN 0-87113-885-9
• The Entitled, Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (2007) ISBN 1-4022-0896-0
• Bliss, Remembered Publisher: The Overlook Press (2010)

See also

• WSHU

External links

• Frank Deford Archive at SI
• Frank Deford's Insider Archive also at SI
• Frank Deford at the Internet Movie Database
• Frank Deford, NPR Biography
• Frank Deford articles at Byliner
• Frank Deford at Yahoo!
• Radio interview on Philosophy Talk