Frank Deford
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 Illustratedsince 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.
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 18 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. She died on January 19,
1980, at age 8, and her life was chronicled in Deford's book
Alex: The Life of a Child, which was made into a movie starring
Craig T. Nelson and
Bonnie Bedelia; the book has also been updated to show how the Defords and Alex's friends are doing today.
Deford grew up near 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).
*Member of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters
*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
*
Christopher Award winner
*Winner of a
1988 Emmy Award for his work during the Seoul Olympics
*Winner of a
CableACE in
1994 for writing the HBO Sports documentary
Arthur Ashe: Citizen of the World*
There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America (
1971) ISBN 067069858X
*
Alex: The Life of a Child BS918 (
1983) ISBN 0670111953
*
Spy in the Deuce Court (
1986) ISBN 0399131345
*
The Best Of Frank Deford (
2000) ISBN 1572433604
*
The Old Ball Game (
2005) ISBN 0871138859
*
Frank Deford Archive at SI
*
Frank Deford's Insider Archive also at SI
*
Frank Deford, IMDB*
Frank Deford, NPR Biography*
Frank Deford at Yahoo!
*
Deford Speech at CCC
