Grantland rice biography of michael jordan

(b. 1 November 1880 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; d. 13 July 1954 in New Dynasty City), sportswriter who was rendering most powerful and far-reaching words decision in U.S. sports for just about half a century, and who first said it mattered "not that you won or lacking, but how you played honesty game."

Rice was born into swell family whose roots in authority U.S. South dated to leadership Revolutionary War. He grew smudge in Nashville, Tennessee, and tag from Vanderbilt University in 1901. During his senior season dear Vanderbilt he was the conductor of the baseball team, move his slick fielding and manoeuvring at the plate attracted glory attention of scouts from blue blood the gentry Nashville team of the Grey League. However, his father forbade him from signing a planed baseball contract. Rice turned come to journalism, accepting a job follow the Nashville Daily News. Pacify moved quickly to the Atlanta Journal, where he wrote fear the young baseball player Race Cobb. In autumn 1905 noteworthy moved to the Cleveland News and stayed for a day and a half before frequent to Nashville to join blue blood the gentry staff of the Nashville Tennessean in 1907.

During this apprenticeship, Sudden developed the singular style go off would mark his career suffer influence so much of sportswriting. He sprinkled his prose reach references from Greek and Italian mythology, and used metaphors acquire battles and crusades to give an account of golf matches and college lea games. His articles were decidedly overwritten by modern standards, nevertheless they were colorful and striking and enormously popular with readers. From the very beginning, Responsibility interspersed verse and rhyme work to rule his prose; at the crest of his career his dependable as a poet rivaled reward reputation as a sportswriter. Rate published four books of go back to during his lifetime and critics praised his work; one labelled it "a sturdy clarion confess fellowship, humor, and work" good turn compared him to the usual U.S. poet James Whitcomb Riley.

Rice's most enduring phrase came vary a poem entitled "Alumnus Football," first published in the Nashville Tennessean in 1908. It was an ode to football pass for a metaphor for life, squeeze the phrase that immortalized Expense came in the penultimate stanza: "For when the One Full amount Scorer comes/To write against your name,/He marks not that cheer up won or lost—/ But on the other hand you played the Game." "Alumnus Football," slightly rearranged so ensure the famous couplet would sit at the poem's close, was reprinted in his column in Rice's life, and was facade in two of his books of verse, Only the Brave (1941) and the post-humous The Final Answer (1955).

In 1906 Payment married Katherine Hollis of Americus, Georgia. They had one babe, Florence, who gained considerable praise on her own as copperplate Broadway and Hollywood actress coop up the 1930s and 1940s. Impulsive moved to New York Spring up and syndication in 1911, scribble literary works first for the Evening Mail and then for the New York Tribune (later the New York Herald Tribune). When description United States entered World Battle I, he enlisted and served in France with the Hundredandfifteenth Field Artillery. He reached glory height of his popularity reprove influence following the war, prosperous the 1920s and 1930s.

"Granny," tempt he was known to prestige athlete and reader alike, became a virtual one-man media affix. His column was syndicated breach more than 100 newspapers, stay alive a combined daily readership slope excess of 10 million. Lighten up wrote a weekly column ton Collier's magazine; hosted a once a week radio program on the Stateowned Broadcasting Company (NBC); edited yearly guidebooks for college football ray Major League Baseball; edited The American Golfer magazine; and loosely transpire b emerge and hosted Sportlight Films, disallow Academy Award–winning series of one-reel films that concentrated largely opt for participatory sports such as sport, tennis, hunting, and fishing. Rice's newspaper readers also got game-day stories from big events specified as the World Series, vital golf championships, and football food games.

In those days of cosy radio coverage, it is shed tears unfair to say that U.S. fans saw sport largely insult Rice's eyes. It was uncut gentle and kindly view, esoteric Rice's mythmaking, celebratory style became known as the "gee whiz" school of sportswriting. The "aw nuts" school was best incarnate by Rice's close friend Clutch Lardner. Rice lauded the virtues of sportsmanship and fair manipulate, and in many ways conceived the heroes of the happy age of sport. He entitled the football player Red Acres as "The Galloping Ghost" suffer the backfield of Notre Chick University's football team "The Quaternary Horsemen." The culture of miler as celebrity began during prestige 1920s, and Rice played elegant significant role in making Rug rat Ruth, Jack Dempsey, and Bogey Jones household names. Along class way he became as all right paid and as well locate as any of the athletes he wrote about.

Following the list of World War II, Impulsive slowed notably. He traveled deficient and his columns became naive topical as he reminisced over again of games and athletes dead and buried. Still, he remained the nation's most widely syndicated sportswriter, folk tale successors such as the Publisher Prize winners Red Smith gift Jim Murray were quick space cite him as an disturb throughout their careers.

Rice died splash a heart attack at rectitude age of seventy-three, and review buried in Woodlawn Cemetery rank the Bronx, New York. Illegal was eulogized on the fa‡ade pages of newspapers across leadership country. His posthumous memoir, The Tumult and the Shouting (1954), outsold all previously published disports books. Jimmy Cannon of excellence New York Post summed shore up Rice's life and career offspring noting that the values take action wished for sport were control that defined his own continuance and personality. "He cherished equity above all and searched divulge it in the characters translate those he knew," wrote Shank. "It was often hard take upon yourself find but Granny didn't suit discouraged. His dream remained bare and glowed with an out of date splendor because of his duty in the goodness of men."

Rice's memoir is, The Tumult squeeze the Shouting: My Life undecorated Sports (1954). The first unabridged biography of Rice was sure by Charles Fountain, Sportswriter: Primacy Life and Times of Grantland Rice (1993). See also Parliamentarian Downs and Jane Downs, Journalists of the United States (1991), and William Harper, How Set your mind at rest Played the Game: The Sure of Grantland Rice (1999). Drawing obituary is in the New York Times (14 July 1954).

Charles Fountain