Passion of a writer

David Halberstam always made room for sports

 

 

When you compile a short list of the most important journalists of the 20th century, Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam has a place near the top. He was at the center of some of the most important issues of the 1960s, including the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement and presidential politics.

But there was another side to Halberstam — that of a sportswriter. In addition to his classic works, including “The Breaks of the Game,”  and “The Education of a Coach,” he also wrote plenty of sports pieces for magazines, newspapers and Web sites such as ESPN.com and Sports Illustrated’s SI.com. The best of this writing has been included in the new book “Everything They Had,” compiled and edited by Glenn Stout who recently took time out to speak with us about this prolific man.

What was the biggest surprise for you in putting together this compilation?
Although I’d known his interest in sports had gone way back, I was surprised just how far back, that he had done so much sportswriting [as an undergrad]. There are literally dozens of stories he wrote. And to see he sustained that interest, that was a real surprise, that it had been so much a part of his writing fabric.

Why do you think he did so much sportswriting, especially over the second half of his career?
I think that in a way, as he got older, he also had the luxury to indulge himself in some things he really enjoyed. The one story he wrote about fishing and going to a store in Manhattan, and he buys a fishing rod he always wanted because he could finally afford it. Going back and writing sports again and again and again, it was almost part of that same impulse.

Is there one piece in this compilation that  stands out for you?
“My Dinner with Theodore.” It’s just a great little vignette of Ted Williams, but also of Halberstam the writer — he meets Williams bright and early in the morning, and he has a bit of trepidation. … You get to know Ted Williams right away.

Is there another David Halberstam out there, someone who could pingpong between sports and politics as effortlessly as he was able to?
I think there are a lot of people who are trying to plow that same ground with varying degrees of success. There are some people who manage to move back and forth very well — David Maraniss and Richard Ben Cramer have certainly managed to do that. There are other guys like Charlie Pierce, for instance, who write a lot about sports and politics. But I don’t think there’s anyone who is quite as adept as Halberstam in taking on all the themes.