Semi-Memoir from Legendary Sportswriter

Jun 16, 2014

“I’m in my 80s but I’m not going to quit.  I don’t believe in retirement.  I’m just going to keep typing until they carry me out.” – Dan Jenkins (born 1929), legendary sportswriter and author of Semi-Tough and 19 other books, in a radio interview

Dan JenkinsThe annual college basketball tournament just passed us by. I know how important this event is in American culture – it’s up there with the World Series and Stanley Cup playoffs, although not as big as the Super Bowl.

One of the original practitioners of sportswriting was (and is) Dan Jenkins, a Texan who has written prodigiously for Sports Illustrated, Fort Worth Press and Dallas Times-Herald. He carries on today at age 84 as a sports columnist for a golf magazine. He’s published 20-plus books including the legendary football novel Semi-Tough, which was made into a movie starting Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson and Jill Clayburgh, He recently published his first memoir.

Jenkins is known for his passion about sports and his ability to translate his life experience into both non-fiction and fiction. It seems as if passion springs eternal for this legendary American writer. A review of his new book “His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir” in The New York Times noted:

“Mr. Jenkins has had, in his recounting, a busy, lucky and friend-filled life. If he tends to boil everything and everyone down to an anecdote, as if he were preparing to be the keynote speaker at the Great Sports Banquet in the Sky, well, at 84, he’s allowed. And his material isn’t bad at all.”

Sports are a great passion for many — what are you most passionate about?

— Sharon Emek, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO
Work At Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE)

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