Mr BioFile Interviews by Scoop Malinowski
By Scoop Malinowski
Status: Former sportswriter/columnist for Louisville Courier-Journal, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Golf Digest and The National Sports Daily.
DOB: April 12, 1941 Birthplace: Lincoln, Illinois
Education: Atlanta, Illinois High School, Illinois Wesleyan University.
Early memory of sportswriting: Reading the Chicago newspapers.
Writing inspirations: Red Smith, Jimmy Cannon.
Favorite movies: Bull Durham, Sleepless in Seattle.
Last book read: ‘Baseball As I Have Known It’, by Fred Lieb.
First job: Detasseling corn.
Childhood dreams: Big league baseball player.
First famous person you met or encountered: Emil Verban, big league baseball player, famous in the corn fields of Illinois.
Greatest moment of your career: Hasn’t happened yet.
Most painful career moment: Writing biography of my late grandson (Jared). (‘Leave Out The Tragic Parts’ published in 2021.)
Embarrassing career memory: Asking Stan Smith how he played the previous week in preparation for Wimbledon. He said, “I haven’t had the operation yet.” The previous week’s tournament, at Eastbourne, was a women’s tournament.
Funny career memory: Asking Stan Smith if….
Favorite interviews: Muhammad Ali – every word quotable. Adolph Rupp, Bob Knight, Dale Brown, Lee Corso, Martina Navratilova.
Strangest interview: Ali, in bed, under the sheets, one of us wearing clothes.
Favorite athletes to watch: Ali, Jordan, Navratilova, Tiger, Ozzie Smith, Steph Curry, Secretariat, and hundreds more doing unimaginable stuff.
Favorite sports to cover: Baseball, basketball, golf.
Favorite artists: Springsteen, Ella, Sinatra.
Favorite writers: E.B. White, Dan Jenkins, John McPhee.
Favorite ice cream flavor: Butter pecan.
Favorite uniforms: The birds on the bats of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Favorite sports arenas: Madison Square Garden, Rose Bowl, Wimbledon, Augusta National, Churchill Downs.
People qualities most admired: Perseverance in difficulty, honesty in transactions, fairness in judgments, dignity in defeat, humor in embarrassments.
Career Accomplishments: Won multiple “Sportswriter of the Year” awards; Inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame and National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame; In 2000, he was recognized by the Basketball Hall of Fame with the Curt Gowdy Print Media Award; In 2011 he was named the recipient of the Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism; Received the 2010 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism.
