ABSTRACT
Throughout the history of American journalism, writers who covered sporting events and sports personalities have been given more flexibility than news reporters to produce experimental or inventive articles. In the early days of mass-market newspapers, writers such as Grantland Rice, Ring Lardner, and Damon Runyon achieved literary fame that was launched by sports journalism. In the post-World War eras, literary-minded sports writers like Red Smith, W. C. Heinz, and Jim Murray raised the level of newspaper column and feature writing to new heights. The advent of Sports Illustrated, particularly the legendary “bonus piece” published weekly at the back of the magazine, made literary journalism a well-recognized form for the average American sports fan. Writers of New Journalism, including Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, and Gay Talese, wrote about sporting events and sports personalities in ground-breaking pieces. Gary Smith and some of his contemporaries built upon the work of their predecessors to make the deeply-reported, literary sports piece a staple of late twentieth-century magazine writing. As the industry transitions to the digital era, new outlets have emerged to give literary sports journalism new platforms in which it can evolve and expand.
