Legendary Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford passes away at 78

Frank Deford, one of Sports Illustrated’s most celebrated writers, died Monday at the age of 78.

Frank Deford passed away Monday at the age of 78, per the Washington Post. Deford became a legend during his time at Sports Illustrated, and was a key player in helping the magazine earn its reputation as the best in the business.

Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Deford III was born on Dec. 16, 1938, in Baltimore, MD, and graduated from Princeton University in 1962. That same year, Deford was hired as a researcher at Sports Illustrated, beginning a near-55 year career with the legacy sports media giant, where he became a towering figure in the sports universe.

In 1995, he become a correspondent on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumble and was also a regular commentator on Morning Edition for NPR. In addition to his legendary sports coverage, Deford was an accomplished novelist, penning 18 books, including “Everybody’s All-American,” his 1981 novel that Sports Illustrated rated as one of the “Top 25 Sports Books of All Time.”

Deford retired from NPR in May of 2017. In typically lyrical and gracious fashion, he signed off with the words: “And now, Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages, I bid you goodbye, and take my leave.”

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Deford became a member of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame and was voted Sportswriter of the Year six times by his peers. Deford was also twice voted the Magazine Writer of the Year by the Washington Journalism Review. In 2013, he was awarded the PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing.

R.I.P. Frank Deford. You will be dearly missed.