Bill Bryson Sr.

William Eugene Bryson Sr. (March 3, 1915 – January 31, 1986) was an American sportswriter who wrote for The Des Moines Register from 1937 until his retirement in 1978. He covered 32 consecutive World Series.

Early life

Bryson was born and raised in Winfield, Iowa.

Career

Bryson began his career as a reporter for the Winfield Beacon, his hometown newspaper.

Bryson Sr. has been called "one of the finest sportswriters in the country and widely recognized as such."[1][2] As his son Bill describes in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, due to the quality of Bryson Sr.'s work, one prominent television sports journalist thought of him as being "possibly the greatest baseball writer there ever was."[3] He contributed to Baseball Digest and many other publications.

The Babe Didn't Point: And Other Stories About Iowans and Sports, a book of some of his best sports stories, was published by his son Michael.

Personal life and death

Bryson married Mary Agnes McGuire (1913-2015), an editor for The Des Moines Register.[1]: 6  They had three children: Michael (who also became a sports journalist), Bill Jr. (who also became a journalist and a writer), and Mary Elizabeth.[4] Bryson died of an apparent heart attack, on January 31, 1986, at his home in Des Moines, Iowa.[5]

Bryson's son, Bill Jr., the renowned writer, published a loving tribute to his father in 2001 which described how Bryson had conducted what was probably the very last interview with Babe Ruth, just a month before the legendary New York Yankee died in August 1948. The profile also includes the praise of Bryson noted above by a former NBC News president, who had said he "may have been the best baseball writer ever, anywhere."[6]

References
  1. Richert, Scott P. (2011). Bill Bryson. Marshall Cavendish.
  2. Heath, Harry E. (1969). Modern Sportswriting. Iowa State University Press. pp. 135–36.
  3. Bryson, Bill (2006). The life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid : a memoir (1st ed.). New York: Broadway Books. ISBN 0-7679-1936-X.
  4. Kilen, Mike (December 4, 2015). "Mary Bryson, Register writer and author's mother, dies". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  5. "Des Moines Reporter Dies". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. Associated Press. February 2, 1986. p. 6B. Retrieved July 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  6. Bryson, Bill (2 April 2001). "The Baseball Writer". The New Yorker. Conde Nast. Retrieved 30 March 2023.


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