Dick Schaap
Encyclopedia
Richard Jay Schaap was an American
sportswriter, broadcaster, and author.
, on Long Island
, Schaap began writing a sports column at age 14 for the weekly Freeport Leader, but the following year he moved to the Nassau Daily Review-Star daily under Jimmy Breslin
. He would later follow Breslin to the Long Island Press
and New York Herald Tribune
.
He attended Cornell University
and was editor-in-chief of the student paper, the Cornell Daily Sun, during which time he defended a professor before the House Un-American Activities Committee
. He lettered in varsity lacrosse
playing goaltender. During his last year at Cornell, Schaap was elected to the Sphinx Head Society. After graduating in 1955 he received a Grantland Rice
fellowship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
and authored his thesis on the recruitment of basketball
players.
. In 1964, he began a thrice-weekly column covering current events. He became editor of SPORT
magazine in 1973. It was there that he masterminded the inspiration for the eccentricities that surround Media Day at the Super Bowl
. Fed up with the grandiose and self-important nature of the National Football League
's championship match, he hired two Los Angeles Rams
players, Fred Dryer
and Lance Rentzel
, to cover Super Bowl IX
. Donning costumes inspired by The Front Page
, "Scoops Brannigan" (Dryer) and "Cubby O'Switzer" (Rentzel) peppered players and coaches from both the Pittsburgh Steelers
and Minnesota Vikings
with questions that ranged from cliché
d to downright absurd. Schaap was also a theatre
critic
, leading him to quip that he was the only person ever to vote for both the Tony Awards and the Heisman Trophy
. He interviewed non-sports figures such as Matthew Broderick
and produced cultural features for ABC's overnight news program World News Now
.
After spending the 1970s with NBC
as an NBC Nightly News
and Today Show correspondent, he moved to ABC World News Tonight and 20/20 at ABC
in the 1980s. He earned five Emmy Award
s, for profiles of Sid Caesar
and Tom Waddell
, two for reporting, and for writing. In 1988 he began hosting The Sports Reporters
on ESPN cable television
, which in later years often featured son Jeremy as a correspondent. He also hosted Schaap One on One on ESPN Classic
and a syndicated ESPN Radio show called The Sporting Life with Dick Schaap, in which he discussed the week's developments in sports with Jeremy.
He wrote the 1968 best-seller Instant Replay
, co-authored with Jerry Kramer
of the Green Bay Packers
, and I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow... 'Cause I Get Better-Looking Every Day, the 1969 autobiography
of New York Jet
Joe Namath
. These led to a stint as co-host of The Joe Namath Show, which in turn led to his hiring as sports anchor for WNBC-TV. Other books included a biography of Robert F. Kennedy
; .44 (with Jimmy Breslin
), a fictionalized account of the hunt for Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz
; Turned On, about upper middle-class drug abuse; An Illustrated History of the Olympics, a coffee-table book on the history of the modern Olympic Games
; The Perfect Jump, on the world record-breaking long jump by Bob Beamon
in the 1968 Summer Olympics
; My Aces, My Faults with Nick Bollettieri
; Steinbrenner!, a biography of mercurial New York Yankees
owner George Steinbrenner
; and Bo Knows Bo
with Bo Jackson
. His autobiography, Flashing Before My Eyes: 50 Years of Headlines, Deadlines & Punchlines, was reissued under Schaap's original title "Dick Schaap as Told to Dick Schaap: 50 years of Headlines, Deadlines and Punchlines."
on the Sunday following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. That weekend all major American college and professional sporting events had been cancelled, and Schaap and his panelists discussed the diminished role of sports in the wake of the tragedy.
In 2002, Schaap was posthumously honored by the Associated Press
Sports Editors, who awarded him the Red Smith Award
. Also in 2002, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame
, which created the Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism.
, who was at the time a twelve-year-old chess prodigy, and would later became a world chess champion. In 2005, prompted by questions posed by Schaap's son, Jeremy Schaap
, Fischer acknowledged that the relationship was significant and that the elder Schaap had been a "father figure" to him. Fischer was still pointedly resentful that Dick Schaap had later written, among many other comments, that Fischer "did not have a sane bone left in his body".
The Sports Emmy division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
renamed their writing category "The Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing Award." The 2005 Emmy in this category was won by Jeremy for a SportsCenter
piece called “Finding Bobby Fischer.”
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sportswriter, broadcaster, and author.
Early life and education
Born to a Jewish family and raised in Freeport, New YorkFreeport, New York
Freeport is a village in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, USA, on the South Shore of Long Island. The population was 42,860 at the 2010 census. A settlement since the 1640s, it was once an oystering community and later a resort popular with the New York City theater community...
, on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, Schaap began writing a sports column at age 14 for the weekly Freeport Leader, but the following year he moved to the Nassau Daily Review-Star daily under Jimmy Breslin
Jimmy Breslin
Jimmy Breslin is an American journalist and author. He currently writes a column for the New York Daily News' Sunday edition. He has written numerous novels, and columns of his have appeared regularly in various newspapers in his hometown of New York City...
. He would later follow Breslin to the Long Island Press
Long Island Press
The Long Island Press is a free newsweekly serving Long Island with extensive coverage of arts and entertainment, sports, and alternative political viewpoints. The newspaper started in 2003 after its parent company, Morey Publishing, bought The Long Island Ear, which was a free bi-monthly...
and New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
.
He attended Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and was editor-in-chief of the student paper, the Cornell Daily Sun, during which time he defended a professor before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
. He lettered in varsity lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
playing goaltender. During his last year at Cornell, Schaap was elected to the Sphinx Head Society. After graduating in 1955 he received a Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
fellowship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
and authored his thesis on the recruitment of basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
players.
Career
Schaap began work as assistant sports editor of NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
. In 1964, he began a thrice-weekly column covering current events. He became editor of SPORT
Sport magazine
SPORT magazine was an American sports magazine. Launched in September 1946 by the New York-based publisher, Macfadden Publications, SPORT pioneered the generous use of color photography – it carried eight full colour plates in its first edition – and almost immediately became half-bible, half-guru...
magazine in 1973. It was there that he masterminded the inspiration for the eccentricities that surround Media Day at the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. Fed up with the grandiose and self-important nature of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
's championship match, he hired two Los Angeles Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
players, Fred Dryer
Fred Dryer
John Frederick "Fred" Dryer is an American actor and former football defensive end in the National Football League . Dryer played 13 years in the NFL, playing 176 games, starting 166, and recording 104 career sacks with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams...
and Lance Rentzel
Lance Rentzel
Thomas Lance Rentzel is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Rams from 1965 to 1974.-Early years:...
, to cover Super Bowl IX
Super Bowl IX
Super Bowl IX was an American football game played on January 12, 1975 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1974 regular season. It would be the last pro game at legendary Tulane Stadium...
. Donning costumes inspired by The Front Page
The Front Page
The Front Page is a hit Broadway comedy about tabloid newspaper reporters on the police beat, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur which was first produced in 1928.-Synopsis:...
, "Scoops Brannigan" (Dryer) and "Cubby O'Switzer" (Rentzel) peppered players and coaches from both the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
and Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
with questions that ranged from cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
d to downright absurd. Schaap was also a theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
, leading him to quip that he was the only person ever to vote for both the Tony Awards and the Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
. He interviewed non-sports figures such as Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...
and produced cultural features for ABC's overnight news program World News Now
World News Now
World News Now is an American overnight news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company's television network. Its tone is often lighthearted, irreverent and humorous...
.
After spending the 1970s with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
as an NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
and Today Show correspondent, he moved to ABC World News Tonight and 20/20 at ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in the 1980s. He earned five Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s, for profiles of Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
and Tom Waddell
Tom Waddell
Dr. Tom Waddell was the gay American sportsman who founded the international sporting event called the Gay Games, which was named such after the United States Olympic Committee sued Dr. Waddell for using the word "Olympic" in the original name "Gay Olympics". The Gay Games are held every four...
, two for reporting, and for writing. In 1988 he began hosting The Sports Reporters
The Sports Reporters
The Sports Reporters is a sports talk show that airs on ESPN at 9:30 a.m. ET every Sunday morning . It is broadcast from Bristol, Connecticut at the main ESPN studios. However, before 1999, it was broadcast from a studio in Manhattan. and from 1999-2010 it was recorded at the ESPN Zone at Times...
on ESPN cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
, which in later years often featured son Jeremy as a correspondent. He also hosted Schaap One on One on ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...
and a syndicated ESPN Radio show called The Sporting Life with Dick Schaap, in which he discussed the week's developments in sports with Jeremy.
He wrote the 1968 best-seller Instant Replay
Instant Replay
Instant replay is the process of replaying previously occurred events through the use of video technology.Instant replay may also refer to:*Instant replay in American football*Instant Replay , 1969...
, co-authored with Jerry Kramer
Jerry Kramer
Gerald Louis "Jerry" Kramer is a former professional football player, author and sports commentator, best remembered for his 11-year NFL career with the Green Bay Packers as an offensive lineman...
of the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
, and I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow... 'Cause I Get Better-Looking Every Day, the 1969 autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
of New York Jet
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
Joe Namath
Joe Namath
Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...
. These led to a stint as co-host of The Joe Namath Show, which in turn led to his hiring as sports anchor for WNBC-TV. Other books included a biography of Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
; .44 (with Jimmy Breslin
Jimmy Breslin
Jimmy Breslin is an American journalist and author. He currently writes a column for the New York Daily News' Sunday edition. He has written numerous novels, and columns of his have appeared regularly in various newspapers in his hometown of New York City...
), a fictionalized account of the hunt for Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz
David Berkowitz
David Richard Berkowitz , also known as Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer and arsonist whose crimes terrorized New York City from July 1976 until his arrest in August 1977.Shortly after his arrest in August 1977, Berkowitz confessed to killing six people and...
; Turned On, about upper middle-class drug abuse; An Illustrated History of the Olympics, a coffee-table book on the history of the modern Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
; The Perfect Jump, on the world record-breaking long jump by Bob Beamon
Bob Beamon
Robert "Bob" Beamon is an American former track and field athlete, best known for his world record in the long jump at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, which remained the world record for almost 23 years until it was broken in 1991 by Mike Powell. This is the second longest holding of this record, as...
in the 1968 Summer Olympics
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, Mexico in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...
; My Aces, My Faults with Nick Bollettieri
Nick Bollettieri
Nicholas James Bollettieri is an American tennis coach who is credited with developing many world-class champions, including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Mary Pierce. Recently, he has worked with 2006 U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova, Jelena Janković, Nicole Vaidišová and Sabine...
; Steinbrenner!, a biography of mercurial New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
owner George Steinbrenner
George Steinbrenner
George Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series...
; and Bo Knows Bo
Bo Knows Bo
Bo Knows Bo is the autobiography of Bo Jackson, who excelled in both professional football and professional baseball, before injuries ended his careers....
with Bo Jackson
Bo Jackson
Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson is a former American baseball and football player. He was the first athlete to be named an All-Star in two major American sports, and also won the Heisman Trophy in 1985....
. His autobiography, Flashing Before My Eyes: 50 Years of Headlines, Deadlines & Punchlines, was reissued under Schaap's original title "Dick Schaap as Told to Dick Schaap: 50 years of Headlines, Deadlines and Punchlines."
Death
Schaap died on December 21, 2001 in New York City of complications following hip replacement surgery that September. Schaap's final regular TV appearance was on the September 16th, 2001 broadcast of The Sports ReportersThe Sports Reporters
The Sports Reporters is a sports talk show that airs on ESPN at 9:30 a.m. ET every Sunday morning . It is broadcast from Bristol, Connecticut at the main ESPN studios. However, before 1999, it was broadcast from a studio in Manhattan. and from 1999-2010 it was recorded at the ESPN Zone at Times...
on the Sunday following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. That weekend all major American college and professional sporting events had been cancelled, and Schaap and his panelists discussed the diminished role of sports in the wake of the tragedy.
In 2002, Schaap was posthumously honored by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
Sports Editors, who awarded him the Red Smith Award
Red Smith Award
The Red Smith Award is awarded by the Associated Press Sports Editors for outstanding contributions to sports journalism. It has been awarded annually at the APSE convention since 1981...
. Also in 2002, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame
Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame
The Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame honors elite athletes who have roots in Nassau County, New York. The Hall of Fame presentation takes places at the Nassau County Sports Commission "Salute to Champions" Awards Dinner annually every April.-Inductees:...
, which created the Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism.
Bobby Fischer
Around 1955, Schaap befriended Bobby FischerBobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, who was at the time a twelve-year-old chess prodigy, and would later became a world chess champion. In 2005, prompted by questions posed by Schaap's son, Jeremy Schaap
Jeremy Schaap
Jeremy Schaap is an American sportswriter, television reporter, and author. Schaap is a six-time Emmy Award winner for his work on ESPN's E:60, SportsCenter, and Outside the Lines.-Biography:...
, Fischer acknowledged that the relationship was significant and that the elder Schaap had been a "father figure" to him. Fischer was still pointedly resentful that Dick Schaap had later written, among many other comments, that Fischer "did not have a sane bone left in his body".
The Sports Emmy division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....
renamed their writing category "The Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing Award." The 2005 Emmy in this category was won by Jeremy for a SportsCenter
SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
piece called “Finding Bobby Fischer.”
External links
- Introduction to The Best American Sports Writing 2000, 2000
- Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
Editors: Dick Schaap awarded 2002 honor - Columbia University Graduate School of JournalismColumbia University Graduate School of JournalismThe Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
obituary: Tributes: Dick Schaap - Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
obituary: Richard J. "Dick" Schaap '55 - ESPN ClassicESPN ClassicESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...
: "Schaap was storyteller, collector of people," June 25, 2002 - USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
"Talk Today" Interview, January 10, 2001 - Dick Schaap Award Official Website