Frank Deford
Frank Deford
Frank Defordis an American sportswriter and novelist...
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth16 December 1938
school thinking white
I think there are white alumni out there who wouldn't mind having an African American president of their school, but would be reluctant to have an African American coach, because he represents the school so. I think it's just sheer backward racism.
writing giving people
I don't understand blogs. People used to write to make money, no? You didn't give it away. I have nothing against blogs. I don't have a problem with them. But it's like, 'What are you doing? Why aren't you working?
firsts hollywood humans
In Hollywood, writers are considered only the first draft of human beings.
sports football league
the National Football League needs "a guardian, not a CEO" to deal with the fact that "the sport is simply more and more identified with violence, both in its inherent nature and in its savage personnel.
athlete kids thinking
I don't think there are many kids who sit around and want to be actors. I don't think there are many kids who want to sit around and want to be senators. But so many of us want to be athletes, so we're envious of them and we put them up on that pedestal.
basketball sports football
I don't think you can explain why all these other sports and college basketball have a fair representation of African American coaches, but college football doesn't. You can dig and scramble and scratch, but at the end of the day I think it's just pure, old-fashioned racism.
basketball football school
I criticize the NFL in many ways, but I think it's made great strides. I think college basketball, great strides. College football means so much to alumni, doesn't it? It sort of represents the school. It's when you go back; it's at the beginning of the school year.
growing-up mean kids
If you're a white kid growing up and you see a Black player and he's got the name of your college or your town across his chest, that means something.
writing editors differences
I never wanted to be an editor. I never wanted to be a boss. I just wanted to write, and it didn't make any difference whether it was fiction or nonfiction or short stories or whatever. I just - that's what I was destined to do.
basketball athlete writing
I was a much better writer than I was an athlete. My college coach told me flat out, he said, "Deford, you write basketball better than you play it."
simple joy sometimes
The joy sometimes is in the simple beauty.
sports kids player
If the players aren't getting paid, there's something terribly, terribly wrong, and that's true only in the United States. Everywhere else, where money is involved with sport, the players get paid. But these poor kids in college, they're doing it for free, and that's just disgraceful.
basketball football player
I think one of the most immoral things is college football and basketball, where everybody is making money except the players.
sports thinking together
I think at its best, sport does bring us together.