Frank Graham

Frank Graham Sr. (November 12, 1893 – March 9, 1965) was an American sportswriter and biographer. He covered sports in New York for the New York Sun from 1915 to 1943 and for the New York Journal-American from 1945 to 1965. He was also a successful author, writing biographies of politician Al Smith and athletes Lou Gehrig and John McGraw, as well as histories of the New York Yankees, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. Graham's writing style was notable for his use of lengthy passages of "unrelieved dialogue" in developing portraits of the persons about whom he wrote. Graham was posthumously honored by the Baseball Writers' Association of America with the J. G. Taylor Spink Award in 1971, and by the Boxing Writers Association of America with the A. J. Liebling Award in 1997, the highest award bestowed by each organization. Early years Graham was born in 1893 in the East Harlem section of New York City. His mother died during child birth, and he was raised by his grandmother and sister. He contracted spinal meningitis as a boy and lost vision in one eye. He completed only one semester of high school at New York's High School of Commerce. From 1909 to 1915, he worked as an office boy for the New York Telephone Company and developed an interest in boxing. He participated in several amateur boxing matches and wrote articles on boxing for Boxing magazine and the New York World. New York Sun In 1915, Graham was hired by the New York Sun. He covered the New York Giants' spring training in 1916. While working at the Sun, he became associated with Damon Runyon and Grantland Rice. He remained with the Sun for nearly 30 years. From 1934 to 1943, he wrote a column in the Sun called "Setting the Pace." Author In 1943, Graham was hired as the sports editor at Look magazine, a position he held for one year. During the 1940s, Graham also published several books, including biographies of Lou Gehrig ("Lou Gehrig, A Quiet Hero," 1942), John McGraw ("McGraw of the Giants: An Informal Biography," 1944) and former New York Governor and U.S. Presidential candidate Al Smith ("Al Smith, American: An Informal Biography," 1945). He also wrote critically acclaimed team histories of the New York Yankees, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers that remained in print more than 50 years later.