Last Century, With Shirley Povich: The Sportswriter As Chronicler, Critic, And Historian‪.‬

President Richard Nixon once quipped, "Shirley Povich is the only reason I read the Washington Post." (1) Considering Nixon's personality and politics, it is surprising that he admitted to reading the Post at all. But Nixon was an enthusiastic sports fan, and Povich was one of the most respected sports columnists in the country. Starting as a copy boy in 1922, Povich wrote for the Washington Post for the next seventy-five years. His first byline appeared in 1924; his final column ran on June 5, 1998, the day after he died; he was ninety-two. For many years, "Shirley Povich was why people bought the paper," said Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of the Post from 1968 to 1991, including when Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were investigating Watergate. "You got The Post [sic] for Shirley and the sports section. He was the sports section. For a lot of years, he carried the paper, and that's no exaggeration." (2) That Nixon and Bradleewere like-minded when it came to Povich suggests that there was something noteworthy about the man and his writing. To get at that quality, this essay reconstructs and reflects on Povich's life and career, and argues that, though often under-appreciated by those outside of Washington, he was among the most remarkable American sportswriters of the twentieth century, someone whose life and work merit consideration. To begin with, Povich left an unrivaled chronicle of American sport, one of our most popular and revealing social institutions. Additionally, he could be a perceptive, articulate cultural critic, especially with regard to race relations and racial injustice. And finally, he was something akin to a public sports historian, someone who frequently re-told stories about the past in an accessible medium and style.