journalist, sports writer; "Red Smith" was born in Green Bay on September 25, 1905, attended high school there, and graduated from Notre Dame in 1927 with a degree in journalism. He worked briefly for the Milwaukee Sentinel before moving on to the St. Louis Journal where he started as a copy editor. He became a sports writer when the editor fired the entire sports staff. After a stay in Philadelphia, he moved to the New York Herald Tribune, and after that paper's demise, to the New York Times in 1971. As early as the 1950s, Red Smith wrote sympathetically about the discrimination experienced by black athletes, although he criticized Muhammad Ali for avoiding military service in Vietnam. Smith's writing was notable for its literacy, humor, iconoclastic approach, craftsmanship, and freedom from standard sports jargon. Of his writing he said, "Writing is easy. I just open a vein and bleed." He became the most widely syndicated sports writer in the country and in 1970 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He was the first Winner of the Associated Press' sports editors Red Smith Award. Since 1983, Notre Dame University has sponsored the Red Smith Lecture in Journalism. He died on January 15, 1982.

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[Source: Obituary, New York Times, January 16, 1982 ]