under-appreciated wayne coffey

i'm not him but am proud to call him a friend. lovely story today:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2008/03/23/2008-03-23_remembering_life_of_santy_gallone_son_ba-2.html

 

agreed. great job, Wayne.

 

I've always liked Wayne' stuff. We had some mutual friends in Connecticut back in the '80s and socialized a little. Good guy, good writer.

 

I don't know that I'd call him underappreciated. Just searched the APSE site -- he's in there in six of the past 10 years, a couple years with multiples. Excellent writer who knows how to get out of the way of a good story.

 

my apologies, frank. but i dont use the word "underappreciated" based upon damn apse awards. we discuss writing and writers here and it occurred to me as i was reading this piece that i hadn't seen wayne's fine work talked about much -- if at all -- by us.

sorry if this doesn't fit your definition of "underappreciated."

 

He is the most understated person. Not a horn-tooter. He's also got one of the best gigs in newspapers right now, a long leash and lots of time to turn out the quality pieces he's known for. Couldn't happen to a better guy.

 

As a New Yorker, I’ve had the pleasure of reading Wayne Coffey for many years. As an SI staffer, I’ve been an afforded an even greater pleasure: I’ve gotten to see the man work in person. This comes mainly at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, and while I can’t say I know Wayne Coffey well, I do know his work habits. One of the best parts of covering the Open, especially when Scott Price and Jon Wertheim are doing the power lifting for the magazine, is observing those doing the covering. It’s given me a small window into how writers such as Mark Berman, Flip Bondy, Chris Clarey, Johnette Howard, John Jeansonne, Lisa Olson, Liz Robbins, Selena Roberts (and a dozen others who cover the tournament) approach their craft. Here’s the thing about Wayne Coffey that always struck me: He went the extra mile for the reader. I’d see him outside the locker room just to watch how someone came off the court, or patrolling the players’ lounge (imagine the worst episode of The Hills for 14 straight days) for an extra quote or a bit of color. Often, it would be end up as just a single sentence in his story. But that made Coffey’s piece a little different than the others. Under-appreciated? Not by me. I think he’s one of the better sports writers in the country. Alas, I’ve never seen him on a show that scores points for sports arguments. He’s old school in that way, I guess. The piece below is one of my favorites.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/jul/14/tracking_down_brien_taylor/