Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (final chapter)

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour

Just click on the link in the first post and it takes you to a page with links to all the installments.

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour


Reading this reminded me why I always liked Jerry Izenberg. He told great stories in his column - sometimes about famous athletes and sometimes about people you never heard of.

One of the stories was about a boxer named Greatest Crawford. I know I won't tell it as well as Izenberg does, but I'll give it my best shot. Greatest Crawford was on the undercard of big boxing card at Shea Stadium, and was scheduled to fight a six-round fight. Well, things were running late, and the promoters told Greatest Crawford that the fight was being shortened to four rounds. Greatest Crawford walked out, saying "Greatest Crawford ain't no four-round fighter." I loved that story.

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour

I was lucky enough to meet this legend when I was just starting out. He could not have been more gracious or more encouraging. You could tell then (almost 20 years ago now) by the twinkle in his eye that he loved what he was doing. I can't say I've seen that spark too often in the eyes of many veterans in this business. God bless Jerry.

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/15 update)

Jerry and Ali:

Wow!

http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/sports/ledger/izenberg/content/jerry_five.html

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/15 update)

wow!, indeed.

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/15 update)

Can't add any more than that.

I've been a boxing fan since the early-70s and I've read loads and loads on Ali (probably the most written-about athlete of our time) but that is superb stuff. Back in the day when the Ali was THE MAN and fought for and defended the heavyweight title around the world.

Wow.....

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/22 update)

Part Six...enjoy


http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/sports/ledger/izenberg/content/jerry_six.html

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/22 update)

Just like with parts 3-5 -- Wow.

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/29 update)

Part 7 ... the finale is next week and it should be something special
Enjoy

http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/sports/ledger/izenberg/content/jerry_seven.html

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/29 update)

In 25 years, my department has, at one time or another, run three wire columnists on a regular basis.

One was Downey in his early days.

One was Leigh Montville in his Boston Globe days.

One was Izenberg.

All three, at the top of their game, were, are and always will be tough to match.

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/29 update)

I was on the Star-Ledger site earlier today and he had a fantastic column on a Rutgers football player that got in some horrific car accident a couple of years ago.

 

Re: Jerry Izenberg's farewell tour (10/29 update)

The few times I've been around Izenberg, I've been amazed at how thorough he is in his work.

One instance that sticks out is after Game 2 of the 2001 NLCS, the only game the Braves took from the D-Backs, and Julio Franco had a big day. Franco had come back to the majors from Mexican ball that season, and Jerry was among the pack interviewing him.

Long after most of the other scribes had left, Jerry was still inquiring: "What are the parks like in Mexico? The pitchers?" Franco started to get this look on his face, like, "Jesus, are we going to go all the way back to my childhood?" But that's how Jerry got stuff nobody else got.

I didn't enjoy this installment of the series -- although I would have loved to have read that Ray Mercer column -- as much as the others, but I agree that next week's finale should be a must-read.