Ralph Wiley
Ralph Wiley | |
---|---|
Born | Ralph Heygood Wiley Jr. (1952-04-12)April 12, 1952 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
Died | June 13, 2004(2004-06-13) (aged 52) Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
Occupation | Journalist, writer |
Education | Knoxville College |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Ralph Heygood Wiley Jr. (April 12, 1952 – June 13, 2004)[1] was an American sports journalist who wrote for Sports Illustrated and ESPN's Page 2. He was well known for his distinctive literary tone and his writings on race in America.[2]
Early life
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Wiley attended Knoxville College from 1972 to 1975, where he played college football.[3] After suffering an injury, he landed his first professional journalism job at the Knoxville Spectrum. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Career
Upon graduation, Wiley earned a position at the Oakland Tribune, where he quickly climbed up the ranks from copy boy to beat writer and eventually became a regular columnist. In 1980, he coined the famous phrase "Billy Ball" to describe the managerial style of Billy Martin.[3] In 1982, he was hired by Sports Illustrated, where he wrote 28 cover stories over a nine-year period,[3] mainly about boxing, football, and baseball.
Wiley published several books during the course of his career, including Serenity, A Boxing Memoir; Why Black People Tend To Shout; and By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of Making Malcolm X, with Spike Lee.
Additionally, Wiley wrote articles for GQ, Premiere, and National Geographic. He was a weekly contributor to ESPN's Page 2, where he wrote more than 240 columns. His presence on TV included ESPN's The Sports Reporters and regular guest appearances on SportsCenter.
Style
Wiley was famous for his well-regarded essays on race in America.[2] He was known for his ability to mix street vernacular with literary references, and for his witty, erudite, and sometimes forceful writing style.[3] When writing for ESPN's Page 2, in skirting the line between sports journalism and literary fiction, Wiley wrote many articles in the third person, featuring discursive, jazz-inflected prose and dialogue conducted between himself and a fictionalized character whose identity the writer left deliberately obscure.[citation needed]
Death
Wiley died of a heart attack at the age of 52 on June 13, 2004, while watching Game 4 of the 2004 NBA Finals. Survivors included his companion, Susan Peacock of Orlando; his mother, Dorothy Brown of Washington, D.C.; a son from his marriage to Holly Cypress, Colen C. "Cole" Wiley; a daughter from his marriage to Monica Valdiviez-Wiley, Magdalena Elizabeth “Maggie” Valdiviez-Wiley; and a half brother, Samuel Graham of Memphis.
References
- ^ "Ralph Wiley (1952-2004)". Find A Grave Memorial.
- ^ a b Thurber, John (June 16, 2004). "Ralph Wiley, 52; Sportswriter and Author of Books on Race". LA Times. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Schudel, Matt (June 16, 2004). "Sportswriter Ralph Wiley Dies; Essays Probed Black Life". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
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- By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of 'Malcolm X – Spike Lee and Ralph Wiley (1993)
- No Award (1994)
- When We Were Colored – Clifton Taulbert (1995)
- No Award (1996)
- No Award (1997)
- With Ossie & Ruby: In This Life Together – Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (1998)
- No Award (1999)
- No Award (2000)
- Sally Hemmings, An American Scandal – Tina Andrews (2001)
- Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope from Black America – Tavis Smiley (2002)
- Why I Love Black Women – Michael Eric Dyson (2003)
- Hallelujah! The Welcome Table – Maya Angelou (2004)
- Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? – Michael Eric Dyson (2005)
- The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream – Barack Obama (2006)
- Not on Our Watch – Don Cheadle and John Prendergast (2007)
- Letter to My Daughter – Maya Angelou (2008)
- In Search of Our Roots – Henry Louis Gates Jr. (2009)
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander (2010)
- The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place – Hill Harper (2011)
- The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court – Jeffrey Toobin (2012)
- Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery – Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer (2013)
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – Bryan Stevenson (2014)
- Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga – Pamela Newkirk (2015)
- Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly (2016)
- Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies – Dick Gregory (2017)
- For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics – Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah D. Daughtry, Minyon Moore, and Veronica Chambers (2018)
- The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations – Toni Morrison (2019)
- A Promised Land – Barack Obama (2020)
- The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story – Nikole Hannah-Jones (2021)
- Finding Me – Viola Davis (2022)
- The New Brownies’ Book: A Love Letter to Black Families – Karida L. Brown and Charly Palmer (2023)