OUR DISTINGUISHED HEADLINER: DICK SCHAAP
At
the moment, Dick Schaap is:
- Host of ESPN's "The Sports Reporters"
- Host of "The Sporting Life" on ESPN Radio
- Host of ESPN Classics' "Schaap One on One"
- Theater critic for ABC's "World News Now"
- Sports editor for Parade Magazine
- Author of 34 books, most recently "Flashing Before My Eyes," a memoir
Dick Schaap, who in the past half-century has carved out his own legend with his
never-ending vitality, his boundless curiosity, and his irrepressible wit, has
written his autobiography "Flashing Before My Eyes." The longtime ABC
correspondent and host of ESPN's "The Sports Reporters" recounts a charmed
career in which he has met almost everyone and seen almost everything. He has
played golf with Bill Clinton, tennis with Bobby Fischer, cards with Wilt Chamberlain.
He has written books with Joe Namath and Joe Montana. He has taken Brigitte Bardot
to dinner and Lenny Bruce to a World Series. He saw the Baltimore Colts beat the
New York Giants in sudden-death overtime, and the Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas
Cowboys in the Ice Bowl. He has covered murders and riots, presidential campaigns
and Broadway openings. He introduced Muhammad Ali to Billy Crystal and Billy Crystal
to Joe DiMaggio. He walks with sluggers and senators, cops and comedians, authors
and actresses, and her shares the sights he sees and the words he hears in stories
that make you laugh and cry.
Born in Brooklyn, Schaap started working for a daily newspaper, the Nassau Daily Review-Star , when he was fifteen. He graduated from Cornell University then attended Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame, and he won one of Columbia Journalism School's 50th Anniversary Awards, plus an Alumni Award for Career Achievement. He has won six Emmy Awards. He is the only man who votes for both the Heisman Trophy and the Tony Awards. He resides in New York City.