Bill Becker (November 10, 1916 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

– January 27, 2010 in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

noted for his coverage of

nuclear weapons tests Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected b ...

, political campaigns, scientific advances, and major sporting events. He covered over 25

Rose Bowls The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

and five

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

Education

Becker attended the College of the Pacific, now the University of the Pacific (UOP) in Stockton, California. While there he played football under the legendary coach,

Amos Alonzo Stagg Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965) was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfie ...

Career

Following his graduation, Becker started his journalism career at the ''

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

''. In 1944, he joined the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and covered numerous atomic tests. In 1956, he began a long career at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' which resulted in over 600 articles. In 1957, he spent five months in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

as a ''Times'' reporter during the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific ...

. From 1964 to 1966, he worked as writer for Universal Studios, returning to journalism in 1966 as a science writer for

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, while continuing to cover major sporting events for ''The New York Times''.

Awards

Becker was awarded the University of the Pacific's Amos Alonzo Stagg Award of Merit in 2008.

Selected articles

*Becker, Bill, "Fiery Cloud Dims the Sun as ‘Medium” Rips Desert", ''The Washington Post'', October 29, 1951, p. 12 *Becker, Bill, "The Man Who Sets Off Atomic Bombs", ''Saturday Evening Post'', April 19, 1952, p. 32–33, 185–188. *Becker, Bill, "100 U.S. Scientists Briefed on International Geophysical Year", ''The New York Times'', September 17, 1957. p. 18 *Becker, Bill, Delays are Seen on Man in Space,; Von Braun and Others Cite Hazards—Hit on Moon by Rocket Is Doubted", ''The New York Times'', November 24, 1958. p. 15 *Becker, Bill, "X-15 Flies 2,650 M.P.H., Cracking Record; 9-Minute Desert Test Utilizes New Engine With Giant Thrust", ''The New York Times'', March 8, 1961. p. 1 *Becker, Bill, "Angels Doing Well... Except at Gate; Coast Club Drawing Poorly but Autry Is Optimistic", ''The New York Times'', May 14, 1961. p. S2 *Becker, Bill, "U.S. A-bomb Test for Peaceful Use Frees Radiation; Vapor Cloud Escapes Cave in New Mexico Blast—A.E.C. Doubts Danger", ''The New York Times'', December 11, 1961. p. 1 *Becker, Bill, "Stagg Gets a Nationwide Salute; President Is Among Well-Wishers for a Happy Birthday Grand Old Man of Football, Now 100, Still Speaks Out", ''The New York Times'','', August 17, 1962. p. 15 *Becker, Bill, "Cuba Quarantine Is Urged By Nixon; He Proposes Kennedy Take 'Stronger Action' at Once", ''The New York Times'', September 19, 1962. p. 1 *Becker, Bill, "Hoffa Testifies in Los Angeles; Barely Misses Robert Kennedy", ''The New York Times'', February 14, 1963. p. 4 *Becker, Bill, "Negroes on Coast March at Project; Say Developer Refuses to Sell Homes to Nonwhites", ''The New York Times'', June 30, 1963. p. 46 *Becker, Bill, "O. J. Simpson Goes From Goat to Hero With 9-Yard Run", ''The New York Times'', October 20, 1968. p. S4

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Bill The New York Times writers 1916 births 2010 deaths University of the Pacific (United States) alumni