John Edwin Pope (April 11, 1928 – January 19, 2017) was an American journalist known for his sportswriting at the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'', where his work appeared from 1956 until his death in 2017. He covered

Super Bowl I The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game (known retroactively as Super BowlI and referred to in contemporaneous reports, including the game's radio broadcast, as the Super Bowl) was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at the ...

through

Super Bowl XLVII Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

. Some referred to him as "the best writer of sports in America."

Early career

Pope's journalistic career began at the early age of eleven, when he began covering small events for his hometown ''

Athens Banner-Herald The ''Athens Banner-Herald'' is a daily newspaper with less than 20,000 circulation located in Athens, Georgia, USA, and owned by Gannett. The paper has a Sunday special and publishes online under the name ''Online Athens''. It has been through ...

''. By the time he was fifteen he had been promoted to the sports editor of the paper, thus making him the youngest person in the country to hold that position. His college years were spent at the University of Georgia, and after graduating he worked briefly with the

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

, ''

Atlanta Journal ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' and ''Atlanta Constitution''.

''Miami Herald''

Pope's success with his 1954 book ''Football's Greatest Coaches'' allowed him to leave the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

area and move down to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, where he accepted a lucrative position at the ''Miami Herald'' in 1956. Brought on as a columnist and assistant editor, he was made Sports Editor within the year when the previous Editor chose to retire. In his 50-plus years he covered the growth of Miami as a sports city, from a tourist destination with no professional teams, to a World City with franchises in all four major sports, and major events in

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, and

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. While he retired as the ''Herald'' sports editor in 2003, he contributed columns to the newspaper until 2016, when he wrote his last piece eulogizing boxer and former Miami resident

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

. From 2012 Pope lived in

Okeechobee, Florida Okeechobee ( ) is a city in south-central Florida and is the county seat of Okeechobee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 5,254. It is the county seat of Okeechobee County. The Lake Okee ...

Awards

Red Smith Award The Red Smith Award is awarded by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) organization for outstanding contributions to sports journalism Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and com ...

(1989) * Bert McGrane Award (2000) *Member National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame *Member Florida Sports Hall of Fame *Member

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

*Member

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

*Four National Headliners Club awards as the nation's best columnist *Three Eclipse Awards for thoroughbred racing columns

Books

*''Football's Greatest Coaches (1955)'' *''The Edwin Pope Collection (Contemporary American Sportswriters) (1988)'' *''Baseball’s Greatest Managers (1960)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Edwin 1928 births 2017 deaths Writers from Athens, Georgia Journalists from Florida Journalists from Georgia (U.S. state) University of Georgia alumni American sportswriters Dick McCann Memorial Award recipients Red Smith Award recipients People from Okeechobee, Florida