Jay Greenberg (1950 – August 12, 2021) was an American sports journalist. During his career, he has worked for ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and as ...

,'' ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Dail ...

,'' the ''

Philadelphia Bulletin The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United ...

,'' ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

,'' and ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

.'' In 2013, Greenberg was awarded the

Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award The Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award is an accolade presented annually to a print newspaper columnist or reporter in recognition of their achievements covering the game of ice hockey. The award is "to recognize distinguished members of the newspaper ...

by the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

Early life and education

Greenberg was born and raised in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropol ...

. He stated that growing up watching the

Johnstown Jets The Johnstown Jets were a professional ice hockey team from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Jets were founded in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League for the 1950–51 season, playing at the newly constructed Cambria County War Memorial Arena. The Jet ...

made him a fan of hockey. Greenberg attended

Westmont Hilltop High School Westmont Hilltop High School is a small suburban, public high school. It is the sole high school operated by the Westmont Hilltop School District. Westmont Hilltop High School is located in Upper Yoder Township, Cambria County in the western subur ...

before attending the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

. After graduating from the University of Missouri, Greenberg began working at ''

''.

Career

In his second year with the ''Star'', Greenberg was assigned as a

beat reporter Beat reporting, also known as specialized reporting, is a genre of journalism focused on a particular issue, sector, organization, or institution over time. Description Beat reporters build up a base of knowledge on and gain familiarity with th ...

on the

Kansas City Scouts The Kansas City Scouts were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, the franchise relocated to Denver, and became the Colorado Rockies. In 1982, the Rockies relocated to New Jersey where t ...

. He covered the Scouts during their inaugural season. However, his time at the ''Star'' was short-lived as in 1975 Greenberg was hired by the ''

'' as the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...

beat reporter. He stayed with the ''Bulletin'', and later the ''

'', for 14 years before joining ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' in 1989. While with the ''Philadelphia Daily News'', Greenberg covered "

The Trade Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

" which sent

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

to the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

. After being unable to ask questions during the press conference, Greenberg was offered an exclusive interview with Gretzky personally. Of the incident, Greenberg stated, "I got stuff that next day that no one else got ... Wayne was the most aware superstar. He knew how frustrating it was that no one had any time with him. I'll never forget that." After one more job at the ''

'' for two years, Greenberg wrote a general sports column for the ''

'' for the next 17 years. In 1996, Greenberg wrote a book titled "''Full Spectrum: The Complete History of the Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Club''" for the Flyers' 30th Anniversary season. He was later hired by

Mark Howe Mark Steven Howe (born 28 May 1955) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman and left winger who played sixteen seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) following six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA). He is curre ...

to write an autobiography titled "''Gordie Howe's Son''". In 2013, Greenberg was named a lifetime member of the

Professional Hockey Writers' Association The Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) is a North American professional association for ice hockey journalists writing for newspapers, magazines and websites. The PHWA was founded in 1967 and has approximately 180 voting members. The a ...

and was awarded the

by the

. Greenberg then began writing for hockeybuzz.com and princetontigersfootball.com.

Personal life

Greenberg and his wife, Mona, were married for 44 years and were the parents of two daughters, Stephanie and Elizabeth. He died at his home in Englishtown, New Jersey, on August 12, 2021, from complications of

West Nile virus West Nile virus (WNV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes West Nile fever. It is a member of the family ''Flaviviridae'', from the genus ''Flavivirus'', which also contains the Zika virus, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus. The virus ...

Publications

The following is a list of publications: *''Philadelphia Flyers at 50: the story of the iconic hockey club and its top 50 heroes, wins & events'' (2016) *''Gordie Howe's Son'' (2014) *''Full Spectrum: the Complete History of The Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Club'' (1996) *''NHL, the world of professional hockey'' (1981)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenberg, Jay 1950 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from Johnstown, Pennsylvania 20th-century American non-fiction writers Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award recipients American sports journalists Sportswriters from Pennsylvania University of Missouri alumni The Kansas City Star people Sports Illustrated Toronto Sun people