Paul Lionel Zimmerman (October 23, 1932November 1, 2018), known to readers as "Dr. Z", was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
sportswriter
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...
and former player who wrote for the weekly magazine ''
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 ...
'', as well as the magazine's website,
SI.com
''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 twice ...
. He is sometimes confused with Paul B. Zimmerman, a sportswriter who covered football for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' from 1931 to 1968.
Biography
Early life
Zimmerman was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
in 1932 to
Charles S. Zimmerman
Charles S. "Sasha" Zimmerman (1896–1983) was an American socialist activist and trade union leader, who was an associate of Jay Lovestone. Zimmerman had a career spanning five decades as an official of the International Ladies Garment Workers U ...
and Rose Zimmerman, and moved to New York in elementary school.
Playing career
Zimmerman graduated from
Horace Mann School
, motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails
, address = 231 West 246th Street
, city = The Bronx
, state = New York
, zipcode = 10471
, count ...
in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
before becoming a
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
player at
Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
and
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where he wrote for the ''
Columbia Daily Spectator
The ''Columbia Daily Spectator'' (known colloquially as the ''Spec'') is the student newspaper of Columbia University. Founded in 1877, it is the oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after ''The Harvard Crimson'', and has ...
''.
An offensive lineman, he was a member of a
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
football team while stationed in Germany, and later played minor-league football in 1963 for the Westchester Crusaders of the
Atlantic Coast Football League
The Atlantic Coast Football League (ACFL) was a professional american football minor league that operated from 1962 to 1973. Until 1969, many of its franchises had working agreements with NFL and AFL teams to serve as farm clubs. The league pai ...
.
Zimmerman was a founder member and player for the rugby union Columbia Old Blues in the 1960s.
Early journalism career
Zimmerman began his formal journalism career at the ''
New York Journal-American
:''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal''
The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...
'' and the ''
New York World-Telegram and Sun
The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.
History
Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...
'' before moving on to become a regular at the ''
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 1966.
In addition to football, Zimmerman covered three
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
for the ''Post'', including the hostage crisis at the
1972 Summer Games in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Zimmerman also wrote a regular wine column for the ''Post'', and his wine opinions are often referenced in his weekly mailbag, with football fans adding wine queries to their football questions or comments.
''Sports Illustrated''
In 1979, Zimmerman moved to ''Sports Illustrated'', where he wrote a weekly column and game predictions, and awarded the magazine's yearly
All-Pro
All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...
s until his stroke. Zimmerman was best known for NFL picks published every week during the NFL season. He was notorious for hedging his bets. For instance, he would 'pick the Cowboys—as long as they can stop the run.'
Since the mid-1990s, Zimmerman was a frequent contributor to the ''Sports Illustrated'' website. Zimmerman provided the site with a weekly column - "Power Rankings" - of his estimations of the relative strengths of each NFL team, as well as a reader mailbag feature, in addition to his other contributions to the magazine.
Zimmerman's method of football analysis was a comprehensive one. His charts included both subjective opinions on the players and gameplay, as well as objective statistical information. At any point afterward, he could then give detailed analysis of the players, teams, and games that he charted, tracking who plays well against whom, which players are improving or declining, which superstars are over
hyped, and which underrated players to "plug" in his writings.
Zimmerman also answered a weekly on-line mailbag. He wrote in a
stream of consciousness
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver (physician), Daniel Ol ...
style rather than a simple question-and-answer, liberally sprinkling in tidbits of football history, pieces of popular culture, quotations, admittedly bad jokes and
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
s, rants, and wine advice. He also frequently attributed a running commentary to his wife Linda, "the Flaming Redhead".
Annually, Zimmerman rated the performance of television NFL
sportscasters, criticizing those announcers who did little more than hype the stars while making inane comments on the game, ignoring the strategy or play of the game, or generally making mistakes in their commentaries. Zimmerman also praised the sportscasters who provided meaningful, intelligent commentary for football fans. Zimmerman himself briefly worked as an analyst for
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's NFL coverage in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
.
While covering the
NFL draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
for
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
in the 1980s, Zimmerman was asked what the NFL player of the 1990s would be like. Zimmerman responded, controversially, "The player of the '90s will be so sophisticated that he'll be able to pass any
steroid
A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...
test they come up with," ending his television career.
Zimmerman had a remarkable year of NFL predictions in 1986. Before the season, he accurately predicted all six division winners and all four wild-card teams, and he also nailed the Super Bowl result, the Giants over the Broncos.
In January 2008, Zimmerman correctly predicted that the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
(an overwhelming underdog) would win
Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
over the previously undefeated
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
.
Zimmerman served on the 44-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 ...
selection committee. He used to be a member of the Hall's smaller Senior Committee, a position that Zimmerman resigned in protest over the committee's repeated rejection of players he deemed worthy candidates.
Influences
Zimmerman's style showed similarities to
New Journalism
New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non ...
, and this influence was especially evident in his web entries. Zimmerman named
Jimmy Cannon
Jimmy Cannon (April 10, 1909 – December 5, 1973) was a sports journalist inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his coverage of the sport.
Early career
Born in New York City, Cannon started at the New York Daily News when he ...
as one of the sports writers he most admired. Zimmerman described
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
as his "literary idol," and his writing shows some thematic similarities with that of the late novelist.
In the 1980s, Zimmerman, a self-described "round-head", was the last writer at ''Sports Illustrated'' allowed to continue using a typewriter and fax to file his stories when the rest of the writers had started using computers.
Books
Zimmerman wrote the football tome ''The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football'' (Dutton; revised edition, 1970) and his 1984 update of that book, ''The New Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football'' (
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
). His other books include ''Football Lingo'' (
WW Norton 1967, with
Zander Hollander
Zander Hollander (March 24, 1923 – April 11, 2014) was an American sportswriter, journalist, editor and archivist.
Many years before the internet and unfinished cable television system emerged, Hollander served as a prolific supplier of encycl ...
); ''The Linebackers'' (a 1972 short text for
Scholastic Press
Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...
); ''The Last Season of Weeb Ewbank'' (
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
1974); and ''Duane Thomas and the Fall of America's Team'' (Warner Books 1988; credited to Thomas and Zimmerman, it contains diary entries by Thomas but otherwise the text is that of Zimmerman). Zimmerman's memoir "Dr. Z: The Lost Memoirs of an Irreverent Football Writer" (Triumph Books) was released in September 2017, with stories compiled and edited by Peter King of Sports Illustrated's MMQB site.
Personal life and death
He was married to Dr. Kate Hart for 20 years. They had two children, Sarah and Michael. Zimmerman married Linda Bailey in 1997.
Zimmerman suffered a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
on November 22, 2008, which, combined with two later strokes, left him unable to walk or write and only able to speak a few words (yes, no and when); after the stroke, his ability to communicate was extremely limited, only able to make rough gestures. He was still believed to be of sound mind through what he could communicate as of 2013. He died November 1, 2018, from complications of the strokes.
Legacy
In 2018, ''Sport Illustrated'' published "Dr. Z’s Ultimate Legacy," which called Dr. Z "master of analysis."
[
]
References
External links
Sports Illustrated's Dr. Z Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Paul
1932 births
2018 deaths
Writers from Philadelphia
Writers from the Bronx
Military personnel from Philadelphia
Horace Mann School alumni
Sportswriters from Pennsylvania
Columbia Lions football players
Dick McCann Memorial Award recipients
National Football League announcers
Stanford Cardinal football players
Deaths from cerebrovascular disease
United States Army soldiers
American male non-fiction writers
Jewish American writers
Sportswriters from New York (state)
Columbia University alumni
21st-century American Jews