Steve Rushin is an American journalist, sportswriter and novelist. He was named the 2005 National Sportswriter of the Year by the
National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports Pr ...
, and is a four-time finalist for the National Magazine Award.
Early life
Rushin grew up in
Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...
, the third in a family of five kids.
In 1954 Steve's father, Don, was a blocking back for
Johnny Majors
John Terrill Majors (May 21, 1935June 3, 2020) was an American professional football player and college coach. A standout halfback at the University of Tennessee, he was an All-American in 1956 and a two-time winner of the Southeastern Confe ...
at the
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
. Steve's older brother, Jim, was a forward on the
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
hockey team that reached the
Frozen Four
The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's
team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...
in 1983.
In Bloomington, Rushin watched baseball and football games at
Metropolitan Stadium
Metropolitan Stadium (often referred to as "the Met", "Met Stadium", or now "the Old Met" to distinguish from the Metrodome) was an outdoor sports stadium in the north central United States, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneap ...
, where he sold hot dogs and soda to Twins and Vikings fans.
He is a graduate of
John F. Kennedy Senior High School in Bloomington, and
Marquette University
Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...
in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
.
Career
After reading a story by ''Sports Illustrated'' writer
Alexander Wolff
Alexander Wolff is a writer for ''Sports Illustrated'' and former owner of the Vermont Frost Heaves of the Premier Basketball League (PBL).
He has written several books about basketball, among them ''Big Game, Small World'' (), a look at basketb ...
on the annual
Gus Macker
Gus is a masculine name, often a diminutive for Angus, August, Augustine, or Augustus, and other names (e.g. Aengus, Argus, Fergus, Ghassan
The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as ...
three-on-three tournament in Michigan, Rushin struck up a correspondence with Wolff. He ended up writing an anthology of sports nicknames. ''From A-Train to Yogi'', with Wolff and Chuck Wielgus.
He joined the staff of ''S.I.'' in 1988, two weeks after graduating from Marquette. Within three years, at age 25, he became the youngest Senior Writer on the ''SI'' staff. In 1991, he was shuffled back to the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
to cover hometown reaction to the North Stars' first appearance in a
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
final in 10 years.
Three years later Rushin spent four months writing an epic feature for ''S.I.s 40th Anniversary issue. The story of his journey was divided into five parts, each exploring an essential aspect of sports in America. One section was a lament for recently razed Metropolitan Stadium, whose site became the
Mall of America
Mall of America (MOA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway ...
and housed more than 800 stores, making it the largest shopping center in the United States.
Rushin's essay – ''How We Got Here'' – spanned 24 pages and remains the longest-ever article published in a single issue of ''S.I.'' At the magazine, he filed stories from
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
,
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
, the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
-
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
border and other far- and near-flung locales. Rushin covered events like the World Series, the World Cup and Wimbledon. He ate his way around America's ballparks and once rode a dozen rollercoasters in a day. His weekly column, ''Air & Space'', ran from 1998 to 2007, and was often about sports.
[ He left ''S.I.'' in February, 2007, returning in a contributing role in July 2010. He resumed his column - renamed "Rushin Lit" - on an occasional basis in October 2011.
During his time away from ''S.I.'', Rushin became a contributor to ]Golf Digest
''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...
and Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
magazine, for which he wrote back-page essays.
Rushin is the author of the billiards guide ''Pool Cool'' (1990), the travelogue ''Road Swing: One Fan's Journey Into the Soul of America's Sports'' (1998), the collection ''The Caddie Was a Reindeer'' (2004), the novel ''The Pint Man'' (2010). and the baseball historical '' The 34-Ton Bat: The Story of Baseball as Told Through Bobbleheads, Cracker Jacks, Jockstraps, Eye Black, and 375 Other Strange and Unforgettable Objects (2013)''.
Rushin has written numerous essays for 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 ...
with memoirist and former 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 ...
colleague Franz Lidz
Franz Lidz (born September 24, 1951) is an American writer, journalist and pro basketball executive.
A ''New York Times'' archaeology, science and film essayist, he's a former ''Sports Illustrated'' senior writer, . Three of them appear under the title ''Piscopo Agonistes'' in the 2000 collection ''Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humor''.
Personal
Rushin is married to college basketball analyst and former basketball player Rebecca Lobo
Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin (born October 6, 1973) is an American television basketball analyst and former women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6'4", played the center position f ...
. Rushin and Lobo live with their four children in Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
.
In May, 2007, Rushin was the Commencement Day speaker at Marquette, where he was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters for "his unique gift of documenting the human condition through his writing."
His grandfather was baseball player Jimmy Boyle.
Ball & Chain Podcast
Rushin and Lobo host a weekly podcast called the ''Ball & Chain Podcast''. They discuss current events, sports, and family life. They published the first episode on October 23, 2017.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rushin, Steve
1966 births
Living people
People from Elmhurst, Illinois
People from Bloomington, Minnesota
Marquette University alumni
21st-century American novelists
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American male novelists
Journalists from Illinois
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
Novelists from Illinois
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
Sportswriters from Illinois