William Eugene Bryson Sr. (March 3, 1915 – January 31, 1986) was an American sportswriter who wrote for ''

The Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction ...

'' from 1937 until his retirement in 1978. He covered 32 consecutive

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 ...

Early life

Bryson was born and raised in

Winfield, Iowa Winfield is a city in Henry County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,033 at the time of the 2020 census. History Winfield was laid out in 1852. It experienced a growth with the arrival of the Burlington and Northwestern Railway in late ...

Career

Bryson began his career as a reporter for the '' Winfield Beacon'', his hometown newspaper. Bryson Sr. has been called "one of the finest sportswriters in the country and widely recognized as such." As his son Bill describes in '' The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid'', due to the quality of Bryson Sr.'s work, one prominent television sports journalist thought of him as being "possibly the greatest baseball writer there ever was." He contributed to ''

Baseball Digest ''Baseball Digest'' is a baseball magazine resource, published in Orlando, Florida by Grandstand Publishing, LLC. It is the longest-running baseball magazine in the United States. History and profile It was created by Herbert F. Simons, a spor ...

'' and many other publications. '' The Babe Didn't Point: And Other Stories About Iowans and Sports'', a book of some of his best sports stories, was published by his son Michael.

Personal life and death

Bryson married Mary Agnes McGuire (1913-2015), an editor for ''

''. They had three children: Michael (who also became a sports journalist), Bill Jr. (who also became a journalist and a writer), and Mary Elizabeth. Bryson died of an apparent heart attack, on January 31, 1986, at his home in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

References

External links

* 1915 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers American sportswriters Baseball writers People from Henry County, Iowa Writers from Des Moines, Iowa {{US-journalist-1910s-stub