Woodrow Wilson Paige, Jr. (born June 27, 1946) is a sports

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

for ''

The Gazette The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...

'', author, and a regular panelist on the

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 ...

sports-

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

program '' Around the Horn''. He was a columnist for the ''

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'' for 35 years, and co-host of '' Cold Pizza'' and its

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

show '' 1st and 10'' until November 4, 2006, when it was announced that Paige would return to the ''Post''. Paige is a member of the

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 and is a

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

voter.

Early life and education

Paige wrote for the ''Whitehaven Press'' in 1963 while still in high school. He later attended 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, ...

and joined

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

fraternity in 1964.

Career

After graduating from UT he went on to write for the ''Knoxville Journal'', ''

The Commercial Appeal ''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, also ...

'' of Memphis, and the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

'' of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Paige was honored with an Accomplished Alumni award by University of Tennessee in 2012.

''Denver Post''

Paige joined the ''Denver Post'' in 1981. In 2001, there was a controversy over one of Paige's articles. He reported that an employee at

Invesco Invesco Ltd. is an American independent investment management company that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional branch offices in 20 countries. Its common stock is a constituent of the S&P 500 and trades on the New York stock exc ...

, which had the naming rights to the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

stadium,

Invesco Field at Mile High Empower Field at Mile High (previously known as Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Invesco Field at Mile High and Sports Authority Field at Mile High, and commonly known as Mile High, New Mile High or Mile High Stadium) is an American football stadium ...

, claimed that the nickname for the stadium inside the company was "The Diaphragm", after its shape (which slightly resembles a contraceptive device with the same name). The CEO of the company threatened Paige and the ''Post'' with legal action over the allegations, but had to retract the lawsuit when it was discovered that the story was true.

''Around The Horn''

Paige is a panelist on '' Around The Horn'', an ESPN talk show. He is both the winningest and losingest panelist on the show. Each segment, he displays a chalkboard with a humorous quote such as "I'm chalk-bored". He had a friendly rivalry with fellow panelist

Jay Mariotti Jay Mariotti (; born June 22, 1959) is an American sports journalist and commentator who currently hosts the sports-related podcast ''Unmuted''. He previously spent 17 years as a ''Chicago Sun-Times'' columnist and eight years as a regular pan ...

prior to the latter's dismissal from the show; the two currently host a sports podcast titled "Unmuted", which references the mute button employed on ''ATH''.

''Cold Pizza''

In July 2004, Paige announced that he was taking a one-year leave from the ''Post'' to join

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

's then-debuting '' Cold Pizza'' (a daytime-TV "morning show"-style program that was only loosely grounded in sports, aimed also at female viewers). On the show, he was featured in a segment where he bantered with sports writer

Skip Bayless Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II) is an American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality. He is well-known for his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show '' First Take'' with Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left ...

. Paige continued to contribute to ''Around the Horn'' during this time. His last appearance on ''Cold Pizza'' was November 28, 2006.Paige returned to First Take On May 13, 200
Video of Paige's Cold Pizza farewell
Accessed December 5, 2006.

''The Gazette''

Paige left the Denver Post in 2016. He began writing a sports column for ''

'' the same year.

References

External links

Biography from ESPN.comWoody Paige's columns with The Denver Post
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paige, Woody American sportswriters Living people People from Memphis, Tennessee University of Tennessee alumni The Denver Post people 1946 births American podcasters ESPN people