John Feinstein: Born to Write

Intro

One of my favorite sports authors is John Feinstein. His first book, A Season on the Brink, published in 1986, is a behind-the-scenes look at the 1985-86 basketball season of Indiana University and their coach, Bobby Knight. This book is considered one of the best sports books ever written and has sold more than two million copies.

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In Memory

Yesterday, Feinstein passed away at the age of 69 due to natural causes. He was found at his brother, Robert's home in McLean, Virginia, where he was in town to cover the Atlantic 10 tournament. 

Ironically, Feinstein had written an article about Michigan State coach, Tom Izzo, that appeared in The Washington Post earlier that day. 

Feinstein was unashamedly brash in his some of his later commentary but always authentic. He took a stance on key issues, including politics, and he was known to engage in spirited debates on X. 

After beating Xavier yesterday in the Big East Tournament, Marquette coach Shaka Smart was asked about Feinstein: 

​“Oh, wow,” Smart said. “I’ve known him for a long time. He’s one of the best sports writers ever. I got to know him as a writer before I got to know him as a person, reading some of his stuff when I was in high school. He cared about the teams and he cared about the players and he cared about the coaches — which is not as common these days.”

Other Writing

Some of Feinstein's other notable books include A Good Walk Spoiled, a chronicle of the PGA Tour; The Last Amateurs, which follows a group of basketball players at Division III schools; and The Legends Club, which tells the story of the rivalry between college basketball coaches Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, and Jim Valvano.

Feinstein has won numerous awards for his work, including the Casey Award for the best baseball book of the year, the James P. McGuire Award for his contributions to the game of lacrosse, and the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. He is a member of the United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame.

In addition to his writing and broadcasting work, Feinstein was also a regular participant in charity golf tournaments and had served as a commentator for golf events on CBS and The Golf Channel.

​If you haven't read any of these books, I'd encourage you to do so. For more Feinstein books, check out his Amazon author page here. 

We also highlighted Feinstein's The Back Roads to March in our list of Best College Basketball Books here.