Richard Stubbs Jemison (September 19, 1886 – January 9, 1965) was an early 20th-century American

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 ...

in the South who was for eleven years the sporting editor of the ''

Atlanta Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

''. He wrote extensively on

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

and football, picking many an All-Southern team. Supposedly, he was the first sports editor to include batting stats in his newspaper column. For two years he was president of the

Georgia–Alabama League The Georgia–Alabama League was a minor league baseball league that operated in its two namesake states. The circuit first operated from 1913 to 1917, was revived from 1928 to 1930, then returned to operation for a final time from 1946 through 1 ...

. Dick Jemison himself was an avid

golfer Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wit ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player, and bowler.

Early years

Dick Jemison was born on September 19, 1886 in Macon, Georgia to Robert W. Jemison and Kate Boifeuillet. His uncle was

Edwin Francis Jemison Edwin Francis Jemison (December 1, 1844 – July 1, 1862) was a Confederate soldier who served in Company C, 2nd Louisiana Infantry, from May 1861 until he was killed at the Battle of Malvern Hill. Jemison's photograph has become one of the mo ...

, a

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

veteran who died at the

Battle of Malvern Hill The Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. ...

at just 17 years old. Dick's brother J. B. Jemison was later club president of the Thomasville Hornets in 1913.

Atlanta

On watching the flight of

Charles K. Hamilton Charles Keeney Hamilton (May 30, 1885 – January 22, 1914) was an American pioneer aviator nicknamed the "crazy man of the air". He was, in the words of the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, "known for his dangerous dives, spectacular cras ...

in 1910 he wrote, "The time is not far off when the automobile will be put in the discard for the flying machine, just like the horse was passed up for the automobile."

Sports

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

's first

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n he wrote, "When you mention football to an

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

fan its definition is

Bob McWhorter Robert Ligon McWhorter (June 4, 1891 – June 29, 1960) played football and baseball at the University of Georgia. Early years McWhorter attended Gordon Military College in Barnesville, Georgia. He played football and baseball there under coac ...

, and vice-versa;" and McWhorter's "value to the Red and Black team cannot be fully expressed in mere words, or even figures." In 1915, Jemison was first to report that Georgia captain-elect Charlie Thompson was ineligible.

Ohio

Jemison also contributed to ''

Motor World An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...

''. By 1917 he resigned to enter the automobile business as a salesman and publicity manager for Poole & McCullough Motor Company, which handled the Dort, Winton Six, and Locomobile in Atlanta. He was also once in charge of sales promotion at the Miller Rubber Company. In 1920, he was appointed advertising and sales promotion manager of the Oldfield Tire Co. in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

. He was then national advertising manager for the Ohio State Journal.

Bibliography

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jemison, Dick 1886 births 1965 deaths Writers from Macon, Georgia Sportswriters from Georgia (U.S. state) Sportswriters from Ohio