John Edwin Pope (April 11, 1928 – January 19, 2017) was an American journalist known for his sportswriting at the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'', where his work appeared from 1956 until his death in 2017. He covered

Super Bowl I The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game (known retroactively as Super BowlI and referred to in contemporaneous reports, including the game's radio broadcast, as the Super Bowl) was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at th ...

through

Super Bowl XLVII Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

. Some referred to him as "the best writer of sports in America."

Early career

Pope's journalistic career began at the early age of eleven, when he began covering small events for his hometown ''

Athens Banner-Herald The ''Athens Banner-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in Athens, Georgia, USA, and owned by Gannett. The paper has a Sunday special and publishes online under the name ''Online Athens''. History The newspaper traces its history to the ''Southern Ba ...

''. By the time he was fifteen he had been promoted to the sports editor of the paper, thus making him the youngest person in the country to hold that position. His college years were spent at the University of Georgia, and after graduating he worked briefly with the

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

, ''

Atlanta Journal ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'' and ''Atlanta Constitution''.

''Miami Herald''

Pope's success with his 1954 book ''Football's Greatest Coaches'' allowed him to leave the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

area and move down to

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, where he accepted a lucrative position at the ''Miami Herald'' in 1956. Brought on as a columnist and assistant editor, he was made Sports Editor within the year when the previous Editor chose to retire. In his 50-plus years he covered the growth of Miami as a sports city, from a tourist destination with no professional teams, to a

World City A global city (also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center) is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that glo ...

with franchises in all four major sports, and major events in

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

. While he retired as the ''Herald'' sports editor in 2003, he contributed columns to the newspaper until 2016, when he wrote his last piece eulogizing boxer and former Miami resident

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

. From 2012 Pope lived in Okeechobee, Florida.

Awards

* Red Smith Award (1989) * Bert McGrane Award (2000) *Member National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame *Member Florida Sports Hall of Fame *Member

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

*Member

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

*Four National Headliners Club awards as the nation's best columnist *Three Eclipse Awards for thoroughbred racing columns

Books

*''Football's Greatest Coaches (1955)'' *''The Edwin Pope Collection (Contemporary American Sportswriters) (1988)'' *''Baseball’s Greatest Managers (1960)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Edwin 1928 births 2017 deaths Writers from Athens, Georgia Sportswriters from Florida Sportswriters from Georgia (U.S. state) University of Georgia alumni Bill Nunn Memorial Award recipients People from Okeechobee, Florida