Gene Wojciechowski () is an American sportswriter, best known for his time with

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, from 1998 to 2023.

Early life

Born in Salina,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, Wojciechowski received a bachelor's degree in communications and journalism from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

and began his career as a sports writer covering college football and college basketball. His work has included stints with the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, '' The Denver Post'', and the Los Angeles Times; he became a senior writer for ''

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured K ...

'' in January 1998, having worked as a football reporter for the network since 1992. He was named a senior national sports columnist for ESPN in June 2005.

Career

Prior to joining ESPN, Wojciechowski was the national college football and college basketball columnist for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' (1996–97). He also reported on the NFL for both ''The Denver Post'' (1983–1984) and ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'' (1984–1987) before switching to back to college football and basketball for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' (1987–1996). Wojciechowski authored a novel, ''About 80 Percent Luck,'' plus a non-fiction book, ''Cubs Nation: 162 Games. 162 Stories. 1 Addiction'' (Broadway Books), following the Cubs for a full season. Wojciechowski has also co-authored autobiographies with several sports personalities. These works include ''The Bus: My Life In and Out of a Helmet'' (Doubleday 2007) with Jerome Bettis; ''I Love Being the Enemy: A Season on the Court with the NBA’s Best Shooter and Sharpest Tongue'' (Simon & Schuster 1995) with Reggie Miller; ''Nothing but Net: Just Give Me the Ball and Get Out of the Way'' (Hyperion Books 1995) with Bill Walton; and ''My Life on a Napkin: Pillow Mints, Playground Dreams and Coaching the Runnin’ Utes'' (Hyperion 1999) with Rick Majerus. ''The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky, and the 2.1 Seconds That Changed Basketball'' by Wojciechowski was released by Blue Rider Press in 2012. He is also the author/co-author of nine books. On July 3, 2023, Wojciechowski was laid off by ESPN.

Controversies

While he has won numerous peer awards, Wojciechowski wrote an article in the fall of 1997 for the ''

'' that included negative stereotypes of an Indian or Pakistani cab driver, prompting the Tribune to offer a formal apology. At the time, he was the paper's national college football and college basketball columnist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wojciechowski, Gene Living people University of Tennessee alumni People from Salina, Kansas The Denver Post people The Dallas Morning News people Chicago Tribune people Year of birth missing (living people) Sportswriters from Kansas American people of Polish descent ESPN people