Maury Allen (born Maurice Allen Rosenberg; May 2, 1932 – October 3, 2010) was an American sportswriter, actor, and columnist for the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' and the ''Journal-News''. He was also a voter for the

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 a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

. Allen wrote 38 books on American sports icons. He also contributed to Thecolumnists.com.

Early life

Allen was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, to parents Harry and Frances Rosenberg. Harry Rosenberg was a coffee salesman and Frances a homemaker. His grandparents came from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

He attended James Madison High School where he covered sports for the school paper. As a young man, Allen was a

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

fanatic. His book, ''Brooklyn Remembered: The 1955 Days of the Dodgers'', recalls the glory days of the team, before they were moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. After high school, he attended

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

where he majored in journalism and played for the football team. Allen had one older brother. Following college, Allen was drafted into the Army. He served in Japan and in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

Sports journalism career

Allen wrote for the City College newspaper, ''The Campus'', covering sports. When he was drafted to the Army, he continued as a reporter, writing for the Pacific Stars and Stripes. After his service, he wrote for papers in

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and

. In 1959, Allen was hired as sports writer at ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

''. He wrote for ''Sports Illustrated'' for two years. His next newspaper job was reporting for the ''

'' from 1961 to 1988. From 1988 to 2000, he wrote articles for ''

The Journal News ''The Journal News'' is a newspaper in New York State serving the New York counties of Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam, a region known as the Lower Hudson Valley. It is owned by Gannett. History ''The Journal News'' was created through a ...

'', owned by the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...

. Following his retirement from ''The Journal News'', Allen continued to write books and to write articles for Thecolumnists.com.

Radio broadcasts

From 2002 to 2008, Allen co-hosted a weekly radio show called ''Talking Sports with Maury and Bill'' with the owner of

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Mick" and "the Commerce Comet", was an American professional baseball player who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

's Restaurant, Bill Liederman. The show was broadcast live from Mickey Mantle's Restaurant, near

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

in New York City. The one-hour long show featured sports talk and interviews with athletes. Allen was a contributor to a talk show hosted by Dave Cooperman and Bill Liederman called ''The Sports Buzz'' which was broadcast originally by WFAS-FM (2003-2004) in Westchester and then

WCTC WCTC (1450 AM "Fox Sports New Jersey") is a commercial radio station broadcasting a sports radio format. Licensed to New Brunswick, New Jersey, the station serves Middlesex, Somerset, and Union counties. The station is owned by Beasley Bro ...

(2005-2007) in

Central Jersey Central Jersey, or Central New Jersey, is the middle region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The designation Central Jersey is a distinct administrative toponym. While New Jersey is often divided into North Jersey and South Jersey, many resi ...

. Lori Rubinson from season 1 of

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 ...

's ''

Dream Job ''Dream Job'' is an American reality television series made by ESPN, which premiered on February 22, 2004. It was the network's second reality show, with two editions of '' Beg, Borrow & Deal'' having previously aired. However, this was the firs ...

'' and now a contributor on WFAN replaced Liederman. Cooperman and Rubinson moved the show to the WCTC studios and the show eventually was moved to the 5:00-7:00 time slot. Maury Allen remained a contributor through the life of the show.

Film appearances

Allen was interviewed on numerous occasions in documentary films, such as ''Toots'' (2006), ''Mantle'' (2006), ''City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal'' (1998), and ''Howard Cosell: Telling It Like It Is'' (1999).

National Baseball Hall of Fame voter

Allen was a member of the

Baseball Writers' Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines, and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908 and is known fo ...

, and was a voter for the National Baseball Hall of Fame for 35 years. He became eligible to vote in 1973 after more than 10 years as a traveling sports reporter.

Later work

Allen completed work on a book entitled "

Dixie Walker Fred E. "Dixie" Walker (September 24, 1910 – May 17, 1982) was an American professional baseball player, coach, scout and minor league manager. He played as a right fielder in Major League Baseball from 1931 to 1949. Although Walker was a five ...

of the Dodgers", a right fielder for the Yankees,

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The club plays its home games at Rate Fie ...

, and Brooklyn Dodgers, and controversial figure in baseball in the 1940s for his stance against

racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of Race (classification of human beings), race, and t ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

, which was released in 2010.

Publications

* ''Sports Illustrated,'' 1959-1961 * ''New York Post,'' 1961-1988 * ''Journal-News,'' 1988-2000 * ''The Columnists.com,'' 2001–?

Personal life

In 1962, Maury Allen married Janet Allen. They had two children, daughter Jennifer, and son Ted and four grandchildren. Prior to retirement, Allen was an avid

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 ...

player. Friends and acquaintances often joked that Allen could be counted on to show up for tennis any day of the year. Allen died of

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

at the age of 78.

Awards and honors

Allen was granted a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of Silurians, one of the oldest journalistic organizations in existence. He was inducted into the B'nai B'rith Sports Hall of Fame, City College of New York Hall of Fame, the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

, the James Madison High Hall of Fame, the Westchester County New York Hall of Fame, and the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame. On November 9, 2011, he was posthumously awarded the Townsend Harris Medal by the Alumni Association of City College of New York.

Bibliography

''Dixie Walker of the Dodgers,''
with Susan Walker and published by the

University of Alabama Press The University of Alabama Press is a university press founded in 1945 and is the scholarly publishing arm of the University of Alabama. An editorial board composed of representatives from all doctoral degree granting public universities within Al ...

* ''Yankees World Series Memories'' * ''Our Mickey: Cherished Memories of an American Icon'' * ''Brooklyn Remembered: The 1955 Days of the Dodgers,'' co-author

Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from ...

* ''Mr. October: The

Reggie Jackson Reginald Martinez Jackson (born May 18, 1946) is an American former professional baseball right fielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Cal ...

Story'' * ''Damn Yankee: The Billy Martin Story'' * ''You Could Look It Up'' * ''Big-Time Baseball'' * ''Where Have You Gone,

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (; born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, ; November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "the Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career ...

?'' * ''Bo: Pitching and Wooing'' * ''Memories of the Mick: Baseball's Legend'' * ''Voices of Sport'' * ''Now Wait a Minute, Casey'' * ''The Record Breakers'' * ''The Incredible Mets'' * ''After the Miracle'' * ''

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943), nicknamed "Broadway Joe", is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seaso ...

's Sportin' Life'' * ''Reprieve From Hell'' * ''The Three Million Dollar Man'' * ''Louisiana Lightning'' * ''

Jim Rice James Edward Rice (born March 8, 1953) is an American former professional baseball left fielder and designated hitter who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Rice played his entire 16-year MLB career for the Boston Red Sox. In 2009, Rice was ...

: Power Hitter'' * ''China Spy'' * ''A Sword in the Temple'' * ''Slick'' * ''Sweet Lou'' * ''Ten Great Moments in Sports'' * ''All Roads Lead to October'' * ''Baseball's 100'' * ''Jackie Robinson: A Life Remembered'' * ''Baseball: The Lives Behind the Seams'' * ''Greatest Pro Quarterbacks'' * ''Yankees: Where Have You Gone?'' * ''Baseball's 100'' * ''Ron Guidry: Louisiana Lightning'' * " Roger Maris: A Man For All Seasons"

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 ...
credits

* The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame

Ralph Branca Ralph Theodore Joseph Branca (January 6, 1926 – November 23, 2016), nicknamed "Hawk", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1944 through 1956. Branca played for the Brooklyn Dod ...

for Losing the 1951 Pennant *

Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born Lorenzo Pietro Berra; May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of Manager (baseball), manager and Coach (baseball), coach. He played 19 seas ...

George Steinbrenner George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...

Roger Maris Roger Eugene Maris (born Maras; September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is best known for setting a new List of Major League Baseball p ...

Notes

Complete Bibliography of Maury Allen Books

Macmillan Publishing: Maury Allen

References

External links

*
Thecolumnists.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Maury 1932 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American columnists American male journalists American male non-fiction writers Deaths from cancer in New Jersey Deaths from lymphoma in the United States James Madison High School (Brooklyn) alumni Jewish American journalists Jewish American non-fiction writers Sportswriters from New York (state) United States Army personnel of the Korean War United States Army soldiers Writers from Brooklyn