Roland Lazenby is an American

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

and educator.

Biography

Lazenby has written more than five dozen nonfiction books, mainly about

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

. He has also contributed articles to magazines and newspapers. Lazenby's book ''Bull Run!'' was named Sports Book of the Year for 1997 by the Independent Publishers Association. His book, ''Michael Jordan. The Life'', was named Sports Book of the Year 2015 in the Polish Sports Book Awards (Sportowa Książka Roku). Lazenby studied at

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

and

Hollins University Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, Virginia, Botetourt Springs, it is Timeline of women's colleges in the Un ...

, and has been a member of

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

's Department of Communication and

Radford University Radford University is a public university in Radford, Virginia, United States. It is one of the state's eight doctorate-granting public universities. Founded in 1910, Radford offers curricula for undergraduates in more than 100 fields, graduate ...

's School of Communication."Roland Lazenby". ''Contemporary Authors Online''. October 13, 2006. Retrieved on August 24, 2008. A group of students from his media writing class compiled the book ''April 16th: Virginia Tech Remembers'' (2007), an account of the

Virginia Tech massacre The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree shooting that occurred on Monday, April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

. Lazenby served as editor. In 2005, Lazenby and Andrew Mager created Planet Blacksburg, a student organization focused on new media, journalism, and publishing. In April 2017, Lazenby redefined the term "coaching tree" - expanding it to include anyone who has ever played under said coach. In October 2023, Lazenby's newest biography, ''Magic: The Life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson'' was published by Celadon Books.

Written works

*''Fifty Years of the Final Four: Golden Moments of the NCAA basketball tournament'' (1987) *''The Lakers: A Basketball Journey'' (1993) *''Bull Run! The Story of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls'' (1996) *''Blood on the Horns: The Long Strange Ride of Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls'' (1998) *''Mad Game, The NBA Education of Kobe Bryant'' (2000) *''Mindgames: Phil Jackson's Long Strange Journey'' (2001) *''Johnny Unitas: The Best There Ever Was'' (2002) *''Tom Brady: Sudden Glory'' (2002) *''The Show: The Inside Story of the Spectacular Los Angeles Lakers in the Words of Those Who Lived It'' (2004) *''Jerry West: The Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon'' (2010) *''Michael Jordan: The Life'' (2014) *''Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant'' (2016) *''Magic: The Life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson'' (2023)

References

External links

Roland Lazenby
at the Virginia Tech Department of Communication {{DEFAULTSORT:Lazenby, Roland Virginia Tech faculty Living people Virginia Military Institute alumni Hollins University alumni Radford University faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Sportswriters from Virginia