GRIMSLEY, Will (Henry) 1914-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born January 27, 1914, in Monterey, TN; died October 31, 2002, in East Meadow, NY. Journalist and author. Grimsley was an acclaimed sports writer who enjoyed a long career with the Associated Press and published books on a wide variety of sports. Hired at age eighteen, his first job was writing for the Evening Tennessean during the 1930s and early 1940s. He joined the Associated Press in 1943 while still at the newspaper and was transferred to New York City in 1947. Until his retirement in 1984 as a national sports columnist, Grimsley covered many of the world's major sporting events, including the Olympics. His books include Golf: Its History (1966), Football: The Greatest Moments in the Southwest Conference (1968), Tennis: Its History, People, and Events (1971), and Sports Immortals (1973), along with editing and contributing to other works and writing articles for periodicals such as Readers Digest and Golf World. Grimsley was active in a number of professional associations and from 1985 to 1986 was president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He was honored with many awards in the field, including a Bronze Hugo award for a documentary on the Olympics, the Eternal Torch from the Chicago International Film Festival in 1974, the 1987 Red Smith Award from Associated Press Sports Editors, and was named National Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in 1978, 1980, 1981, and 1983. In 1987 Grimsley was inducted into the Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in Salisbury, North Carolina.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

periodicals

New York Times, November 6, 2002, p. C13.