LESTER, Robin 1939-

PERSONAL: Born March 1, 1939, in Nebraska; son of Earl (a farmer and diplomat) and Evelyn (a teacher) Lester; married Helen Doughty (a children's book author), August 26, 1967; children: Robin Lester Debevoise, James Robinson. Ethnicity: "Cheyenne/English." Education: Attended University of St. Andrews; Pepperdine University, B.A. (with honors), 1961, M.A., 1962; University of Chicago, M.A.T., 1966, Ph.D., 1974. Politics: Independent. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking, tennis, travel, prison visits, "teaching minority youngsters from New York City."

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 63, Pawling, NY 12564. E-mail—robinlester@att.net.

CAREER: Educator and author. Columbia College, New York, NY, assistant professor of history, 1966-72; Trinity School, New York, NY, headmaster, 1974-86; writer.

MEMBER: American Historical Association, Headmasters Association.

AWARDS, HONORS: Cander Fellow, Aspen Institute, 1985; Book of the Year Award, North American Society of Sport History, 1995.

WRITINGS:

Stagg's University: The Rise, Decline, and Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago, University of Illinois Press (Champaign, IL), 1995.

(With wife, Helen Lester) Wuzzy Takes Off (juvenile), illustrated by Miko Imai, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

Contributor of articles and reviews to magazines and newspapers, including Journal of Sport History, Journal of American History, and Journal of Educational History.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Fields of Honor, a screenplay; Born Red, a novel; research on Palladian architecture in Venice and Vicenza, Italy.

SIDELIGHTS: Robin Lester told CA: "After thirty years of teaching, researching, and publishing history, I began a new odyssey in 1998: writing fiction. The greatest influences on my work are my grounding in social history and the students—from fifth grade to college—that I have taught and loved. The change from researching and writing history and teaching and administering in schools to writing a novel is severe. I love letting the mind work and roam across the years as I create a new world without those accursed footnotes!"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

American Historical Review, April, 1997, Murray Sperber, review of Stagg's University: The Rise, Decline, and Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago, p. 552.

Booklist, February 1, 1996, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Wuzzy Takes Off, p. 937.

Choice, February, 1996, W. F. Gustafson, review of Stagg's University, p. 987.

Historian, spring, 1997, John M. Carroll, review of Stagg's University, p. 660.

Reviews in American History, December, 1996, Charles H. Martin, review of Stagg's University, p. 629.

Sociology of Sport Journal, June, 2001, Eldon E. Snyder, review of Stagg's University, p. 256.

Sporting News, October 9, 1995, Steve Gietschier, review of Stagg's University, p. 8.