Silverman, Al 1926–

PERSONAL: Born April 12, 1926, in Lynn, MA; son of Henry and Minnie (Damsky) Silverman; married Rosa Magaro, September 9, 1951; children: Thomas, Brian, Matthew. Education: Boston University, B.S., 1949.

ADDRESSES: Home—15 Woods Way, White Plains, NY 10605-5446. Agent—c/o Author Mail, The Over-look Press, One Overlook Dr., Woodstock, NY 12498.

CAREER: Sport, New York, NY, associate editor, 1951–52; True, New York, NY, sports editor, 1952–54; Argosy magazine, New York, NY, assistant editor, 1954–55; freelance writer for magazines, 1955–60; Macfadden-Bartell Corp., New York, NY, editor-in-chief of magazines Sport, Sport Library, Impact, and Saga, 1960–72; Book-of-the-Month Club, New York, NY, executive vice president and editorial director, 1972–81, president and chief operating officer, 1981–85, chair and chief executive officer, 1985–88; Viking Penguin, New York, NY, vice president and contributing editor, 1989–92, senior vice president of publications and editor in chief, 1992–94, senior vice president and editor at large, 1994–97, editorial advisor, 1998.

MEMBER: Society of Magazine Writers, Authors Guild, Authors League of America, PEN (member of board of directors).

AWARDS, HONORS: Litt.D., Boston University, 1986.

WRITINGS:

SPORTS BIOGRAPHY

Warren Spahn, Immortal Southpaw, Bartholomew House (New York, NY), 1961.

Mickey Mantle, Mister Yankee, Putnam (New York, NY), 1963.

Joe DiMaggio: The Golden Year, 1941, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1969.

(With Gale Sayers) I Am Third, Viking (New York, NY), 1970, published with a new introduction as I Am Third: The Inspiration for Brian's Song, Penguin (New York, NY), 2001.

SPORTS NONFICTION

(With Phil Rizzuto) The "Miracle" New York Yankees, Coward (New York, NY), 1962.

(Editor) The World of Sport: The Best from Sport Magazine, Holt (New York, NY), 1962.

Heroes of the World Series, Putnam (New York, NY), 1964.

(With Paul Hornung) Football and the Single Man, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1965.

Sports Titans of the 20th Century, Putnam (New York, NY), 1965.

(Editor) The Specialist in Pro Football (article collection), Random House (New York, NY), 1966.

(With Frank Robinson) My Life Is Baseball, Double-day (Garden City, NY), 1968.

More Sports Titans of the 20th Century, Putnam (New York, NY), 1968.

(Editor) Best of Sport, Viking (New York, NY), 1971.

(Editor, with Brian Silverman) The Twentieth Century Treasury of Sports, Viking (New York, NY), 1992.

It's Not Over 'Til It's Over: Stories behind the Most Magnificent, Heart-Stopping Sports Miracles of Our Time, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 2002.

OTHER NONFICTION

(Editor) John F. Kennedy Memorial Album, Macfadden (New York, NY), 1964.

(Editor) Churchill: A Memorial Album, Macfadden (New York, NY), 1965.

Foster and Laurie, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1974.

(Editor) The Book of the Month: Sixty Years of Books in American Life, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1986.

SIDELIGHTS: In conjunction with a long career as a sports writer for periodicals and editor of sports magazines, Al Silverman has written a number of books that are primarily about sports-related topics. It's Not Over 'Til It's Over: The Stories behind the Most Magnificent, Heart-Stopping Sports Miracles of Our Time, for example, features the stories of thirteen sporting events in the twentieth century that the author has deemed extraordinary. Silverman includes accounts of the 1971 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the U.S. Women's soccer team's victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, the so-called "Miracle on Ice" hockey match-up between the United States and the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics, and the 1908 heartbreaking loss of the New York Giants to the Chicago Cubs which ruined the Giants' season. Calling the book "engaging reading," a reviewer for Publishers Weekly noted, "He often tracks down and interviews event participants to provide perspective …, giving the book its greatest authority."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, September 30, 2002, review of It's Not Over 'Til It's Over: The Stories behind the Most Magnificent, Heart-Stopping Sports Miracles of Our Time, p. 63; September 30, 2002, Ed Nawotka, "A Publishing Career Ain't Over 'Til It's Over," interview with Al Silverman, p. 64.