View source for Dick Gordon (sportswriter)

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Dick Gordon
| image       =
| caption     =
| birthname   = Charles Richards Gordon
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1911|01|15}}
| birth_place = [[St. Paul, Minnesota]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|2008|12|8|1911|01|15}}
| death_place = [[St. Paul, Minnesota]]
| education   = [[Princeton University]]
| occupation  = [[Sports journalist]]
| alias       = Scoop
| title       =
| family      =
| spouse      = Adelaide
}}
'''Charles Richards Gordon''', known as '''Dick "Scoop" Gordon''' (January 15, 1911<ref>Public record documentation for Charles Gordon, born January 15, 1911, residing at 38 Kenwood Pkwy, Saint Paul, MN, 55105-3512 (1993). Ancestry.com. U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.</ref>&nbsp;– December 8, 2008), was an American [[sports journalism|sports]] [[journalist]] whose works were a regular feature in venerable [[sports magazine]]s like ''[[The Sporting News]]'', ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'', and ''[[Baseball Digest]]''.<ref name="2004Blegen171">{{cite journal|last=Blegen|first=Theodore|author2=Heilbron, Bertha|year=2004|title=Bobby Marshall|journal=Minnesota History|volume=59|page=171|issn=0026-5497|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zl4pAQAAIAAJ|access-date=July 24, 2011}}</ref><ref name="2001Orodenker">{{cite book|last=Orodenker|first=Richard|year=2001|title=Dick Gordon|journal=Dictionary of Literary Biography: American Sportswriters and Writers on Sport|publisher=The Gale Group|volume=241|page=123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5tAUAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA123|access-date=July 24, 2011|isbn=9780787646585}}</ref> After earning his nickname "Scoop" in 1930 by reporting for ''[[The Daily Princetonian]]'' that golfing legend [[Bobby Jones (golfer)|Bobby Jones]] would be retiring from active competition, Gordon went on to a sports reporting career which ended in 2008.<ref name="Christensen">{{cite web|last=Christensen |first=Joe |title=Dick Gordon, longtime Twin Cities sportswriter, dies at 97 |url=http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/35773729.html |work=The Minneapolis Star Tribune |access-date=July 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017134625/http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/35773729.html |archive-date=October 17, 2012 }}</ref><ref name=PAW>{{cite journal|date=June 10, 2009|title=Charles Richards Gordon '33|journal=Princeton Alumni Weekly|publisher=Trustees of Princeton University|url=http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2009/06/10/sections/memorials/8228/index.xml|access-date=July 26, 2011}}</ref><ref name="12292008SI">{{cite magazine|date=December 29, 2008|title=For The Record|magazine=Sports Illustrated|publisher=Time Inc.|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1150065/index.htm|archive-url   = https://web.archive.org/web/20091208045249/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1150065/index.htm| archive-date=December 8, 2009| access-date=July 26, 2011}}</ref>
==Childhood==
Charles Richards Gordon grew up in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]], the son of Charles William Gordon, the proprietor of the fur clothing manufacturer Gordon & Furguson, Inc.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00723.xml|title=Gordon & Ferguson: An Inventory of Its Records|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|access-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>Census entry for Charles W. Gordon and family.  Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: St Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota; Roll: 1118; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 94; Image: 1118.0.</ref><ref name=OB/>  His mother, Charlotte Bishop Gordon, was a native of Connecticut.<ref name=C20/><ref>{{cite news|title=Gordon-Bishop|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 24, 1898|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/11/24/102496659.pdf}}(reflecting mother's maiden name of Charlotte L'Estrange Bishop)</ref> At the time of the [[1920 United States Census]], Gordon was living with his parents, an older sister (Virginia), and two servants at 378 Summit Avenue in St. Paul,<ref name=C20>Census entry for Charles W. Gordon and family. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: St Paul Ward 7, Ramsey, Minnesota; Roll: T625_853; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 74; Image: 1131.</ref> in the home of his grandfather, Richards Gordon, a deacon of the Episcopal Church and a board member of the new "St. Paul Institute" (now the [[Science Museum of Minnesota]]).<ref name="1902Journal">{{cite book|title=Journal of the Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Minnesota|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnHkAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA128|access-date=July 29, 2011|date=June 5, 1902|publisher=Evans and Company|location=St. Paul, Minnesota|page=128}}</ref><ref name="1911AAD">{{cite book|others=American Federation of Arts|title=American Art Directory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qGYzdS4HmTQC&pg=PA425|access-date=July 29, 2011|volume=8|year=1911|publisher=R.R. Bowker|page=425}}</ref><ref name="AboutSMM">{{cite web|url=http://www.smm.org/about|title=About the Museum|work=Science Museum of Minnesota website|publisher=Science Museum of Minnesota|access-date=July 29, 2011}}</ref>  The younger Gordon attended [[St. Paul Academy and Summit School|St. Paul Academy]] and wrote for the school newspaper ''Now and Then''.  The school's headmaster reportedly opined that Gordon was a better writer than [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]],<ref name=OB>{{cite news|title=Charles Richards Gordon|newspaper=Star Tribune Obituaries|date=April 19, 2009|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/startribune/obituary.aspx?n=charles-richards-gordon&pid=126376178}}</ref> who had been a student at the St. Paul Academy from 1908 to 1911.
==Princeton and early career==
Gordon later attended [[Princeton University]], graduating in 1933.  While attending Princeton, he was a reporter for ''[[The Daily Princetonian]]''.  He received the nickname "Scoop" in 1930 for being the first to report that professional golfer [[Bobby Jones (golfer)|Bobby Jones]] was retiring from the sport.<ref name=PAW/>  After graduating from Princeton, Gordon returned to Minnesota and became a sports writer for the ''[[St. Paul Pioneer Press]]''.  In January 1939, he joined the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]'' as a sports writer.<ref>{{cite news|title=Squibs from St. Paul|newspaper=The Sporting News|date=January 26, 1939}}</ref>
==World War II==
During [[World War II]], he served in the [[United States Marine Corps]] for 26 months.  He served as a Marine Combat Correspondent in the [[Pacific War|Pacific Theater of Operations]].  In November 1943, his story about a U.S. Army baseball team that endured six months at [[Guadalcanal Campaign|Guadalcanal]] was published in ''[[The Sporting News]]''.<ref>{{cite news|author=Dick Gordon (Marine Combat Correspondent)|title=Long Pacific Win Streak Threatened by Leathernecks|newspaper=The Sporting News|date=November 25, 1943}}</ref>  After over two years of combat action, Sergeant Gordon was returned to Minneapolis and worked for a time as a U.S. Marine recruiter. On April 26, 1945, Gordon married Adelaide Washburne, a [[Smith College|Smith]] graduate who had been teaching at the [[University of Minnesota]] and worked in the [[American Red Cross]] during World War II.<ref name="01282007Adelaide">{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/startribune/obituary.aspx?n=adelaide-w-gordon&pid=86205691|title=Adelaide W. Gordon obituary|date=January 28, 2007|work=Star Tribune|access-date=August 1, 2011}}</ref> After the war ended, Gordon returned to his job as a sports reporter for the ''Chicago Daily News''.<ref>{{cite news|author=Dick Gordon (of the ''Chicago Daily News'')|title=Charles (The Man) Comiskey II Gets Sox Presidency as 21st Birthday Gift|newspaper=The Sporting News|date=November 27, 1946}}</ref>
==Post-war career==
From the late 1940s through the 1970s, Gordon was one of the leading sports writers in the United States.  Between 1946 and 1976, almost 250 of Gordon's works were published in ''The Sporting News'', an American-based sports magazine established in 1886.<ref>{{cite web|title=Paper of Record home page|publisher=Paper of Record|url=https://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/}}(Archives of ''The Sporting News'' are available on the "Paper of Record" web site by subscription.  A search of those archives reveals 247 articles written by Dick Gordon and published in ''The Sporting News''.)</ref>  From 1949 to 1970, Gordon's baseball writings were a recurring feature in ''[[Baseball Digest]]'', the oldest continuously-published baseball magazine in the United States. When ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' magazine launched in the mid-1950s, Gordon was one of the budding journal's first writers.<ref name="12292008SI"/> On a daily basis, Gordon worked the sports desk for the ''[[Star Tribune|Minneapolis Star]]'',<ref name="1970E&P7">{{cite journal|year=1970|title=The Fourth Estate|journal=Editor & Publisher|publisher=Editor & Publisher Co|volume=103|page=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5QgMAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> the ''[[Minneapolis Star Tribune]]'', and the ''[[Villager (Saint Paul, Minnesota)|Villager]]'' newspapers in the Twin Cities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gelfand|first1=Louis I.|last2=Heath|first2=Harry E.|title=Modern Sportswriting|url=https://archive.org/details/modernsportswrit0000gelf|url-access=registration|access-date=July 24, 2011|year=1969|publisher=Iowa State University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/modernsportswrit0000gelf/page/171 171]|isbn=9780813808000 }}</ref> He wrote articles about the [[Minnesota Twins]] baseball team, the [[Minnesota Golden Gophers]], and the [[Minnesota Vikings]]. Gordon covered the 1960 Olympics in [[Squaw Valley, Placer County, California|Squaw Valley, California]] where the [[United States men's national ice hockey team|U.S. men's ice hockey team]] won gold. He continued to write for the ''Villager'' until he retired after a long career in early 2008.<ref name="Christensen"/>
==Family and death==
Dick Gordon and his wife Adelaide spent 61 years together, their marriage producing three boys. Adelaide died in early 2007, and Gordon followed on December 8, 2008.<ref name="Christensen"/><ref name="PAW"/><ref name="01282007Adelaide"/> ''Sports Illustrated'', the ''Star Tribune'' and his college newspaper all reported the passing.
==Selected works==
As an active sportswriter for almost eighty years, Gordon wrote thousands of articles on subjects ranging from baseball to hockey. The following are a small sampling of his works, listed chronologically:
*[http://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/paper_view.asp?PaperId=834&RecordId=1&PageId=7750143&iZyNetId={6A7ACCDE-994F-4068-9CAC-58822CEAE485}&iOrder=2&iOrderDir=0&iCurrentBlock=1 Charles (The Man) Comiskey II Gets Sox Presidency as 21st Birthday Gift], ''The Sporting News'', November 27, 1946
*[http://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/paper_view.asp?PaperId=834&RecordId=1&PageId=7748171&iZyNetId={04772ACE-CB1A-436F-B825-B8C1843CC3D4}&iOrder=2&iOrderDir=0&iCurrentBlock=1 Little Brown Jug Series Good to the Last Drop], ''The Sporting News'', October 22, 1947
*[http://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/paper_view.asp?PaperId=834&RecordId=2&PageId=7742230&iZyNetId={04772ACE-CB1A-436F-B825-B8C1843CC3D4}&iOrder=2&iOrderDir=0&iCurrentBlock=1 Big Gopher Ekberg Stars in Studies Too], ''The Sporting News'', January 5, 1949
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=my4DAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+1951+baseball&pg=PA23 Mickey Owen, Forgotten Man], ''Baseball Digest'', February 1949
*[http://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/paper_view.asp?PaperId=834&RecordId=5&PageId=7743601&iZyNetId={6A7ACCDE-994F-4068-9CAC-58822CEAE485}&iOrder=2&iOrderDir=0&iCurrentBlock=1 Four of 13 Survivors of Duluth Bus Crash Playing a Year Later], ''The Sporting News'', August 3, 1949
*[http://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/paper_view.asp?PaperId=834&RecordId=6&PageId=7744021&iZyNetId={6A7ACCDE-994F-4068-9CAC-58822CEAE485}&iOrder=2&iOrderDir=0&iCurrentBlock=1 Nomellini's the Monicker of Gophers' Lion of the Line], ''The Sporting News'', October 19, 1949
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110815041454/http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/oldnews/archives/67 Mariucci by Phone: ‘We Rose to Heights; Russia Too Good’], ''Minneapolis Star and Tribune'', January 1956
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=5DIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+baseball+1957&pg=PA12 Why He's Still Stan the Man], ''Baseball Digest'', August 1957
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ry4DAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+gophers&pg=PA47 Giel's Ready to Wheel], ''Baseball Digest'', February 1958
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=xzIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA17 Did Twin Cities Double Deals Selves Out of Big League Ball], ''Baseball Digest'', March 1958
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=jy4DAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+1955+baseball&pg=PA45 The Great Cepeda, Junior], ''Baseball Digest'', April 1958
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=1S0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+1954+baseball&pg=PA31 The Hottest Guy in Cold Storage], ''Baseball Digest'', February 1959
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=YC8DAAAAMBAJ&dq=minneapolis%20star%20dick%20gordon&pg=PA22 "Can Jim Gentile Keep a Hot Bat and a Cool Head for Baltimore?"], ''Baseball Digest'', March 1960
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=8C0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA28 30-G Minimum Bonus Urged for Campus Raids], ''Baseball Digest'', June 1960
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=OS4DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA75 Headaches of a Ten-Club Team], ''Baseball Digest'', December 1960
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=Xy8DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA87 Stallard - Made-to-Order Fireman], ''Baseball Digest'', January 1961
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=aS0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA73 Challenge from Latin America], ''Baseball Digest'', May 1961
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=WS0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA35 Should Power Bunt Winning Run to 3rd?], ''Baseball Digest'', December 1961
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=hi0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+twins+baseball&pg=PA57 Minnesota's Double K-Rations], ''Baseball Digest'', February 1962
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=gS8DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA17 Pascual Finds It Doesn't Pay to Advertise], ''Baseball Digest'', March 1962
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=hC0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA27 Where to Play 46 Homers], ''Baseball Digest'', April 1962
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=kS0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA23 "The Truth about Donavan"], ''Baseball Digest'', July 1962
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=lrYDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA5 In Bluege's Footsteps], ''Baseball Digest'', September 1962
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=ki0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA31 Why the scarcity of big-name catchers?], ''Baseball Digest'', October 1962
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=cLYDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+1945+baseball&pg=PA35 Are Superstars a Vanishing Breed?], ''Baseball Digest'', February 1963
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=jS0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon+sports&pg=PA25 "How Allen Changed from Minnesota Villan to Star"], ''Baseball Digest'', March 1963
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=dC0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA35 Are Own Homers Beating Twins?], ''Baseball Digest'', February 1964
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=fi0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA35 The Second Generation Doesn't Take First Honors], ''Baseball Digest'', March 1964
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=OTIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA5 "More Frequently than Anyone since Ruth"], ''Baseball Digest'', May 1964
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=TTIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+1955+baseball&pg=PA68 Where There's Smokey, There's No Firing], ''Baseball Digest'', June 1964
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=kzIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon+sports&pg=PA15 "Appling or Cronin?"], ''Baseball Digest'', August 1964
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=9DEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA131 Control Confidence Conscience], ''Baseball Digest'', April 1965
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=1zEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA15 "A Breed of New Shortstops"], ''Baseball Digest'', September 1965
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=2jEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA31 Those Odd Twins], ''Baseball Digest'', October 1965
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104163545/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1077967/index.htm "Kicking Up A Rule Change At Princeton"], ''Sports Illustrated'', November 1965
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=wzIDAAAAMBAJ&q=gordon&pg=PA67 Twin Firsts by a Twin], ''Baseball Digest'', December 1965
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=gTIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+tigers&pg=PA30 Oliva's Lifetime Mark Best Now], ''Baseball Digest'', September 1966
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=zzEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA29 Letter Man at Minnesota], ''Baseball Digest'', July 1967
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=pjIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+twins+baseball&pg=PA19 Twins' Lightning Rod], ''Baseball Digest'', May 1968
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=xTIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA9 Graig Nettles - Is He a Star of the Future?], ''Baseball Digest'', March 1969
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=izIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon+sports&pg=PA31 "Rosy Ryan Remembers...51 Years of Baseball"], ''Baseball Digest'', June 1969
*[http://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/paper_view.asp?PaperId=834&RecordId=165&PageId=7644170&iZyNetId={04772ACE-CB1A-436F-B825-B8C1843CC3D4}&iOrder=2&iOrderDir=0&iCurrentBlock=11 Grant Can't Stand Luxury of Emotions], ''The Sporting News'' December 6, 1969
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=ijMDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+gordon&pg=PA60 Crosetti Vividly Remembers Glory Years of the Yankees], ''Baseball Digest'', September 1970
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121025143834/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1135569/index.htm "The Kick Football Dropped"], ''Sports Illustrated'', December 1971
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=5zIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22dick+gordon%22+1952+baseball&pg=PA74 The Northern League Baseball Cradle Empty Now], ''Baseball Digest'', July 1972
*[http://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/paper_view.asp?PaperId=834&RecordId=246&PageId=7641374&iZyNetId={04772ACE-CB1A-436F-B825-B8C1843CC3D4}&iOrder=2&iOrderDir=0&iCurrentBlock=17 Rookie White's Sizzling Catches Heat Up Vikes], ''The Sporting News'', December 4, 1976
*[https://archive.today/20130119115623/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1122906/index.htm "Boxer Billy Miske Put Up The Fight Of His Life For One Last Christmas"], ''Sports Illustrated'', December 1984
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Dick}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:Baseball writers]]
[[Category:Sportswriters from Minnesota]]
[[Category:Golf writers]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:St. Paul Pioneer Press people]]
[[Category:Star Tribune people]]