Going 15 Rounds With Jerry Izenberg

Book excerpt: Jerry Izenberg’s career in newspapers began eight decades ago as a college student. And since 1962, he has penned sports columns for The Star-Ledger, a New Jersey newspaper. Memories from throughout his career, insights on mentors and general impressions of historic figures (Muhammad Ali, Grambling University football coach Eddie Robinson, thoroughbred legend Secretariat and columnists Red Smith and Jim Murray, among others) provide an overview of what he's observed and written about in his distinguished career, which included 53 consecutive Super Bowls through 2019. Izenberg’s upbringing in New Jersey ignited a love of baseball at a young age, and tales from the ballpark are presented, from the 1930s in Newark to Fidel Castro in Havana in the late 1950s to decades later. Izenberg connected with people and told meaningful stories about their lives, including Nelson Mandela's after meeting him and watching Olympic boxing with him in the stands in Barcelona in 1992. It's a topic briefly explored in the book. Above all, Going 15 Rounds With Jerry Izenberg illuminates the breadth and depth of his extraordinary career and gives a wide range of prominent sports media members an opportunity to also reflect on his career and legacy.