Shirley Povich was a sports columnist and reporter for The Washington Post beginning in 1923. He celebrated his retirement
in 1973 but went on to write more than 600 pieces for the Post. In
1975, he was recipient of the Baseball Writers Association of America’s J. G. Taylor Spink Award, the Baseball Hall of Fame honor for sportswriters.
Povich joined the Post as a reporter during his second year as a Georgetown University law student. In 1925 was named sports editor. In 1933, he became a sports columnist, a responsibility
that continued for 64 years with only one interruption. In 1945, Povich took on an assignment as a Washington Post war correspondent in the Pacific theater. Following World War II, he returned to his sports desk.
Povich is the author of The Washington Senators (G.P. Putnam Sons, 1954) and All These Mornings (Prentice-Hall, 1969).
His writing has been recognized with numerous prestigious honors, including the National Headliners 1964 Grantland Rice Award for sportswriting, the Red Smith Award in 1983, and election to the National Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 1984. He was president of the Boxing Writers Association of America in 1955.
Shirley Povich’s first name accounted for his listing in Who’s Who of American Women in 1962! He was the father of American television personality Maury Povich.
