September 28, 2022

David Steele: “He said Len Bias is dead. It just sounded so insane.”

58 minutes

David Steele recounts the many twists and turns in his nearly four decades as a sportswriter. He takes us to Maryland in 1986 when the death of Len Bias shook the sports world. Go into the Garden on the night Anthony Mason sat in the upper deck during a Knicks game while he was suspended. Hear how David got the first print interview with Latrell Sprewell after the player choked his coach P.J. Carlesimo. David tells us about the greatest moment he ever covered: Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals when Michael Jordan made his final shot with the Chicago Bulls. And we discuss David’s latest book, “It Was Always a Choice: Picking Up the Baton of Athlete Activism,” which chronicles the long tradition of athletes speaking out against racism, injustice, and oppression.

During his 36 years in sports journalism, David has covered the Olympics, the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, NCAA Final Four, and the playoffs in every major professional and college sport. He has worked for the Sporting News (2011-19), AOL FanHouse (2009-11), the Baltimore Sun, (2004-09) the San Francisco Chronicle (1995-2004), Newsday (1992-95), the New York Post (1988-89), The National Sports Daily (1989-91), and the St. Petersburg Times (1986-88). David was a sports columnist in Baltimore and San Francisco, and prior to that he spent 11 years covering the NBA as a beat reporter in New York and the Bay Area. He covered the NFL and Major League Baseball for the Sporting News and was an NFL beat reporter in St. Petersburg. He has also written for ESPN’s The Undefeated, the Washington City Paper, the NAACP’s The Crisis and several other publications. While he college, David worked internships at the Washington Post, Newsday, and the Raleigh News and Observer. He is currently writing for Law360.com after a brief stint at Inside Higher Ed.