Dr. Rick Simpson was … is … one of those teachers.

Simpson, who was an English professor at St. Bonaventure University for 46 years, and Brian reconnect this week. Brian, who took three classes with Doc Simpson, gets to say thank you for teaching him some of the most valuable writing lessons of his life.

Simpson talks about how the sportswriters he read as a kid in San Francisco in the 1950s influenced him as much as the English authors and poets he later taught. Simpson and Brian discuss how modern sports writing can be thought of as poetry, as well as the best lessons that Doc taught again and again. Always think about your audience. Grammar doesn’t matter but it does. Did he mention audience? And of course, there are jazz recommendations.

If you had Doc Simpson as a professor at St. Bonaventure, this is like going back in time to one of his classes.