Press Box Access: A Sports History Podcast

Part 2 of my conversation with Paul Hoynes picks up with a wild story about Albert Belle and a corked bat. “Hoynsie” shares tales from the 1990s when a new ballpark, powerful lineup, and sterling run of success caused baseball fever to erupt in Cleveland. And you can hear why one of his columns in 2016 sent him into Lake Erie before another World Series run ended in a legendary Game 7.

If you missed it, make sure to go back and listen to our part 1 episode with Hoynes, who has been covering Major League Baseball in Cleveland for more than four decades: https://evergreenpodcasts.com/press-box-access/paul-hoynes-part-1-im-sweating-bullets-shaking-trying-to-calm-myself-down#episodeContent

Hoynes has been a Guardians/Indians beat writer since 1983 for The News-Herald (1983-84), The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com (1985 to present). His “Hey Hoynsie” column has been a longtime favorite of readers in northeast Ohio. He is past president of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and The Press Club of Cleveland inducted Hoynes into the Club’s Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013. Before becoming a baseball writer 41 years ago, he covered the Browns, Cavaliers and high school sports for The Cleveland Press, News-Herald, and Painesville Telegraph. Hoynes was born and raised in Cleveland, and he earned a journalism degree from Marquette University.

You can follow Paul on X: @hoynsie

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This is the first of a 2-part conversation with Paul Hoynes, who has covered Major League Baseball in Cleveland since 1983. We hit some of the “Hoynsie” greatest hits, including the Hawk Call and the tale of two belts. He tells us about working in hometown, competing (and laughing) on the beat with friends, and riding the rush of deadline. Hoynsie puts us in cavernous Municipal Stadium when the stands were mostly empty and the team was awful in the 1980s. Hear about advice he took from Joe Carter, scuffling with Mel Hall, and sailing the choppy waters around Albert Belle. We even work in a football story: Red Right 88. Sorry, Browns fans.

Part 2 comes out April 24 and that episode will pick up when the Indians, now known as the Guardians, began their glorious run in the 1990s.

Hoynes has been a Guardians/Indians beat writer since 1983 for The News-Herald (1983-84), The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com (1985 to present). His “Hey Hoynsie” column has been a longtime favorite of readers in northeast Ohio. He is past president of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and The Press Club of Cleveland inducted Hoynes into the Club’s Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013. Before becoming a baseball writer 41 years ago, he covered the Browns, Cavaliers and high school sports for The Cleveland Press, News-Herald, and Painesville Telegraph. Hoynes was born and raised in Cleveland, and he earned a journalism degree from Marquette University. 

You can follow Paul on X: @hoynsie

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Celebrate college basketball with this compilation of stories told on Press Box Access by 12 sportswriters who covered some of the greatest moments in NCAA tournament history. Magic vs. Bird. Jim Valvano looking for someone to hug after Phi Slama Jama falls. Villanova takes down mighty Georgetown. The Laettner shot. David Thompson soaring over the Walton Gang. Mario Chalmers forcing OT. Kris Jenkins for the win. The Dream Game in the Bluegrass State. Saint Joseph’s over top-ranked DePaul.

Thanks to Malcolm Moran, Mark Whicker, Dick “Hoops” Weiss, Bob Ryan, Terence Moore, Jerry Tipton, Bud Withers, Tony Barnhart, Geoff Calkins, Dick Jerardi, Mike DeCourcy, and Wendell Barnhouse for their time and stories. Rock on.

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We welcome back Jerry Tipton to Press Box Access to share stories from his new book: “Déjà Blue—A Sportswriter Reflects on 41 Seasons of Kentucky Basketball.” He takes us behind the scenes with the Wildcats, as he did with his fair, objective and relentless reporting during four decades on the pressure-packed beat. Rick Pitino. Tubby Smith. John Calipari. Eddie Sutton. The Mardi Gras Miracle. Players who thrived in the spotlight. SEC coaches who were characters and Kentucky foils. And there’s more about the Laettner shot, which Jerry detailed in our first episode with him on Aug. 17, 2022: https://evergreenpodcasts.com/press-box-access/jerry-tipton-every-once-in-a-while-you-feel-like-youre-witnessing-history#episodeContent

Tipton served as the Kentucky basketball beat reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader from 1981 until his retirement in July 2022. In that time, he covered three national championship teams (’96, ’98, ’12), nine Final Four teams, six head coaches – Joe Hall, Sutton, Pitino, Smith, Billy Gillispie, Calipari – and more than 1,200 games played by the Wildcats. He also covered the university’s football team for six years before turning exclusively to basketball in 1987. A Lexington website once listed the Top 100 Most Influential People in University of Kentucky Sports History and ranked Tipton at No. 74. He has been enshrined in the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, and the Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communication Hall of Fame. He was the 2018 winner of the Tom Hammond Kentucky Sports Media Award.

Tipton also worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch from 1973-81. There, he was the beat reporter on Marshall University basketball for two seasons, covered Ohio and West Virginia high school sports, and wrote a Sunday column about bowling. The native of Hamtramck, Michigan earned a journalism degree from Marshall University after first studying math in college.

“Déjà Blue—A Sportswriter Reflects on 41 Seasons of Kentucky Basketball,” is scheduled to be released in late April. You can order Jerry’s book online at https://www.acclaimpress.com/books/deja-blue/

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We’re paying a special salute to Helene Elliott by once again publishing my conversation with her in an episode from February 2022. She recently accepted a buyout and ended her stellar 34-plus years at the Los Angeles Times, where she was a sports columnist for the last half of her tenure. Elliott became the first female journalist to be honored by the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport in North America when the Hockey Hall of Fame recognized her in 2005 as winner of the esteemed Elmer Ferguson award. Helene earned widespread respect from her peers and those she covered while also helping to pave the way for other women in sports media during her 47-year career.

In this episode, Elliott recounts how Wayne Gretzky set 61 NHL records and triggered a hockey boom in Southern California as an ambassador for that sport. She also has a funny tale about the Great One’s fear of flying. Elliott tells us why the Stanley Cup is the most difficult trophy to win in sports, how great players rise to the occasion like Mark Messier did for the ’94 Rangers, and what it was like to cover the “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Olympics. And we hear how Helene overcame barriers faced by female sportswriters to become a Hall of Famer. Oh, and she has a story about Lenny and Squiggy from the old “Laverne & Shirley” TV show.

Elliott began writing for Los Angeles Times in 1989. She was a beat reporter for the Lakers and Angels, then spent many years covering hockey and Olympic sports before becoming a columnist in 2006. Helene has covered 17 Olympics, the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Wimbledon, men’s and women’s World Cup soccer tournaments, and nearly every Stanley Cup Finals since 1980. She won the Best Breaking News Story award from the Associated Press Sports Editors for her story on the labor agreement that ended the NHL lockout in 2005. Her career began at the Chicago Sun-Times in 1977. She moved to New York City in 1979 and wrote for Newsday for the next 10 years before going to the West Coast. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Elliott is a 1977 graduate of the Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, which inducted her into the Medill Hall of Achievement in 2020.

Follow Elliott on Twitter: @helenenothelen

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We head to the rink for hockey talk with Dave Molinari, a Hall of Fame writer who has covered the Pittsburgh Penguins and NHL since 1983. His legendary dry, sharp wit comes through in tales about superstars Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby, as well as other great players who have produced five Stanley Cup championships during his tenure on the beat. Molinari tells us about coaching legends Herb Brooks and “Badger” Bob Johnson, a playoff game lasting five overtimes, and old arenas that made the hair stand up on his neck. You’ll laugh about Gene Ubriaco’s escape tunnel, Lou Angotti’s epic rant, and witch doctors entering the press box.

Molinari was enshrined in the media wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009 when he received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for print journalism, which is given each year by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. After beginning his journalism career at the McKeesport Daily News, Molinari joined the Pittsburgh Press as a copy editor in 1980. That paper assigned him to cover the Penguins and NHL in the summer of 1983. When the Pittsburgh Press folded at the end of 1992, Molinari moved to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and continued covering the Penguins and NHL until 2017, when his primary responsibility became Penn State football. He returned to hockey writing and the Penguins beat in June 2019 when, after 39-plus years at newspapers, he joined DK Pittsburgh Sports, a subscription website. Molinari began writing for a different website, Pittsburgh Hockey Now, in May 2022.

After growing up in the McKeesport suburbs of Glassport and Elizabeth Township near Pittsburgh, Molinari earned a journalism degree from Penn State. He is the author of two books:

“Mario Lemieux: Best There Ever Was,” written along with Ron Cook and Chuck Finder.

You can follow Dave on X: @MolinariPGH

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We travel to the Big Apple and beyond as New York Post sports columnist Mike Vaccaro shares tales from 35 years of living his childhood dream job. Isiah Thomas depicted in a tabloid clown suit. John Calipari’s colorful language in a full rant. A postseason run by the Yankees in the wake of 9/11. Badminton (yes, badminton) at the Olympics. Fifty-nine hockey columns in 61 days. Six newspapers on the daily beat of Arkansas sports. That time he was fired. Vac recounts all this and more. He also discusses returning to work since his left leg needed to be amputated below the knee in 2022 because of health issues. Welcome back Vac.

Vaccaro has been the lead sports columnist for the New York Post since 2002, and he has been named New York Sportswriter of the Year four times by the National Sports Media Association. He has covered the Olympics, World Cup soccer, Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, Stanley Cup playoffs, Final Four and college football championship games numerous times. Vac not only writes about local, national, and international sports, he also writes a Sunday column called “Open Mike.”

The Associated Press Sports Editors, the New York State Publishers Association, the New York Press Club, and the Poynter Institute are among those that have awarded Vaccaro more than 100 journalism honors during his career, which began in 1989 at the Olean (N.Y) Times Herald. He became the sports editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times in 1991, then wrote sports columns for the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record, Kansas City Star, and Newark Star-Ledger before joining the New York Post in November 2002.

Vaccaro is the author of three books: “Emperors and Idiots” (about the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry); “1941 – The Greatest Year in Sports”; and “The First Fall Classic” (about the 1912 World Series).

A native of West Hempstead, N.Y., Vaccaro graduated in 1989 from St. Bonaventure University, where his name was added to the Jandoli School Wall of Distinguished Graduates in 2022.

You can read Vaccaro’s columns for the New York Post at this link: https://nypost.com/author/mike-vaccaro/ 

Here is Vac’s column about how past personal struggles helped make 2023 a glorious year: https://nypost.com/2023/12/23/sports/past-personal-struggles-helped-make-2023-a-glorious-year/ 

@MikeVacc

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We’re saluting Muhammad Ali on his 82nd birthday with a compilation of stories told on Press Box Access by sportswriters who crossed paths with The Greatest. Dave Kindred, Jerry Izenberg and other veteran scribes share their personal memories of Ali going as far back as 1960. They put us ringside at Ali’s greatest fights such as “The Rumble in the Jungle” and “The Thrilla in Manila.” They take us on trains, into hotel rooms, and onto the banks of Africa’s Congo River. We even go to the circus with the heavyweight champ and world-renowned activist and humanitarian. Enjoy our treasure trove of Ali tales.

Dave Kindred, on my Mount Rushmore of sportswriters, covered 17 of Ali’s fights, dating back to when he wrote for The Courier-Journal in the champ’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

Jerry Izenberg, who began his amazing journalism career in 1951, covered more of Ali’s fights than any sportswriter, including epic bouts with Joe Frazier and George Foreman that live on in boxing history.

Tom Archdeacon has covered more than 200 fights as a columnist and honored boxing writer in Ohio and Florida, and he not only sat ringside at Ali’s final three bouts but also went to the circus with him.

Tim Smith covered the fight game for many years at The New York Times, New York Daily News, and Cincinnati Enquirer, and he now works for Haymon Sports, a boxing management company.

Thom Loverro, sports columnist at The Washington Times and an honored boxing writer, first met Ali as a young reporter visiting training camp in the late 1970s.

Vito Stellino is best known as a longtime NFL writer, but he was ringside at Madison Square Garden in 1971 as a reporter covering the legendary Ali-Frazier I.

Mary Schmitt Boyer puts us in Atlanta, Georgia on the night when Ali lit the Olympic torch, providing her a most treasured memory of the many Olympics that she covered.

George Diaz had encounters with Ali as a longtime Florida boxing writer, and he’s also the ghostwriter of legendary fighter Roberto Duran’s autobiography, “I Am Duran.”

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Our show’s 75th episode has a special guest in Jayson Stark, one of the most well-respected, well-liked baseball writers for more than 40 years. His passion for the game and craft shines through as he discusses growing up as Stan Hochman’s pen pal, studying Peter Gammons early in his career, and mentoring other young reporters. Jayson has some wild tales – including a near punch by Dickie Noles, and Dallas Green’s special gift – from being a beat writer covering the early ’80s Philadelphia Phillies. Hear how Jayson developed his weekly baseball column, renowned since 1983 for humor, oddball stats and offbeat facts. He tells us about a World Series game that he considers the best in history. And there’s even a story connecting a Sammy Sosa homer and a certain Frenchman.

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America named Stark the 2019 winner of its Career Excellence Award, which he received at the Hall of Fame induction weekend in Cooperstown, New York. Jayson worked 21 years at his hometown Philadelphia Inquirer, first serving as the Phillies’ beat reporter (1979-82) and then becoming the paper’s national baseball writer and columnist in ’83. His Baseball Week in Review column proved so popular in syndication that it continued after he was hired by ESPN in 2000. For the next 17 years, Stark served as a senior baseball writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine while making regular appearances on the cable network’s TV shows “Baseball Tonight,” “SportsCenter” and “Outside the Lines,” as well as regular ESPN Radio guest spots on “Mike and Mike” and as co-host of a weekly radio show during the baseball season on ESPN Radio’s affiliate in Philadelphia. His TV work includes appearances on Major League Baseball Productions, NFL Films and Philadelphia’s Comcast SportsNet. He is also a former baseball analyst for the Sports Fan radio network and a commentator on the Phillies’ pregame radio show.

Despite his popularity and proficiency, Stark was laid off by ESPN in April 2017. He has been covering baseball at The Athletic and MLB Network since 2018. Jayson also served as a columnist for Baseball America for 16 years and has written for Sports Illustrated, Sport, Inside Sports, Sporting News, Men’s Fitness and Athlon. His first job in journalism was at the Providence Journal (1975-78).

Stark has won an Emmy for his work on "Baseball Tonight," has been inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame and is a two-time winner of the Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year award given by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He was a finalist for that group’s National Sportswriter of the Year award in 2017. Stark was honored by Penn State’s Foster Conference for Distinguished Writers in 2010. He has won several awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors, and he was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. That year, Topps issued a Jayson Stark baseball card.

Jayson is the author of three books:

Stark earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University in 1973. He was born in Philadelphia and grew up in the city’s Northeast section. His mother, June Herder Stark, wrote for the Philadelphia Record and worked alongside legendary sportswriter Red Smith. She later edited the Philadelphia edition of Where Magazine.

You can follow Stark on X: @jaysonst

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Mike DeCourcy puts us courtside with tales from his distinguished career covering college basketball for nearly four decades. He tells us about the greatest game he ever covered and the first machine he ever filed a story on. Mike gives insight from time spent with coaches such as Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Huggins, Nolan Richardson and Skip Prosser. We discuss how national narratives follow certain people and programs. And we get a dose of college football as Mike recalls working the Penn State beat when Joe Paterno was at the height of his power.

DeCourcy, a member of the United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, is in his 37th season of covering college basketball, including 29 seasons for The Sporting News. He’ll be working his 34th Final Four in 2024. Mike has been a studio analyst at the Big Ten Network since 2010 and an NCAA tournament bracket analyst for Fox Sports since 2020. His career began in 1983 at the Pittsburgh Press, where he spent the next 10 years. Mike then moved to Memphis at the Commercial Appeal (1993-97) before joining the Cincinnati Enquirer (1997-2000).

While working in Cincinnati and Memphis, DeCourcy also served as college basketball columnist at The Sporting News, beginning in 1995. He joined The Sporting News fulltime in 2000. Besides college hoops, Mike also writes frequently about the NFL and soccer in his role as senior writer. He writes magazine-length features, enterprise, analysis, and covers breaking news.

DeCourcy is the author of two books: “Legends of College Basketball: The 100 Greatest Players of All Time” and “Inside Basketball: From the Playgrounds to the NBA.”

Mike was born in Pittsburgh and graduated from Point Park University there in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication.

You can follow him on X: @tsnmike

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