RIP John Feinstein

I just bought his Five Banners book last week. I've probably read at least a half dozen of his other books, and I really liked them all (I really recommend the one on the Patriot League). Such a huge loss to the Duke community. RIP.

9F
 
So sad. Way too young. Forever's Team about the 1978 Duke Final Four team came out when I was in high school and was an obsessed Duke fan. I read it several times and it strengthened my desire to go to Duke, with its story of Duke basketball at a much more innocent time when it wasn't Duke Basketball Inc. like it is today. It is a must read for any Duke fan. Now that I am older, it is amazing to think how relatively young he was when he wrote that book, and, more importantly, A Season on the Brink, which is the book that really put him on the map.

I crossed paths with him a number of times as he was reporting on A March to Madness during my senior year - he was usually given the second question at Coach K's press conferences after Brill. He was not the warmest guy to me but I know many others who spoke fondly of him so I will defer to their experiences. I believe he taught or co-taught classes at Duke a few times (I believe through the PPS department). I read several of his other books and generally enjoyed them.

My condolences to his family and friends.
 
Just heard this news while watching the Players. He was so young. It's hard to think of someone who wrote so well, and so prolifically, about multiple sports, especially basketball (Season on the Brink, Forever's Team, A March to Madness, The Last Amateurs) and golf (A Good Walk Spoiled, The Majors, Open, Tales from Q School...). And baseball. And football. Rest in peace.
 
This sucks I was a freshman in college or a sophomore when “season on the brink” came out.

Guess the hardest thing for me is that the world I grew up in where journalist would embed with people and write these long insightful pieces has completely disappeared. Now institutions can tell their own stories. In a lot of ways that’s better for them , but I love print and I always have.

I thought John’s writing about basketball and golf and tennis was fantastic. I didn’t always agree with him and he certainly was opinionated, but I’m not gonna say anything bad about him on the day of his passing. May his memory be a blessing to all who knew and loved him.

Gotten old enough to understand that the world changes and the way it was maybe isn’t the best way but I certainly miss people like Bill Brill and Caulton Tudor and Al Featherston and now I have to add John to this list.

Maybe Barry Jacobs who I think of as part of that cohort could write a remembrance of John.

It’s fitting that his last article was about Tom Izzo , because both of them are the last of their respective types.
 
John was a classmate at Duke. This news hits hard. A fond story to celebrate John's true spirit that I can share is about his sports writing and my son. My son and I were at a Greensboro Hornets game at the old War Memorial Stadium sitting on the 3rd base side. I saw John walk by heading towards the outfield "social section" and soon thereafter a foul ball came our way. My son and I retrieved the ball and I told my son that a famous person was in the park and we needed to have him sign our ball. We were warmly greeted by John and I explained that we wanted him to sign our new souvenir. John wrote "To ___nice to meet you." My son was a bit taken aback and said "why can't I sign it too?" John said "of course!" and my son also scribbled his 6 year old name in big letters on the ball. We then shared a beer and he told me he was doing a book on the minor leagues. Perfect night. I still have the ball and am looking at it now "RAWLINGS Official South Atlantic League" baseball from the 90's. That was John. Always making the personal experience of others special and genuine. RIP my friend. Way too soon.
 
Oh, my heart is broken.
💔
John was one of the only sportswriters who could call the basketball office and get through to Coach K when I worked there -- mostly because of the way I crushed on his brother Bob who was a year ahead of me at Duke. (The members of the press were *supposed* to go through the Sports Information Office to reach Coach K. . . )

I have just finished reading one of John's young adult mystery novels, "The Last Shot." It was a fun story, and John showed that he could not only write sports stories, but he could also write a pretty good mystery.

The world just grew a little dimmer.

May John's memory be a blessing.
 
John set the standard impossibly high for Chronicle sports editors to follow.

We all endeavored to write as well, to build relationships as deep, and to reveal something beyond the X’s and O’s the way he did in book after book, and column after column.

I also found his skewering of Duke football frustrating, but he’s in the canon of American soortswriters for good reason.

I hope he was proud to see so many Chronicles alums follow his lead into professional journalism in recent years.

May he rest in peace.
 
Mike Corey said:
John set the standard impossibly high for Chronicle sports editors to follow.

We all endeavored to write as well, to build relationships as deep, and to reveal something beyond the X’s and O’s the way he did in book after book, and column after column.

I also found his skewering of Duke football frustrating, but he’s in the canon of American soortswriters for good reason.

I hope he was proud to see so many Chronicles alums follow his lead into professional journalism in recent years.

May he rest in peace.
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Mike Corey, nice to see you around. If for very sad reasons.
 
I got to know a John personally. Very warm, down to earth and generous. There’s now a big void in sports journalism that can never be fully filled.
 
bsky.app

Luke DeCock (@lukedecock.bsky.social)

“John Feinstein was one of the most influential sports writers of our time. He wrote with confidence, drawing readers into his stories with prose that few could match. As so many of us knew, he was never shy about sharing an opinion." -- statement from Mike Krzyzewski
bsky.app bsky.app
More from Coach K if you click on the link.
 
John was a year behind me at Duke. We never met except perhaps in passing on the quad. Growing up in Illini country I had an extreme dislike of Bobby Knight who poached “our” Illinois high school talent to the detriment of Illini hoops. Quinn Buckner, Isiah Thomas, Jim Crews, Bob Bender the list goes on…. “Season on the Brink” the first of John’s many books I have read was a revelation, an insiders look at my favorite sport. If I recall correctly (it’s been fifty years) John and a two other Chronicle sports writers would on Fridays edition prognosticate winners of the Saturday college football games of interest and kept a running total of correct picks throughout the season. John was quite good at that and I think picked the most winners. Perhaps a former Chronicle staffer could corroborate. May his memory be a blessing to his family and friends.
 
gotoguy said:
John was a year behind me at Duke. We never met except perhaps in passing on the quad. Growing up in Illini country I had an extreme dislike of Bobby Knight who poached “our” Illinois high school talent to the detriment of Illini hoops. Quinn Buckner, Isiah Thomas, Jim Crews, Bob Bender the list goes on…. “Season on the Brink” the first of John’s many books I have read was a revelation, an insiders look at my favorite sport. If I recall correctly (it’s been fifty years) John and a two other Chronicle sports writers would on Fridays edition prognosticate winners of the Saturday college football games of interest and kept a running total of correct picks throughout the season. John was quite good at that and I think picked the most winners. Perhaps a former Chronicle staffer could corroborate. May his memory be a blessing to his family and friends.
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As a Chronicle sports writer 20ish years behind Feinstein I can confirm that we would do "Grid Picks" every week, picking various games and including nicknames, inside jokes, etc. We actually had the concept of the "celebrity picker" long before College Gameday - we would include picks from some quasi-celebrity who was ideally at least tangentially related to the opponent, or else was someone important on campus. CJ Skender, world class accounting professor, once called on me by my Grid Picks nickname, so the following week I included a very random accounting reference and he saw it (yes, I was a suck-up).

So I wouldn't be shocked if Feinstein did it, and someone older than me can confirm when it was originated.
 
The background of this is a horrible Maryland red but it’s a great interview particularly the part about covering Greco wrestling in the 1984 Olympics, which I think it’s the heart of how tenacious and how good at pursuing stories John Feinstein was
 
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