Jimmy Cannon
(April 10, 1909 – December 5, 1973)
[1]
was a sports journalist inducted into the
International Boxing Hall of Fame
[2]
for his coverage of the sport.
Early career
[
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]
Born in
New York City
, Cannon started at the
New York Daily News
when he was 17.
[3]
He later wrote for the
New York Post
,
New York Journal-American
and
King Features Syndicate
. He was a war correspondent for
Stars and Stripes
during
World War II
.
[4]
He also wrote a column for
Newsday
during the 1950s.
Boxing
[
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]
A long-time boxing writer, Cannon once wrote that "
boxing is the red light district of sports
".
[5]
When
Sugar Ray Robinson
was making his famous comeback, Cannon told him not to return to the ring. He wrote about this several times in his column.
[6]
He famously said of
Joe Louis
that "he is a credit to his race, the human race" and was one of the first sportswriters to see the importance of the black athlete.
[7]
A contemporary of
Ernest Hemingway
, he much admired Hemingway's writing, and the admiration was mutual.
[8]
[9]
Writing style
[
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]
On frequent occasions, when Cannon had no particular sports news to report, he would still manage to fill his daily column space by starting off with the phrase "Nobody asked me, but..." and then filling the rest of the column with his random opinions on any and every subject outside of the sports world. This gambit has been eagerly seized upon by newspaper columnists ever since, not only on the sports page but in every other section. Columnists who "borrow" this device will typically lead off with some lip-service tribute to its originator, such as "In the words of the immortal Jimmy Cannon: Nobody asked me, but..." and then they're off.
[10]
In popular culture
[
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]
Cannon is mentioned in
Ian Fleming
's
James Bond
novel,
Diamonds Are Forever
, in which Fleming describes Cannon's prose as "muscular" and "craftsmanlike".
Felix Leiter
hands Bond a cutting on the horse-racing in
Saratoga Springs
from the
New York Post
, telling him, "This Jimmy Cannon is their sports columnist. Good writer. Knows what he's talking about."
Cannon is described as "an attractive young man with wide, straight eyes and a rather thin-lipped smile."
Writing awards
[
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]
Quotable
[
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]
- (speaking of
Joe Louis
in response to another person's characterization of him as "a credit to his race") "...he is a credit to his race, the human race"
- "A sports expert is the guy who writes the best alibis for being wrong"
- "Nobody asked me, but..."
[14]
- "If
Howard Cosell
were a sport, he would be
roller derby
."
[14]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
The Editors of Chase's -
Chase's calendar of events 2009
- ^
"Jimmy Cannon"
.
- ^
"For Better And For Worse, Jimmy Cannon Influenced - 08.14.78 - SI Vault"
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-11-17.
[
dead link
]
- ^
"APSE | Associated Press Sports Editors"
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-07-08
. Retrieved
2011-01-14
.
- ^
"SI.com - Writers - Richard O'Brien: Boxing defies seedy reputation in the ring -- in most cases - Wednesday July 25, 2007 12:13PM"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-11-03.
[
dead link
]
- ^
"SecondsOut Boxing News - Login"
.
- ^
"Jack Newfield: From the Radical Outpost"
.
- ^
"The San Diego Union-Tribune - San Diego, California & National News"
.
- ^
HighBeam
- ^
"PBS | Ombudsman | 'Nobody Asked Me, But . . .'
"
.
PBS
.
- ^
"APSE | Associated Press Sports Editors"
. Archived from
the original
on 2010-02-20
. Retrieved
2010-02-03
.
- ^
"Jimmy Cannon"
.
- ^
"Boxing Writers' Association of America A.J. Liebling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-02-03
. Retrieved
2011-01-14
.
- ^
a
b
"Nobody Asked Him, But...,"
The New York Times
, Sunday, July 2, 1978.
Retrieved October 12, 2022.