Rick Telander
Longtime sportswriter Rick Telander was a Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated from 1981 to 1995 and then a featured columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times from 1995 to 2025. He has written ten books, one of which, Heaven Is a Playground, has been named one of the best sports books of all time. His work has been collected in over two dozen anthologies.
A native of Peoria, Ill., he attended Northwestern University on a football scholarship, earning All-Big Ten honors as a cornerback and twice being named to the All-Big Ten Academic first team. His junior year he was also the team’s punter. He has won many writing awards, including Illinois Sportswriter of the Year (eight times), the Dan Jenkins Award for Excellence in Sportswriting from the University of Texas, the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Distinguished Service from the Society of Professional Journalists, and his work has been nominated three times for a Pulitzer Prize.
He was an original member of the seminal ``The Sports Writers on TV’’ show. In 2022, he was inducted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame in Winston-Salem, NC.
The latest from Rick Telander
Reese and Clark made it clear—the WNBA deserves your attention: Telander
I apologize, but I’ve become bored with the NBA. Maybe it’s because the Bulls have been so blah. Maybe it’s because it’s hard to get fired up about a Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals. Or maybe it’s because traveling, carrying and palming are no longer violations, and Euro-stepping and foot-shuffling are the rage.
College athletes were always workers, not amateurs: Telander
Fox 32 sports columnist and former Northwestern football player Rick Telander reflects on the NCAA’s long-standing amateurism model and welcomes the new era of college athletes finally getting paid.
What the Sun-Times’ AI blunder says about the future of journalism: Telander
Rick Telander reflects on the Sun-Times’ post-buyout struggles and AI scandal, warning of the dangers of cutting corners in journalism.
New book dives into Caleb Williams’ pre-draft doubts about joining Chicago Bears
Fox 32 sports columnist Rick Telander reflects on 'American Kings,' a deeply reported and personal look at the cultural power of quarterbacks, featuring Caleb Williams’ path to the Bears.
Telander: Reminiscing on Pete Rose, and the luck that finally found the Hit King
``Rick,’’ Pete Rose wrote to me on a baseball, ``Good Luck.’’ That was nice of him, I thought. But I wasn’t the one who needed good luck. That luck finally found Charlie Hustle.
Telander: In tiny Gooding, Idaho, football and farm work made Chicago Bears Colston Loveland NFL-ready
The place where you grow up can shape you as surely as a chisel shapes wood. Chicago Bears first-round draft pick Colston Loveland most assuredly was shaped in Gooding, Idaho.
Belichick’s love life is overshadowing his new job already: Telander
Yes, there are more important sports stories out there, but more intriguing? Juicier? Don’t think so.