It’s said that you never want to be the person who replaces a legend. But when faced with being asked to fill the spot held by sports journalism icon Jim Murray at the Los Angeles Times, you’ve really got no choice.
“We were at the Surf and Sand Resort at Laguna Beach and we had just finished dinner and [sports editor] Bill Dwyre slid a manila envelope across the table and an offer to be a columnist,” Bill Plaschke recalled. “I said ‘Yes’ without ever opening it.”
Plaschke didn’t quite have the top job yet, but it was clear he was the top columnist in waiting, a mantle he would assume upon Murray’s death in 1998.
It seems as if Dwyre got it right on the first try as Plaschke remains the preeminent sports voice in Los Angeles some 28 years after that dinner.
Plaschke now has something else in common with Murray (1982) and Dwyre (1996), as he was named the 2024 winner of the Red Smith Award, the highest honor in sports journalism.
Naila-Jean Meyers, president of the Associated Press Sports Editors, the group that created and oversees the Red Smith Award, made the call informing Plaschke, 65, of the lifetime achievement award.
“It was a surprise,” Plaschke said. “I felt humbled, honored and numb to be mentioned in the same breath as the greats that came before me. And to now be on the same list as Jim Murray and Bill Dwyre, my L.A. Times family, I am overwhelmed.”
It really shouldn’t have been a surprise to Plaschke because he has been voted top sports columnist by APSE nine times and placed in the top 10 22 times. Earlier this year he was inducted into the National Sports Media Assn. Hall of Fame.
“There is only one person who can say he replaced Jim Murray, and Plaschke is the guy,” Dwyre said upon learning who had won this year’s Red Smith winner. “The combination of the two as lead sports columnist for the L.A. Times covers 63 years and with Plaschke, that’s still counting.”
It wasn’t as if the transition was seamless, if for no other reason than expectations.
“It was enormous pressure from the first day,” Plaschke said. “The first five years on the job, I thought my name was ‘You’re no Jim Murray.’ because that’s what everyone kept telling me. I guess it’s a testament to perseverance. And I’m not Jim Murray. I can only hope to honor his memory.”
The truth is that the styles are very different. Murray invented the use of hyperbolic comparisons that were meant to be admired and enjoyed as a new type of literature. Plaschke had more variations to his style, often making his subjects the stars of the story or taking an unpopular opinion on popular topic.
“After hundreds of columns that hit just the right note, whether heartfelt and emotional tales of noble underdogs or holding the powerful accountable, Bill has never lost his passion for chasing his next great column,” said Iliana Limón Romero, the current sports editor of The Times.
“He works hard at his craft and even harder at being a generous colleague and mentor to those who seek his guidance.”
If Murray were still around, he would undoubtedly say, “Stop talking about me. This is Plaschke’s moment.”
Plaschke grew up in Louisville and then graduated from Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. His first real journalism job was in a bureau at the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel where, according to him, he covered senior tennis and Little League.
“I think back to the days running around the high school football field in South Florida, calling in games on pay phones,” Plaschke said. “I was covering games where the No. 1 question was ‘What’s your name, son?’”
From there it was on to Seattle, where he covered the Mariners before landing a job in the San Diego Edition of The Times in 1987 covering the Padres.
“To go from covering the worst baseball team in Seattle to the worst team in San Diego and then to the Dodgers and to wind up in the L.A. sports scene during the height of it, well, that’s an incredible stroke of fortune,” Plaschke said. “My career has been one lucky break after another.”
Most would dispute that it was only luck. Along the way, Plaschke has twice been named top sports columnist by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. Among the awards he is most proud of is being named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters and a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center.
Plaschke has been a regular on ESPN’s “Around the Horn” for 21 years, where the nation was introduced to his propensity for being muted. He is also the author of six books, including his latest,“Paradise Found,” about the resurrection of the Paradise (Ca.) High football team in the wake of the 2018 fire that destroyed the town. The book has been optioned for a movie.
In 2010, Plaschke was chosen to be the keynote speaker at the opening of the Red Smith Hall of Fame at Indiana University in Indianapolis.
He closed with these words: “The mediums are changing and the job descriptions are evolving, but for those of us who want to follow in the paths of the greats in the Red Smith Hall of Fame, there is still a place for us here. It’s still about the reader. It’s still about the words.”
While most in sports journalism knew Plaschke would eventually be in that hall, he expressed some signature humility after learning of his induction.
“I remember the speech never really thinking I would be part of [the Hall of Fame],” he said. “I thought I would just be a visitor. I never thought I would be fortunate enough to get there. I was so lucky.
“I’m proud to work on the best sports staff in the country. It’s easy to do your job when you are surrounded by greatness.”
A luncheon to honor Plaschke will be held at the APSE summer conference in Charlotte on June 21.
“If you asked Bill Plaschke to pick his favorite column, his answer is most likely to be the next one he writes,” Limón Romero said. “He will celebrate winning the Red Smith Award by covering a Lakers game and will follow that with a Dodgers game. He has ascended to sports journalism legend status, but we’re fortunate he still pushes himself to serve Los Angeles Times readers every day.”
Plaschke received 93 points, based on a 5-3-1 system for first-, second- and third-place votes. Tom Boswell was second with 59 points and Mark Whicker was third with 51.
The five journalists who finished behind Plaschke in the voting are automatically nominated for next year’s award. They are Boswell, Whicker, Hal Bodley, Garry D. Howard and Dan Shaughnessy.
