Ralph Wiley

Ralph Wiley
Born	Ralph Heygood Wiley Jr. (1952-04-12)April 12, 1952 Memphis,Tennessee,U.S.
Died	June 13, 2004(2004-06-13)(aged 52) Orlando,Florida,U.S.
Occupation	Journalist, writer
Education	Knoxville College
Genre	Non-fiction

Ralph Heygood Wiley Jr.(April 12, 1952 – June 13, 2004)was an American sports journalist who wrote forSports IllustratedandESPN's Page 2. He was well known for his distinctive literary tone and his writings on race in America.

Early life

Born inMemphis, Tennessee,Wiley attendedKnoxville Collegefrom 1972 to 1975, where he playedcollege football.After suffering an injury, he landed his first professional journalism job at theKnoxville Spectrum.He was a member ofKappa Alpha Psifraternity.

Career

Upon graduation, Wiley earned a position at theOakland Tribune,where he quickly climbed up the ranks fromcopy boyto beat writer and eventually became a regular columnist. In 1980, he coined the famous phrase "Billy Ball" to describe the managerial style ofBilly Martin.In 1982, he was hired bySports Illustrated,where he wrote 28 cover stories over a nine-year period,mainly aboutbo xing,football,andbaseball.

Wiley published several books during the course of his career, includingSerenity, A Bo xing Memoir;Why Black People Tend To Shout;andBy Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of Making Malcolm X,withSpike Lee.

Additionally, Wiley wrote articles forGQ,Premiere,andNational Geographic.He was a weekly contributor to ESPN's Page 2, where he wrote more than 240 columns. His presence on TV includedESPN'sThe Sports Reportersand regular guest appearances onSportsCenter.

Style

Wiley was famous for his well-regarded essays on race in America.He was known for his ability to mix street vernacular with literary references, and for his witty, erudite, and sometimes forceful writing style.When writing for ESPN's Page 2, in skirting the line between sports journalism and literary fiction, Wiley wrote many articles in the third person, featuring discursive, jazz-inflected prose and dialogue conducted between himself and a fictionalized character whose identity the writer left deliberately obscure.

Death

Wiley died of aheart attackat the age of 52 on June 13, 2004, while watching Game 4 of the2004 NBA Finals.Survivors included his companion, Susan Peacock of Orlando; his mother, Dorothy Brown of Washington, D.C.; a son from his marriage to Holly Cypress, Colen C. "Cole" Wiley; a daughter from his marriage to Monica Valdiviez-Wiley, Magdalena Elizabeth “Maggie” Valdiviez-Wiley; and a half brother, Samuel Graham of Memphis.