The University of Mississippi Athletics
Frank DeFord to Visit Oxford and Ole Miss
Oct. 30, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. -- - Frank Deford, one of the most revered sports writers in the business, will visit Ole Miss and Oxford Friday as he is scheduled to attend several journalism classes and end the day with a 5:00 p.m. reception at Off Square Books where he will sign and read from his latest book, AN AMERICAN SUMMER.
Deford's day will begin at 8 a.m., Friday, when he speaks at Farley Hall Room 302 in a session which is open to the public. Following a 9 a.m. visit with Ole Miss coaches and staff, Deford will then speak to several journalism classes throughout the day.
After Deford got his start as a writer for Sports Illustrated in 1962, his career as a sports writer and commentator has extended to National Public Radio and HBO's RealSports with Bryant Gumbel.
Deford's writing has made it to the big screen, including his 1981 novel EVERYBODY'S ALL- AMERICAN, starring Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange, and his book ALEX: The Life of a Child, about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis. He also wrote the original screenplay for the 1987 comedy TRADING HEARTS, starring Raul Julia and Beverly D'Angelo.
Deford proves his versatility with a new novel, AN AMERICAN SUMMER (Sourcebooks Landmark, hd. 24.00). Set in the 1950s, AN AMERICAN SUMMER tells the story of fourteen-year-old Christy Bannister, who has been uprooted from his boyhood home to go live with his father in Baltimore. Before he is able to make new friends he finds himself rescuing a dog that turns out to belong to a woman named Kathryn Slade, a woman whose swimming pool is a gathering place for neighborhood kids. However Kathryn herself is confined to an iron lung. Over the course of the summer, Kathryn becomes Christy's closest friend and helps him overcome many of the toughest hurdles of adolescence.