Buzz Bissinger | |
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 Bissinger in 2016 | |
| Born | Harry Gerard Bissinger III November 1, 1954 New York City, United States |
| Occupation | Journalist |
Harry Gerard Bissinger III, also known as Buzz Bissinger and H. G. Bissinger (born November 1, 1954) [1] is an American journalist and author, best known for his 1990 non-fiction book Friday Night Lights . He is a longtime contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine. In 2019, HBO released a documentary on Bissinger titled “Buzz”.
Born in New York, Bissinger is the son of Eleanor (née Lebenthal) and Harry Gerard Bissinger II. [2] [3] His father was a former president of the municipal bond firm Lebenthal & Company. He graduated from Phillips Academy in 1972 and from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, where he was a sports and opinion editor for The Daily Pennsylvanian . [4] [5] He is the cousin of Peter Berg, who directed the film adaptation of Bissinger's book Friday Night Lights. [6]
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(November 2022) |
In 1987, while writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bissinger won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for his story on corruption in the Philadelphia court system.
In 1998 his article "Shattered Glass," an exposé of the career of New Republic writer Stephen Glass, was published in the magazine Vanity Fair, where he is a contributing editor. The article was adapted for the 2003 film of the same name.
Bissinger's July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story "Call Me Caitlyn," on the transition of former Olympic decathlete, businessperson, and television personality Bruce Jenner to Caitlyn Jenner star of E!'s Keeping Up with the Kardashians and I Am Cait , with photographs by Annie Leibovitz, was one of the biggest international scoops in years. Bissinger had exclusive access to Jenner both immediately before and after her cosmetic surgery. The 11,000-word article was months in the making and kept heavily under wraps until it was released on the magazine's website on June 1.
Bissinger's article for Vanity Fair, "Gone with the Wind" (August 2007), about the saga of 2006 Kentucky Derby Winner Barbaro, has been optioned by Universal Pictures. [7] His magazine work has also appeared in The New York Times and Sports Illustrated .
In 2008, Bissinger wrote "The Throwback," an online sports column for The New York Times. [8]
Bissinger also served as a columnist at The Daily Beast . On October 8, 2012, Bissinger endorsed Mitt Romney for president. [9]
He briefly hosted a daily radio talk show on WPHT Philadelphia 1210 with Steve Martorano. [10]
Bissinger is perhaps best known for his book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, which documents the 1988 season of the football team of Permian High School in Odessa, Texas. This work was the inspiration for the 1993 television series Against the Grain , and was turned into a successful film (which was released in October 2004), and a television series which debuted on NBC on October 3, 2006. The book has sold nearly two million copies. In a list of the one hundred best books on sports ever, Sports Illustrated ranked Friday Night Lights fourth and the best ever on football. ESPN called Friday Night Lights the best book on sports over the past quarter-century.
A Prayer for the City, published in 1998, offers insight into the urban political scene of Philadelphia during Mayor (who later became the Governor of Pennsylvania until 2011) Ed Rendell's term in the 1990s.
The New York Times' bestselling Three Nights in August, published in 2005, chronicles a series in August 2003 between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs through the perspective of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.
Shooting Stars was published by Penguin Press in September 2009. [11] The book, co-authored with basketball superstar LeBron James, tells the story of James' high school career where he and his four best friends won a championship in basketball. As part of the promotion of Shooting Stars, Bissinger appeared as a "Guest Commenter" on a Deadspin post on October 1, 2009. [12]
In April 2012, Bissinger released After Friday Night Lights, a sequel to Friday Night Lights which focuses on Bissinger's relationship with James "Boobie" Miles, a major character in his first book.
Father's Day, published in May 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is a memoir that revolves around a singular cross-country road trip taken with one of his twin sons, Zach, an autistic savant.
Bissinger wrote a piece in August 2020 saying that he and his wife would move to Italy if Donald Trump was re-elected President of the United States. [13]
In 2022 Bissinger wrote The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II , which was widely reviewed. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
Bissinger has been married three times. [19] [20]
Bissinger is married to Lisa C. Smith, a former Assistant Vice Chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi. [21] He has three sons. [22] [23] A resident of Washington state, he divides his time between homes in Philadelphia and the Pacific Northwest.[ citation needed ]
In a column published in GQ , Bissinger states he is a shopaholic with an obsession for expensive designer clothes, spending $638,412.97 between 2010 and 2012.
Bissinger is addicted to both shopping and sex, and has been to therapy for both. [24] He has questioned his own sexuality as well as his gender preference. [25]
In 2013, Bissinger was awarded an honorary degree by Drexel University in recognition of his exceptional contributions as one of the “nation’s most honored and distinguished writers.” He has received numerous other awards for his writing. [26]
1976 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, 37 events were contested in athletics. There were a total number of 1005 participating athletes from 80 countries.
Peter Berg is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy Very Bad Things (1998), the action comedy The Rundown (2003), the sports drama Friday Night Lights (2004), the action thriller The Kingdom (2007), the superhero comedy-drama Hancock (2008), the military science fiction war film Battleship (2012), the war film Lone Survivor (2013), the disaster drama Deepwater Horizon (2016), the Boston Marathon bombing drama Patriots Day (2016), the action thriller Mile 22 (2018), and the action comedy Spenser Confidential (2020), the latter five all starring Mark Wahlberg. In addition to cameo appearances in the last six of these titles, he has had prominent acting roles in films including Never on Tuesday (1989), Shocker (1989), The Last Seduction (1994), The Great White Hype (1996), Cop Land (1997), Corky Romano (2001), Collateral (2004), Smokin' Aces (2006), and Lions for Lambs (2007).
Gary Gaines was an American football coach. Gaines was the head coach of the 1988 Permian High School football team, which was the focus of Buzz Bissinger's book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream and the 2004 motion picture Friday Night Lights starring Billy Bob Thornton. His coaching career spanned four decades, coaching at eight high schools and two colleges, all in Texas.
Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series developed by Peter Berg and inspired by the 1990 nonfiction book by H. G. Bissinger, which was adapted as the 2004 film of the same name by Berg. Executive producers were Brian Grazer, David Nevins, Sarah Aubrey and Jason Katims who also served as showrunner. The series follows a high school football team in the fictional town of Dillon, a small, close-knit community in rural West Texas. It features an ensemble cast led by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, portraying high school football coach Eric Taylor and his wife Tami Taylor, a school faculty member. The primary cast includes characters associated with football and high school. The show uses its small-town backdrop to address many issues in contemporary American culture like family values, school funding, racism, substance use, abortion and lack of economic opportunities.
LeRoy T. Walker was an American track and field coach and the first African-American president of the United States Olympic Committee. In the 1996 Olympics, Walker was delegated to lead a 10,000 member group of the most talented athletes in the world. His goal was to make sure that American citizens have a feeling of ownership in the program, saying,
We ought to keep them informed. We ought to let them know what the Olympic movement is all about and what’s happening to the dollars that they give.
Learn To Read is an adult educational TV series that consists of 30 programs, hosted by entrepreneur and literacy advocate Wally Amos. Co-instructors include Doris Biscoe and Charlotte Scot. Caitlyn Jenner guest-starred on the first episode. This was based on 27 million Americans having almost no reading skills. On Friday, there is a review of the week. The final program reviews the entire series.
Against the Grain is an American drama television series that aired on NBC from October 1 until December 24, 1993. starring John Terry, Donna Bullock, Ben Affleck, Vanessa Lee Evigan and Stephen Tobolowsky. The show was inspired by Buzz Bissinger's book Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream.
The 1986 Camel GT Championship season was the 16th season of the IMSA GT Championship auto racing series. It was for GTP and Lights classes of prototypes, as well as Grand Tourer-style racing cars which ran in the GTO and GTU classes. It began February 1, 1986, and ended October 26, 1986, after eighteen rounds.
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream is a 1990 non-fiction book written by H. G. Bissinger. The book follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas, as they made a run towards the Texas state championship. While originally intended to be a Hoosiers-type chronicle of high school sports holding together a small town, the book ended up being critical of life in the town of Odessa. It was later adapted into a short-lived 1993 television series, a 2004 feature film, and a second 2006–11 television series.
Anthony J. Butkovich was a Croatian-American football fullback from the University of Illinois and spent his last year at Purdue. He was drafted by the Cleveland Rams in the first round of the 1944 NFL Draft.
Dirty Tennis is a 1989 short comedy parody video about tennis instructional videos. It stars Dick Van Patten, Caitlyn Jenner and Nicollette Sheridan. It was written by James Van Patten and directed by Jonathan Baker and George J. Bloom. The short comedy was released on VHS in 1989.
Lloyd C. Winter, better known as Bud was an American track and field coach who is regarded as one of the greatest sprint coaches in the world. Over a 29-year coaching career (1941–1970) at the then San Jose State College, he produced 102 All-Americans, 27 who went on to become Olympians.
The National Sports Journalism Center is a sports journalism program run by Indiana University and a resource center for sports media professionals. The center, based at Indiana University-Bloomington, is partnered with the Media School at Indiana University, through which students can take degree programs in sports journalism and other forms of sports media.
John Jackson McLaughry was an American football player and coach. He participated in the Mosquito Bowl.
James Earl "Boobie" Miles Jr. is a former high school football running back for Permian High School, and was a primary subject in the book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger, and the movie inspired by the book. He attended Permian High School in Odessa, Texas.
"Pilot" is the first episode of the sports drama television series Friday Night Lights. The episode premiered on the NBC network on October 3, 2006. It introduces the men and women involved with the Dillon Panthers, a Texas high school football team. In the pilot episode, the team is preparing for the first game of the season, which will be the first game under new head coach Eric Taylor.
Viktor Gruzenkin is a retired Soviet decathlete. His personal record in the decathlon is 8356 points, set in Kiev in 1984. On February 17–18, 1979 he set the world record in the Indoor Heptathlon at 5934 points, which he held for over a year, surpassing the record of Guido Kratschmer who had recently won the silver medal in the 1976 Olympics behind Bruce Jenner.
Bert Salvatore Bonanno was an American track and field coach and sports administrator who has produced numerous Olympic champions and world-record holders.
The Mosquito Bowl was a football game played December 24, 1944 between two regiments of Marines at Guadalcanal during World War II. Buzz Bissinger in 2022 wrote an account, The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II, which was widely reviewed.
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