By James Lomuscio
Celebrated author and sportswriter Frank Deford, a 39-year Westport resident who moved with his wife Carol to Manhattan just a month ago, is scheduled to receive the National Humanities Medal from President Obama in the White House’s East Room on Wednesday.
Frank Deford addresses the 2010 Arts Advisory Committee award ceremony in Westport Town Hall where he was among honorees. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
“I was stunned when I found out in April I would be receiving it,” Deford said today, two days after the White House announced the award. “I was still living in Westport at the time.
“I was naturally thrilled and pretty humbled by it, looking at the others being honored,” he added. “It’s not the sort of thing you imagine at all, and I have no idea how the nominating process works.”
DeFord is one of 12 of the 2012 National Humanities Award winners, including author Joan Didion, William G. Bowen, president of Princeton, DeFord’s alma mater, Class of 1962, former Poet Laureate Marilynne Robinson and author Robert Putnam, best known for his work “Bowling Alone.”
According to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Deford, the author of 10 novels, eight nonfiction books and thousands of articles, many of them sports pieces, was picked “for transforming how we think about sports.”
“A dedicated writer and storyteller, Mr. Deford has offered a consistent, compelling voice in print and on radio, reaching beyond scores and statistics to reveal the humanity woven into the games we love,” award officials stated.
“I’m 74, so I guess it’s a lifetime achievement award,” Deford quipped.
Obama will also present a dozen 2012 National Medal of Arts awards at the same ceremony. Among the recipients are filmmaker George Lucas, musician Herb Alpert and soprano Renee Fleming.
“I never met any of these people personally, and it will be fascinating to me to meet these extraordinary people and to be in their company,” Deford said.
Best known for his work spanning 50 years at Sports Illustrated, Deford was voted six times Sportswriter of the Year by National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame.
He has also written for myriad national publications, including Vanity Fair, and was the editor “and spokeman” for The National, a short lived national sports daily newspaper.
Of his novels, which often avoid sports, Deford says his favorite is “Love and Infamy.”
“I think was my favorite novel; it is about Japan before the war,” he said.
His favorite nonfiction work is “Alex The Life of a Child,” a poignant, heartfelt work about his daughter Alex who died at age 8 from cystic fibrosis. The book was made into a television movie.
Despite a long held affection for Westport, Deford said it was time to move to smaller quarters in Manhattan where he and his wife Carol could be closer to their children and grandchildren.
“The house was just too big, and with the kids grown and children and grandchildren living in Manhattan, it was a natural enough move,” he said.
He also quipped that he would be making trips back to Westport because “I’ve got a safe deposit box there.”
“And really, it’s not that far,” he said.
And about what he called his “lifetime achievement award, Deford said, “I’ve been very lucky to be able to do something I love.”
“This is just the icing on the cake,” he said.
