John Derr reported 57 of the first 60 Masters golf tournaments from Augusta National. The tower overlooking the pond and the green of the 15th hole was his home for the CBS telecasts for nearly two decades, starting in 1956.
In the six decades of his sports reporting career, Derr had the opportunity to observe, know and visit with most of the worldclass athletes. He does not claim intimate friendship with every sports hero but as you can tell from his recollections, most of them showed a friendly closeness to him.
Derr broadcast the Olympic games, Ryder Cup matches, World Series, Joe Louis fights, tennis from Forest Hills, bowl games and even the National Marbles championship from Wildwood, NJ.
People interested Derr more than events. That's why you'll enjoy his comments on celebrities as divergent as the Duke of Windsor (in his first USA post-abdication interview), Bob Jones on playing rather than hitting the shot, Joe DiMaggio, Grace Kelly, Albert Einstein and his CBS bosses -- Red Barber and Edward R. Murrow, who together interviewed and hired him.
These memories he wrote for and at the urging of his daughter, Cricket. Without her persistent badgering we would not know how he convinced Col. Matt Winn to sell the Kentucky Derby rights to CBS when Derr headed that network's television and radio sports departments in New York.
Nor would we have known the reaction of a sub-teen, who arrived home from school to find his father sitting on the porch talking with Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and Thomas A. Edison. These are short, pithy recollections -- ideal for bedside reading since no chapter leads to the next one. The variety of subjects is amazing, running the whole gamut. You may think you know these famous people but from John Derr's point of observation you'll see them in a much more relaxed personal light. That's the way he knew them.
Reported the first 57 or 60 Masters Tournaments
