Bill Pennington, who over a quarter century has covered baseball, football, golf, skiing, the Olympics and lots of other stuff in between, will be retiring from The Times in early September.
Bill has been one of our best, most agile writers, and one of our kindest and most generous souls. He was one of the first reporters I worked with when I joined Sports in 2015, and I looked forward to our conversations and edits because I knew I would always come away learning something — about the sport, about Bill, about The Times. His gems were always delivered with wit and grace, even under deadline pressure.
There was the weekend night this spring when Tiger abruptly pulled out of the PGA Championships as the duty editor (me) thought our elegant take (Bill) was safely tucked away. Bill quickly rewrote.
Early in my tenure on the desk, a certain masthead editor decided Jason Pierre-Paul’s absence from Giants training camp warranted a front-page look at an intractable stand-off resolved in most workplaces with a doctor’s note. When I called Bill, he said something to the effect of, Yeah, OK sure and delivered it to A1.
That’s Bill, facing down even the ridiculous asks with a can-do spirit, and reporting fully and artfully on the serious or light.
His last day will be Sept. 9, but he has graciously agreed to continue to contribute to the report.
“Perhaps the most important thing is that I’ll continue to contribute to the Sports report. I’m just downsizing. For 25 years, the best part of being at The Times has been the feeling that whenever I’m working with a colleague — which is on virtually every project or story — I’m collaborating with the best journalists in the world.”
Congratulations, Bill, on a stellar career.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here