'Star-Ledger' Gives Sports Columnist Izenberg Eight-Week Goodbye

By: Joe Strupp The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. has never given the kind of send-off to a columnist that sports scribe Jerry Izenberg is getting during the next eight weeks. But as Editor Jim Willse observed, they've never had anyone like Izenberg.

After a career that began at the Advance Publications daily 55 years ago, and dwarfs anyone at the paper in length and prestige, Izenberg, 76, is giving up his regular column at the end of 2006. While he still plans to write occasionally for the paper, he said he wants to focus on other projects - from a three-act play to a pair of memoirs.

"I'll never get it done if I don't leave," said Izenberg, who spoke Monday from his Jersey Shore home. "I don't want to be like Frank Sinatra after his voice fails or Al Jolson not knowing when to get off stage."

But Izenberg is not leaving the stage quietly. During the next eight weeks, the paper is running a series on the sportswriter's life and career, which began this past Sunday with a 4,300-word piece that started on Page One and filled two inside pages. Izenberg estimates the entire series wil span some 29,000 words. The project, which took Izenberg three months to complete last summer, also includes online-only video interviews with the Newark native.

"When you try to come up with the name of a sports columnist who has Jerry's tenure and Jerry's voice, it is hard to do," said Willse. "Jerry is the last of a breed and we are blessed by the fact that he still writes four columns a week." The editor said no on will be hired to replace Izenberg, but noted that sportswriter Steve Politi - who began writing columns about a year ago - will fill much of the space.

Izenberg's regular columns will end once December comes to a close, says Izenberg. The married father of four plans to continue covering some boxing matches, the Triple Crown horse races, and of course, the Super Bowl. Izenberg is one of just four sports writers who have covered all 40 of those NFL championship games.

The Hall of Fame sportswriter began his career at the Star-Ledger in 1951 while still a student at Rutgers University - Newark. After a two-year stint from 1952-53 in the U.S. Army that included service in the Korean War -- and some time with Stars and Stripes -- Izenberg returned to New Jersey to work briefly at two weekly papers in Denville.

He joined the now-defunct Paterson (N.J.) News in 1954, before returning to the Star-Ledger in 1957. The famed New York Herald-Tribune came calling in 1959 and lured Izenberg away for the next three years. But when the New York paper's future looked doubtful in 1962, the sports editor urged him to return to New Jersey. He has written for the Star-Ledger ever since.

"I will continue to do the things I will do for the Ledger out of love, love for the reader," said Izenberg. "I think I will have given the best I have to give."

In addition to covering every Super Bowl, Izenberg's career has ranged from attending the "Thriler in Manila" to covering Irish horse racing to writing about a rodeo in Wyoming. He notes being at the World Series in San Francisco during the 1989 earthquake as among the most memorable.

In between his continued occasional Star-Ledger columns, Izenberg plans to finish a three-act play, titled "The Jock Strap Trilogy" that focuses on boxing, baseball and a yet-to-be-determined third sport. He also has a novel and screenplay in the works about black baseball players, as well as two contracts for books about himself and his father.

"I have a lot to do," says Izenberg, who also gives up much of his time to local athletic events and charities. Although he suffers from diabetes and has recently sought to lose weight, Izenberg stresses that health had nothing to do with his decision. He also says the newspaper played no role in his choice to leave, adding that they wanted him to stay.

"They have been very good to me," said Izenberg. "I wanted to be a 'columnist-emeritus.' They said, 'be whatever you want to be.' And they have let me."

Izenberg said he chose to write the lengthy series as a way to payback his loyal readers: "I wanted to deliver a message to the people I consider to be my extended family, the readers who read me every day." The first installment traces Izenberg's childhood in Newark as the son of European immigrants who watched both minor league and Negro league baseball in the city and grew up a huge early fan. He says future installments will look at his rise through the sports writing business, with attention to his connections with boxing legend Muhammed Ali and baseball hall of famer Larry Doby.

When asked how sports columnists have changed in the 55 years since he began, Izenberg contends many are too filled with their own image. "We're not the story," he claims. "Someone once told me, 'don't fall in love with yourself because the difference between you and Hemingway is tomorrow you will be lining a garbage can'-- and he was right."

Izenberg says sports columnists have gone through three periods. First, the "gee-whiz" stage, when athletes were only heroic figures. Next, the "screw-you" stage, when writers sought to attack them most of the time. Now it is the "look-at-me" stage. "Hairspray began to outweigh words," he contends.