Bill Libby
{{Infobox writer
| name = William Melvin "Bill" Libby
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|11|14}}"Index Record for William Libby (1927) Veterans Affairs Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem Death File", available online at Fold3 by Ancestry.com website. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
| birth_place = Atlantic City, New Jersey
| death_date = June 16, 1984{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/18/obituaries/bill-libby.html|title=BILL LIBBY|last=AP|access-date=2018-10-03|language=en}}
| death_place = Westminster, California
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| language = English
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| nationality = American
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| alma_mater = Indiana University
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| notableworks = Champions of College Football
| spouse = Sharon
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| children = Allyson, Laurie Libby
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| awards = {{plainlist|
- National Magazine Sportswriter of the Year (1964)
- Bill Libby Memorial Award (eponymous) (1968)
- Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (2004)
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William Melvin "Bill" Libby (November 14, 1927 – June 17, 1984) was an American writer and biographer best known for books on sports including 65 on sports figures.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/18/obituaries/bill-libby.html|title=Bill Libby|date=18 June 1984|website=The New York Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/106224622/|title=The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana on June 17, 1984 · Page 30|date=17 June 1984 |publisher=}}
Early years
Libby graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, also attended by several notable authors including Kurt Vonnegut. He served in the United States Navy from September 1945 to October 1948. He attended Indiana University from 1948 to 1951. Libby was sports editor of the Herald Statesman then later worked for the New York Post.
Works
Libby wrote several books on sports figures including Rod Carew, Wilt Chamberlain, Phil Esposito, A. J. Foyt, Catfish Hunter, Fred Lynn, Rocky Marciano, Pete Rose, O. J. Simpson, Willie Stargell, and Fran Tarkenton as well as books on hockey, auto racing, professional football, and college football.
He also co-wrote several books on celebrities and sports people including Nancy Reagan, the Roosevelt family, Rick Barry, Vida Blue, Monty Hall, Richard Petty, John Roseboro, Nolan Ryan, and Jerry West.
Libby national champions
Libby's 1975 book Champions of College Football selected a single college football national champion from the 1900 to 1974 college football seasons.{{Cite book |last=Libby |first=Bill |title=Champions of College Football |publisher=Hawthorne Books, Inc. |date=1975 |url=https://archive.org/details/championsofcolle00libb |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/championsofcolle00libb/page/11 11]–14 |isbn=0-8015-1196-8}} As the highest level of college football does not have an official national champion, Libby's selections are often referenced by the athletic department of the selected university.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}}
Six of Libby's champions, for the years (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, 1931, 1936), were not selected for that year as national champion by any NCAA-designated "major selector".{{cite book | url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2020/FBS.pdf | title=2020 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records | publisher=The National Collegiate Athletic Association | date=July 2020 | location=Indianapolis | access-date=January 12, 2021 | archive-date=November 1, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101032438/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2020/FBS.pdf | url-status=live }}
† Champion not selected by any NCAA-designated "major selector".
Awards
In 1964, Libby was named National Magazine Sportswriter of the Year. He was named to the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.scjewishsportshof.com/libby.html|title=Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home|website=www.scjewishsportshof.com}}
Family
See also
References
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Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers
Category:Writers from Atlantic City, New Jersey
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:Indiana University alumni
Category:20th-century American male writers