Larry Colton

Colton attended Westchester High School in Los Angeles CA now Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnets and signed as a pitcher by the Philadelphia Phillies as an undrafted free agent in 1964 after playing college ball at the University of California, where he holds the single game strikeout record (19). Colton played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968.[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/coltola01.shtml "Larry Colton Statistics and History"]. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2011-02-20. He played for Phillies farm team the Eugene Emeralds in 1965 when it was a Class A-Short Season Northwest League team and again in 1969 when it was a triple-A Pacific Coast League team.[http://www.larrycolton.com/about/career-timeline/ "About: Career Timeline,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129083123/http://www.larrycolton.com/about/career-timeline/|date=2014-11-29}} Larry Colton official website. Accessed August 3, 2014. A shoulder separation ended his big league career after a single appearance in relief for the Phillies.

Larry Colton has published hundreds of magazine articles for publications including Esquire, New York Times, Sports Illustrated and Ladies Home Journal.{{cite web|url=http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/authors/larry-colton/#about|title=Larry Colton|work=hachettebookgroup.com|accessdate=July 30, 2015}}{{cite journal |last1=Colton |first1=Larry |title=Goat Brothers |journal=Esquire |volume=119 |issue=1 |date=January 1993 |page=109 }} Colton was the recipient of the 2013 Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Oregon Book Award from Oregon Literary Arts, for his achievements as a writer and his role in founding Wordstock, literary festival and writing program.http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2013/01/bookmarks_wordstock_founder_la.html Since 1997, Wordstock—originally known as the Community of Writers—has been providing writing instruction for K-12 teachers, K-8 students, parents and practicing writers in school districts in and around Portland. Wordstock has trained more than 1,800 teachers and 40,000 students. The Wordstock Festival, held each fall in Portland, features roughly 200 writers from around the world, as well as publishers, literary agents, and educational programs. {{cite web |url=http://www.wordstockfestival.com/our-programs/education/ |title=Wordstock » community of writers |accessdate=2013-04-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130630163032/http://www.wordstockfestival.com/our-programs/education/ |archivedate=2013-06-30 }}

Colton's first book, Idol Time, examines the aftermath of the Portland Trail Blazers' 1977 NBA championship, and although it reached primarily a regional audience, it foreshadowed the narrative approach Colton would apply in subsequent works.{{cite book|title=Idol Time: Larry Colton, Tom Meschery: 9780917304347: Amazon.com: Books|isbn = 0917304349|last1 = Colton|first1 = Larry|year = 1978}}

Colton's 1993 book Goat Brothers examined the lives of Colton and a select group of his fraternity brothers at the University of California from their college days in the early 1960s until the end of the 1980s. Goat Brothers was well received,{{cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/1993/02/26/goat-brothers/|title=Goat Brothers|author=Larry Colton|work=Entertainment Weekly's EW.com|access-date=July 30, 2015}} with Publishers Weekly saying that it "powerfully tells the stories of the five men's search for self-worth, their difficulty in communicating their feelings, and their anger toward women."{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-24407-7|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Goat Brothers by Larry Colton|work=PublishersWeekly.com|accessdate=July 30, 2015}}

Colton's third book, Counting Coup, chronicled a dramatic season of a high school girls' basketball team in Montana that was competing for a state championship. The book received mostly positive reviews.{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-446-52683-8|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn by Larry Colton|work=PublishersWeekly.com|accessdate=July 30, 2015}} Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love, observed that Colton placed his subjects "in the intricately tangled social contexts that lend weight and meaning far beyond the game."Quoted on back cover of hardcover edition of Counting Coup, September, 2000 Counting Coup won the 2000 International E-Book of the Year Award,{{cite web|title=Frankfurt eBook Award Winners Announced|url=http://www.writenews.com/2000/102300_ebook_awards.htm|publisher=Write News|accessdate=April 22, 2013}} and the Frankfurt eBook Award in non-fiction in 2000.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bookawards.bizland.com/frankfurt_ebook_awards.htm|title=Frankfurt eBook Awards|author=|date=|work=bookawards.bizland.com|language=|accessdate=2015-08-05|quote=}}

No Ordinary Joes is Colton's 2010 account of the sinking of the US Navy submarine USS Grenadier, a little-known episode of World War II.{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/book/30346/no-ordinary-joes-by-larry-colton|title=No Ordinary Joes|work=PenguinRandomhouse.com|accessdate=July 30, 2015}} The book is based on interviews with several of the survivors, and tells the interlocking stories of four shipmates on the Grenadier, from their childhoods through enlistment, courtships and deployment, and on to the horrors of life in a Japanese slave labor camp. The book received mainly positive reviews for its narrative and storytelling.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2010/10/nonfiction_review_no_ordinary.html|title=Nonfiction review: 'No Ordinary Joes' by Larry Colton|date=2 October 2010}}{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130351636|title='No Ordinary Joes' Tells Stories Of Love And War|date=October 5, 2010|work=NPR.org|accessdate=July 30, 2015}}

Colton's 2013 book Southern League tells the story of the 1964 Birmingham Barons, the first integrated professional baseball team in Alabama, in the context of the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle for racial equality.{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4555-1188-4|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Southern League: A True Story of Baseball, Civil Rights, and the Deep South's Most Compelling Pennant Race by Larry Colton|work=PublishersWeekly.com|accessdate=July 30, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/talking-ball-with-southern-leagues-larry-colton/|title=Talking ball with Southern League's Larry Colton|author=Bruce Markusen|work=The Hardball Times|accessdate=July 30, 2015}} The explores both the pennant race and Birmingham's complicated racial past, and the team's relationship with its young manager, Haywood Sullivan, a white Alabamian who went on to own the Boston Red Sox. Richard Ben Cramer wrote of Southern League: "When I read Counting Coup, I was staggered by Larry Colton's ability to persuade a group of high school girls to share their heart's secrets, so I am not surprised that for Southern League he could get a bunch of aging baseball players to remember the hopes and fears of their minor league days. The breadth of Colton's reporting here, placing the Birmingham Barons' 1964 season squarely into the context of the civil rights era, is a narrative tour de force."{{cite book |last1=Colton |first1=Larry |title=Southern League: A True Story of Baseball, Civil Rights, and the Deep South's Most Compelling Pennant Race |date=2013 |publisher=Grand Central Publishing |isbn=978-1-4555-1187-7 }}{{pn|date=June 2021}}

In 1965, Colton married Denise Loder, daughter of the actress Hedy Lamarr.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/coltola01.shtml|title=Larry Colton Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com|work=Baseball-Reference.com|accessdate=July 30, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=coltola01|title=Larry Colton Baseball Stats by Baseball Almanac|work=baseball-almanac.com|accessdate=July 30, 2015}} He has been married a total of four times. His daughter Wendy Colton is from his marriage to Loder, and his daughter Sarah Colton (Now Sarah Colton Seibel) is from his marriage to Katherine Jeffcott. Larry has three grandchildren.

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• [http://www.larrycolton.com Larry Colton] (official website)

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Category:1942 births

Category:Living people

Category:Major League Baseball pitchers

Category:Philadelphia Phillies players

Category:Eugene Emeralds players

Category:San Diego Padres (minor league) players

Category:Portland Mavericks players

Category:Baseball players from Los Angeles

Category:Writers from Portland, Oregon

Category:Florida Instructional League Phillies players

Category:Macon Peaches players

Category:Tacoma Cubs players

Category:Westchester High School (Los Angeles) alumni