Mary Pilon

Born and raised in Eugene, Oregon,{{cite news|url=http://www.livewireradio.org/episode361|title=Episode #361: Chapman & Maclain Way, Mary Pilon, Ahmed Bharoocha, Raley Schweinfurth, and Ron Artis II & The Truth|publisher=Live Wire! Radio|date=2016|accessdate=7 June 2018}}{{cite news|title=Episode 90—Mary Pilon Brings You "The Kevin Show"|url=http://brendanomeara.com/pilon90/|last=O`Meara|first=Brendan|publisher=BreandanOMeara.com|accessdate=7 June 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.runnersworld.com/preview/eyJpZCI6IjNkMGI0NWM5LTE5MTAtNDY3OC1hZmUzLTMwNzZjY2EzN2VjOSIsInR5cGUiOiJjb250ZW50IiwidmVyc2lvbiI6MCwidmVyc2lvbmVkIjpmYWxzZSwidmVyc2lvbl9jcmVhdGVkX2F0IjoiIn0=/|title=I Found a Dead Body on My Morning Run—It's Something You Can't Run Away From|author=Pilon|publisher=runnersworld.com|accessdate=7 June 2018}} Pilon attended Winston Churchill High School. She first reported for her hometown newspaper, The Register-Guard, as a teenager. She then attended New York University, as a member of the graduating class of 2008 with a degree in politics and journalism. Pilon's senior thesis on the people and politics of methamphetamine trafficking won the school's Edwin Diamond Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.edwindiamond.com/winners.shtml|title=Winners|publisher=EdwinDiamond.com|accessdate=7 June 2018}}

Pilon has worked for Dow Jones, USA Today and New York Magazine and, from 2006 to 2008, Gawker.{{cite web|url=http://nymag.com/author/Mary+Pilon|title=NYC Guide to Restaurants, Fashion, Nightlife, Shopping, Politics, Movies|publisher=|accessdate=14 June 2018}} From 2008 to 2011, she reported for the Wall Street Journal Money and Investing Section on finance and Wall Street during the financial crisis, one of the youngest reporters on staff.{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/news/author/6670|title=Mary Pilon Reporter: The Wall Street Journal|publisher=wsj.com|accessdate=7 June 2018}} She won the 2011 Gerald Loeb Award for Breaking News for her coverage of the 2010 Flash Crash.{{Cite web |url=https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2011/loeb-award-winners |title=Loeb Award Winners |date=28 June 2011 |website=UCLA Anderson School of Management |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401042854/https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2011/loeb-award-winners |archive-date=1 April 2019 |url-status=dead }}

At the Times, Pilon wrote "Tomato Can Blues," a true-crime story of Charles Rowan, an amateur cage fighter who faked his own death. The story was the first-ever graphic novel for the paper{{cite news|url=https://www.poynter.org/news/cage-fighters-faked-death-gives-life-rich-nyt-storytelling|title=Cage fighter's faked death gives life to rich NYT storytelling|last=Scanlan|first=Chip|date=24 October 2013|publisher=Poynter.org}} and the first audiobook, narrated by actor Bobby Cannavale.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/tomato-can-blues/|title=Tomato Can Blues|last1=Pilon|last2=Futaki|first2=Attila|work=The New York Times|date=2013}}

Pilon's 2016 investigative reporting on sexual harassment in the trucking industry helped fuel a class action lawsuit by women truckers.{{cite news|url=https://www.theinvestigativefund.org/investigation/2016/07/11/surviving-long-haul|author=Pilon|title=Surviving the Long Haul: For women in the trucking industry, going to work can mean subjecting themselves to catcalling, harassment, rape, and a system built to keep them out|date=11 July 2017|publisher=The Investigative Fund}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theinvestigativefund.org/blog/2018/01/23/amid-allegations-sexual-harassment-trucking-industry-investigative-fund-pushes-documents-unsealed/|author=Pilon|date=23 January 2018|publisher=The Investigative Fund|title=Amid Allegations of Sexual Harassment in Trucking Industry, Investigative Fund Pushes to Have Documents Unsealed}} In reporting on the NFL's domestic violence policies for Bleacher Report/CNN the next year, the writer found that the league seldom enforced its own policies.{{cite news|url=http://mag.bleacherreport.com/nfl-domestic-violence-policy-suspensions/|title=Inside the NFL's Domestic Violence Punishment Problem|author=Pilon|date=31 January 2017|publisher=The Bleacher Report}} She has also reported on the circumstances surrounding runner Steve Prefontaine`s death for ESPN's Grantland.{{cite news|url=http://grantland.com/features/steve-prefontaine-death/|author=Pilon|date=29 May 2015|title=Steve Prefontaine's Last Run|publisher=Grantland.com}} She also was among the first to report on Donald Trump's immigrant mother in June 2016.{{cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trumps-immigrant-mother|title=Donald Trump's Immigrant Mother|publisher=NewYorker.com|author=Pilon|date=24 June 2016}} At Vice, Pilon reported on legal issues faced by transgender high school athletes and at NBC News, how coaches accused of sexual abuse continued to work in sports.{{cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/call-me-mattlife-as-a-transgender-high-school-athlete/ |title="Call Me Matt"—Life As a Transgender High School Athlete|author=Pilon|date=16 July 2015|work=Vice}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/re-banned-olympic-sports-are-coaching-children-rcna25623|title=They're banned from coaching Olympic sports. Why are they instructing children?|first1=Emily R.|last1=Siegel|first2=Andrew W.|last2=Lehren|last3=Pilon|date=2 May 2022}}

Her New Yorker contributions focus on the legal and financial aspects of sports.{{cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/mary-pilon|title= Contributors: Mary Pilon|accessdate=7 June 2018}}

Pilon has also written for Vice, Esquire, Fast Company, Smithsonian magazine, and NBC Sports.{{cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/contributor/mary-pilon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404042014/https://www.vice.com/en_us/contributor/mary-pilon|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 April 2017|title=Mary Pilon|publisher=Vice.com|accessdate=7 June 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/winter-olympics-2018/think-olympic-figure-skating-judges-are-biased-data-says-they-n844886|last1=Pilon|last2=Lehren|first2=Andrew W.|last3=Gosk|first3=Stephanie|last4=Siegel|first4=Emily R.|last5=Abou-Sabe|first5=Kenzi|title=Think Olympic figure skating judges are biased? The data says they might be|date=6 February 2018|publisher=nbcnews.com}}{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/riders-struggle-unfamiliar-horses?chrcontext=newsfeed|title=Riders struggle with unfamiliar horses|author=Pilon|date=20 August 2016|publisher=NBC Olympics}}{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/kerri-walsh-jennings-reflects-journey-new-partner|title=Kerri Walsh Jennings reflects on journey with new partner|publisher=NBC Olympics|author=Pilon|date=8 August 2016}}{{cite news|url=https://www.esquire.com/author/14695/mary-pilon/|title=mary pilon|work=Esquire}}{{cite news|author=Pilon|title=Using Google Glass, Elementary Students Learn How Blind People Live|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/3041196/body-week/using-google-glass-elementary-students-learn-how-blind-people-live|accessdate=24 February 2015|magazine=Fast Company|date=28 January 2015}}{{cite news|author=Pilon|title=Monopoly Was Designed to Teach the 99% About Income Inequality|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/monopoly-was-designed-teach-99-about-income-inequality-180953630/?no-ist|accessdate=24 February 2015|magazine=Smithsonian Magazine|date=January 2015}}

On 17 February 2015, Bloomsbury released her first book, The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game, which tells the true story of the board game Monopoly. Pilon spent more than five years investigating the game's origins, which date back to feminist Lizzie Magie and the Progressive Era. The book discusses economics professor Ralph Anspach's decade-long legal battle over the rights to his own game, Anti-Monopoly, as well as his efforts to uncover Magie as the game's true inventor, even as Parker Brothers had incorrectly claimed that a man, Charles Darrow, had invented the game during the Great Depression. (Magie died in 1948 in obscurity, working as a secretary in Washington, D.C., and made $500 off her invention.){{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/11/secret-history-monopoly-capitalist-game-leftwing-origins|title=The secret history of Monopoly: the capitalist board game's leftwing origins|publisher=theguardian.com|author=Pilon|date=11 April 2015}} The book was a New York Times bestsellerNYT Bestseller List, New York Times, 22 March 2015. and was named by the Times to its annual list of notable books that year.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2015.html|title=100 Notable Books of 2015|work=The New York Times|date=27 November 2015}} It received positive reviews in Slate, the Los Angeles Times, the New Republic, and the Boston Globe, among others.{{cite news|url=https://slate.com/culture/2015/02/mary-pilons-the-monopolists-a-history-of-the-game-monopoly-reviewed.html|title=Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200|last=Peterson|first=Britt|date=3 February 2015|work=Slate}}{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/120933/mary-pilons-monopolists-review|title=An Anti-Capitalist Woman Invented Monopoly and a Man Got All the Credit|last=Doll|first=Jen|date=5 February 2015|magazine=The New Republic}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2015.html|title=100 Notable Books of 2015|date=27 November 2015|website=NY Times Book Review}} Journalist Gay Talese said that Pilon "writes with the assurance and energy of a historian who knows she has struck gold."Talese, Gay, book jacket, The Monopolists, 17 February 2015.

As a result of Pilon's reporting, Magie and Ralph Anspach's lawsuit and efforts to unearth her story have resulted in Magie being acknowledged by a variety of news outlets, academics, the National Women's History Museum, and as a Jeopardy! clue.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Jeopardy/status/657270323897765888|author=Jeopardy!|publisher=Twitter|date=22 October 2015|title=Want to know more about yesterday's clue on #Monopoly? It was based on a concept by Elizabeth Magie.}} The book has been translated into several languages and is currently in development as a feature film by the production company behind Little Miss Sunshine and Adaptation.{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2015/10/big-beach-mounts-monopolists-howard-rodman-to-script-board-game-drama-1201594158/|title=Big Beach Mounts 'Monopolists:' Howard Rodman To Script Board Game Drama|last=Fleming|first=Mike Jr.|publisher=Deadline Hollywood|date=27 October 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449059/companycredits|title=Little Miss Sunshine (2006)|publisher=|accessdate=14 June 2018|via=www.imdb.com}} Pilon and The Monopolists were also the subject of a February 2023 episode of PBS’s American Experience on the game.{{cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/ruthless-monopolys-secret-history/|work=American Experience via PBS|title=Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History|date=20 February 2023}}

The Kevin Show: An Olympic Athlete's Battle with Mental Illness tells the true story of Olympic and America's Cup sailor Kevin Hall, who has battled a rare form of bipolar disorder known as the Truman Show Delusion.{{cite news|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-03-15/kevin-hall-stars-his-own-unreality-show|title=Arts: Kevin Hall stars in his own unreality show|last=Chung|first=Evan|date=15 March 2018|work=pri.org}} The book, released by Bloomsbury in March 2018, was a four-year culmination of reporting on Hall's delusions, the reality of being an Olympian, and an examination of mental illness.{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-kevin-show-9781632866820/|title=The Kevin Show: An Olympic Athlete's Battle with Mental Illness|publisher= Bloomsbury website|accessdate=7 June 2018}} The book was also a national bestsellerAmazon.com, Mental Health category, 26 March 2018 and received positive reviews.{{cite news|url=https://www.bustle.com/p/10-new-books-about-mental-illness-to-read-in-2018-7923035|title=10 New Books About Mental Illness To Read in 2018|work=Bustle|last=Trombetta|first=Sadie|date=25 January 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-63286-682-0|title=The Kevin Show: An Olympic Athlete's Battle with Mental Illness|publisher=Publishers Weekly|accessdate=7 June 2018}} Kirkus Reviews called it "grippingly provocative reading" and psychiatrist Dr. Edward Hallowell called it "spellbinding" and "brilliant."{{cite news|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mary-pilon/the-kevin-show/|title=The Kevin Show: Love, Mania, and the Olympics|date=26 November 2017|publisher=Kirkus Reviews}}Hallowell, Ed, book jacket, The Kevin Show, 6 March 2018.

In 2019, Pilon co-wrote and co-hosted a podcast on the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal with her Times colleague, Carla Correa, on Audible. The series traced the systemic errors that led to Larry Nassar’s serial abuse, including failures by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies in ignoring complaints about Nassar.{{cite web|url=https://www.audible.com/pd/Twisted-Audiobook/B07SW1JH6L|title=Twisted: The Story of Larry Nassar and the Women Who Took Him Down|accessdate= 20 May 2023|website=Audible}}

In March 2023, Pilon and Olympian Kara Goucher published The Longest Race, a memoir of Goucher’s running career. It revealed for the first time her experiences with the Nike Oregon Project, including allegations of doping and sexual abuse involving longtime Nike coach Alberto Salazar. As a result of Goucher’s testimony, Salazar received a lifetime ban from the sport. The book debuted at No. 7 on the Times bestseller list.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/books/review/the-longest-race-kara-goucher.html|title=The Wind Beneath Kara Goucher's Wings? A Solid Teammate.|date=6 April 2013|work=The New York Times|last=Egan|first=Elizabeth}}

• The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game, 2015
• The Kevin Show: An Olympic Athlete's Battle with Mental Illness, 2018
• Losers: Dispatches From the Other Side of the Scoreboard, edited with Louisa Thomas, 2020
• The Longest Race, with Kara Goucher, 2023{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/books/review/the-longest-race-kara-goucher.html|title=Book Review: The Longest Race|date=6 April 2023|work=New York Times}}

Pilon has also appeared in and produced several documentaries, including HBO's Class Action Park.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/movies/class-action-park-review.html|title=Class Action Park' Review: Thanks for the Injuries|last=Bailey|first=Jason|work=The New York Times|date=September 2020 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7208040/?ref_=rg_mv_close|title=Mary Pilon|accessdate=3 June 2023}} She served as story editor for HBO's BS High in 2023, which was a Tribeca Film Festival Selection.{{Cite web |title=BS High {{!}} 2023 Tribeca Festival |url=https://tribecafilm.com/films/bs-high-2023 |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=Tribeca}} Pilon is co-directing a documentary about pickleball for Peter Berg's Film 45.{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/pickleball-craze-sports-documentary-peter-berg-1235240739/|last=Gardner|first=Chris|title=Pickleball Doc in Works From Peter Berg's Film 45, Co-Directors Seth Porges and Mary Pilon (Exclusive)|date=13 October 2022|work=The Hollywood Reporter}}

• ‘’BS High’’ (HBO, 2023)

Pilon has cited her upbringing in Eugene and early love of comic books among her inspirations. She took a Greyhound to New York City and now lives in Brooklyn.{{cite news|last1=Baker|first1=Mark|title=Pass go and keep going|url=http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news/local/32779369-75/eugene-native-has-monopoly-on-monopoly.html.csp|accessdate=24 February 2015|publisher=The Register-Guard|date=16 February 2015}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://marypilon.com/ Official website]
• [https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/mary-pilon The New Yorker author page]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/by/mary-pilon The New York Times author page]
• [https://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeji45ikli/mary-pilon-sports-reporter-new-york-times-25/ Mary Pilon, Sports reporter, New York Times, 25] from Forbes 30 Under 30: Media
• [https://pictorial.jezebel.com/how-author-mary-pilon-found-the-woman-inventor-of-what-1689467881 Q and A with Jezebel]

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Category:Living people

Category:1986 births

Category:Journalists from Oregon

Category:Writers from Eugene, Oregon

Category:The Wall Street Journal people

Category:New York University alumni

Category:21st-century American women journalists

Category:21st-century American journalists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:American women film directors

Category:Gerald Loeb Award winners for Breaking News

Category:Investigative journalists