John Feinstein, who rose to prominence as a Washington Post sportswriter and became a bestselling author of 44 books, including “A Season on the Brink,” has died at 68. The founder of ACC Nation, Patrick Hite, shared brief thoughts via Facebook about the passing of John Feinstein.
“This is so sad. I didn’t know John really well. Met him once at an ACC Tournament and he gave me his contact info.
I will tell a real quick story. I used to host a podcast called ACC Nation (friends of mine now run the site). We were a very small time operation with our studio in a basement under my front porch. We had listeners, but I don’t think we had very many.
John Feinstein
Anyway, in 2007 when Georgia Tech hired former Navy coach Paul Johnson as its football coach, I reached out to John to ask if he’d come on our podunk podcast and talk about the hire (John used to broadcast Navy games). He didn’t hesitate in agreeing to come on and gave us a great segment. We had him on several more times over the next couple of years. He gained nothing by coming on our little show, but it meant a lot to me that he took time out of his schedule to do it.
He’ll be missed.”
From Awful Announcing – “In 1985, Feinstein followed Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight for an entire season, culminating in “A Season on the Brink,” hailed a triumph of sportswriting while covering a complex and volatile figure. The book spent 17 weeks as a No. 1 bestseller and was later turned into an ESPN film starring Brian Dennehy.”
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The Post noted that a clear sign of Feinstein’s “indefatigable work ethic” was that he filed a column the day before his death on Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.
John Feinstein
