Larry Keith has written a book that is more than a book.
Keith began his career in journalism right here at WCHL, when he got some training and made a lot of important friends who recognized his talent and easy manner in getting the job done.
He lived the dream of dozens of journalism majors and students who landed jobs at the hundreds of local newspapers, most of which no longer exist due to the digital age or the art.
His early contacts helped him get an interview at Sports Illustrated where he was a reporter, then an editor and then a creator of sister publications like Sports Illustrated for Kids and special college championship editions of the most famous teams in history.
He literally touches all the bases in his memoir “TOUCH ‘EM ALL”, which is deftly written and put together with a slightly bigger font than most books because he knew it would attract older readers.
image via Chapel Hill Media Group/Art Chansky
The tome has slick paper and, unlike most sports books, has dozens of photos embedded into the chapters that refer to them and help readers recognize so many familiar faces. He has some brief background material about growing up in Charlotte and attending UNC, but the guts of the book is a travelogue of sports history that we expected in SI every week and other stories that taught us new stuff.
It is self-effacing with his ups and downs at SI, which was a TIME publication back then with writers and events that made it the most read sports mag in the world from the 1960s through the turn of the century.
And the people endorsing the book makes those who pick it up scan the back cover. Fellow Tar Heels Curry Kirkpatrick and Jim Lampley, locals yokels like Jim Heavner and me, and nationally known storytellers like Rick Reilly and Jeff Pearlman, and many others who celebrate Keith’s accomplishments and his friendship.
Included are pictures and anecdotes about flamboyant baseball managers Earl Weaver and Tom Lasorda, superstars like Pete Rose and Reggie Jackson and Triple Crown winners like Secretariat, who Larry only petted.
And, of course, the book is festooned with famous Sports Illustrated covers of issues he contributed to or helped produce. And they are not exclusively from the old days, including one cover on a basketball point-shaving scandal that has emerged in different forms today.
And wouldn’t you know it, the cover of the issue honoring Dean Smith is personally inscribed by the Hall of Fame coach who had just announced his retirement, with an apology for not letting Michael Jordan appear on the cover of the 1982 preseason college basketball issue because he was a freshman!
Back then, Dean was being Dean. And over 234 pages, Lary Keith is also being himself while reminiscing about the celebrities, super stars and memories galore of the people, places and sports events he touches in “TOUCH ‘EM ALL.”
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
