Probably before most of your time.
As I read about how Sports Illustrating is going down the tubes, it brought back some fond memories.
I used to read Sports Illustrated religiously every week. One of my favorite magazines. Didn’t subscribe…
would go down to the LosAlamos Library (KSU before that) every week to read it when it came out. They had a writer by the name of Paul Zimmerman who wrote on football and, because of his erudite style, became known as Dr.Z. I loved his articles. He started writing for SI in 1979.
In the early '70’s, there was a wine column in the NY Daily Post written by a Paul Zimmerman that I would
read religiously every week. Again, would read it at the Library. It was a very good wine column & I developed
a lot of correspondence with that writer ('twarn’t by e-mail). Who was a sports writer for the NY Daily Post.
It wasn’t until yrs later that I found that the two Paul Zimmermans were one in the same. Paul Lionel Zimmerman. Paul developed his appreciation for wine as a sports writer for the Sacramento Bee & was a regular at Corti Bros.
Paul had a serious stroke in 2008 and could no longer communicate & was fired by SI. He finally died in 2018.
So that’s my Paul Zimmerman (both of them) story & I’m sticking to it.
Anybody else old enough to recall Paul Zimmerman?? Either of them??
Tom
I remember reading Paul’s columns in the Post as well as in SI,One of my early mentors , Fred H, was a friend of his and introduced me to his writings,Paul mentioned Fred in a book he wrote about football
I read Dr. Z in Sports Illustrated for years. His wrote like he was having a conversation with the reader and he had great sources. I particularly liked to read his mock drafts, which were typically insightful. After Dr. Z’s health challenges, Peter King took up both the chore of doing mocks for SI, and Dr. Z’s cause more generally.
Unfortunately, I did not get to read Dr. Z’s wine column, but if memory serves, he would occasionally slip wine nuggets in his SI articles.
LOVED Dr. Z. He was friendly with another SI sportswriter, my friend the great Gary Smith. Who is Gary Smith? I bet you know even if you don’t think you do.
Memory lane. SI in my teens brings back so many memories. Remarkable history of great writers -Dr Z was one of them, although I think Gary Smith was one of the small number of best long form sportswriter ever. Knew of his interest in wine - but no idea that he penned a a wine column.