Bob Ryan

At 78 years old, Bob Ryan has this physical status:

Robert P. Ryan (born February 21, 1946) is an American sportswriter formerly for The Boston Globe.

He has been described as "the quintessential American sportswriter" and a basketball guru and is well known for his coverage of the sport including his famous stories covering the Boston Celtics in the 1970s.

After graduating from Boston College, Ryan started as a sports intern for the Globe on the same day as Peter Gammons, and later worked with other Globe sports writing legends Will McDonough and Leigh Montville.

Ryan announced in early 2012 his retirement from sports writing after 44 years once the 2012 Olympic Games concluded.

His final column in The Boston Globe was published August 12, 2012.

Personal life

Ryan and his wife Elaine, who have been married since 1969, have a daughter Jessica and a son Keith, who died in 2008. They are grandparents of triplets. The dedication page in Forty Eight Minutes, one of Ryan's books, reads: "To Elaine Ryan: In the next life, maybe you'll get a nine-to-five man who makes seven figures." Ryan has also done humanitarian fundraisers for years to help inner-city teenagers with their educations. Ryan lives in Hingham, Massachusetts.

On January 28, 2008, Ryan's 37-year-old son Keith was found dead in his home in Islamabad, Pakistan. Initial reports indicated that his death was an apparent suicide; however, reports in the Pakistani newspapers Dawn and The News International indicated that Ryan's death could be investigated as a murder. A State Department spokesperson would only say that the death was under investigation. Bob Ryan released the following statement: "Everyone is devastated. I am well aware of these reports and we are very concerned about that. (But) we have no reason at this time to doubt the official version".

Keith had been working in Pakistan since December 2006 as an attache for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Keith was a graduate of Hingham High School (1988), Trinity College, the London School of Economics and Boston College Law School. He had previously worked for the U.S. Border Patrol, LAPD and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, where he was assigned to the violent gang task force. Keith was married to Kate and had three children, Conor, John, and Amelia, who live in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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Biography and career

Ryan grew up in a household "that revolved around playing games" and attended Lawrenceville High School from 1960 to 1964. In 1968, he graduated from Boston College as a history major.

In the fall of 1969, a vacancy on the Celtics beat of The Boston Globe was created, and Ryan accepted the job. Ryan was recruited by the paper's morning sports editor Francis Rosa. Ryan developed a strong link with the Celtics team while covering the Celtics. Even with the team, Ryan will dine out to dinner. Ryan took eight seats from the Celtics' bench, where coworkers referred to him as the "Commissioner," not unlike Peter Gammons' name. "His passion is not faked," Boston Sports Media critic Bruce Allen said.

Even though he was not obliged to, Hue Hollins, the referee, went to the press table one night to announce a call to Ryan during a time-out. Ryan wrote a column about Rick Mahorn of the Washington Bullets and how he played dirty under the hoop. "That's your fault, Bob Ryan, your fault," Mahorn cried out after being called for a foul Gene Shue, the Bullets' coach, said. Dennis Johnson was often irriated with Ryan, and he'd sit down and say, "Hey, Bob, keep it down." When Ryan sideline coached, we have a game going on here." From Ryan's first column on Larry Bird to his last "Larry!

Larry!

Larry!"

Ryan was always a fan of his and eventually co-authored a book with him.

Heinsohn's book Give Me the Hook by Tom Heinsohn Heinsohn is dismissive of Ryan. Heinsohn, who started writing for the Globe in Heinsohn's rookie season as a coach, would make friends with the players and express their displeasure with Heinsohn, their fans, and their teammates. Heinsohn didn't like how he didn't have influence on his team. Ryan began to "think of himself as another member of the family," Heinsohn claims, and even started coaching the team through his beat stories. Heinsohn continues to address Ryan's bloated personality and the fact that he was then identifying himself as a basketball guru. Heinsohn has also stated that although not condemning Ryan's writings at the time, anyone who lived in Boston and even remotely followed basketball reads Ryan's columns. In recent years, Ryan has been less critical of Celtics coaches, including Doc Rivers, who said, "I'm a Doc guy."

Ryan will pass the torch of the Globe Celtics to Dan Shaughnessy, who is not well-known, and later Jackie MacMullan. He did this in order to join the Boston television station WCVB for a few years. Ryan stopped hating it and returning to the Celtics beat in 1984 for two seasons before being promoted to general sports columnist in 1989.

Ryan will cover 20 NBA finals, 20 Final Fours, nine World Series, five Super Bowls, the last seven Olympics, and other special events. Later, Ryan became less focused on basketball and more general sports-oriented. He continues to write for Basketball Times. Ryan is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Ryan, a retired engineer, wanted his retirement from the job to be sweet: "I'm not bitter." I love my job and I still do it well, but they are getting up and going from there, making it much less pleasurable. I need to get out as soon as possible. "If you sit around too long, there is no way to dictate your terms," he said. "How can you tell Stephen A. Smith that you have no idea of the game and how much fun it was?" Ryan wondered. He believes he knows everything, but he will never know what the Celtics know about."

Ryan announced on February 14, 2012, during a podcast with Bill Simmons on Grantland.com, that he would leave London after the 2012 Summer Olympics. "I seriously and truly believe that my time has come and gone; that the company's dynamics have changed; that it is what it does, what it takes, what it means to be involved in the sport industry with all the Twittering and blogging and all the things; and a younger audience with a different taste - it's not me anymore." "I'm not used to it." After retirement, Ryan said he will remain involved with sports in a part-time capacity, but is not keen on keeping pace at the rate he does now. Ryan's last day as a Red Sox reporter was on July 16, 2012.

The Boston Globe's last column was published on August 12, 2012. As a columnist emeritus, he writes on a part-time basis. He is also a regular on ESPN's Around The Horn and occasionally guest hosts Pardon the Interruption with Michael Wilbon or Tony Kornheiser.

In March 2017, Ryan launched Bob Ryan's Boston Podcast, his own podcast. Larry Bird, Steve Grogan, Danny Ainge, Troy Brown, and Dave Cowens have all appeared on numerous well-known Boston celebrities, including Larry Bird, Steve Grogan, Danny Ainge, Troy Brown, and Dave Cowens. Former NBA commissioner David Stern and other well-known sports figures have also attended.

Ryan became the Sports Reporter in Residence at High Point University after retiring.

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