Inducted on November 12, 1998
Jerry Izenberg has been a journalist for 47 years and a daily columnist for 38. His daily syndicated column has appeared from coast to coast in the Continental United States as well as Hawaii and Alaska and overseas in Thailand, Mexico, Canada and Italy.
The New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame will be the fifth such hall to which he has been inducted. The others were: The New Jersey State Sports Hall of Fame, the New Jersey State Literary Hall of Fame, the Rutgers University Distinguished Alumni, the Newark Athletic Hall of Fame and the Newark-Rutgers Athletic Hall of Fame.
He has covered athletic events on every continent except Antarctica. Among his numerous awards are the Boxing Writers of America Nat Fleischer Award for Distinguished Boxing Journalism, five citations as sports writer of the year, the Seton Hall University Humanitarian Award, the Red Smith Award for Oustanding Kentucky Derby Coverage, the New Jersey Pride Award for Outstanding Contributions to the State of New Jersey, a New York City Police Department Honor Legion citation and a gubernatorial citation for his work in changing the New Jersey laws against criminal distribution of anabolic steroids.
Izenberg has covered boxing for nearly half a century. He has been ringside at title fights from New York to California as well as Canada, Venezuala, Mexico, France, England, Zaire, Tokyo, Malaysia and the Philippines. He is the author of eight books, 500 magazine articles and 35 television documentaries, including “Muhammad Ali:
A Twilight Portrait” and the Emmy Award nominee “A Man Named Lombardi”.
Izenberg and his wife, Aileen, have four children and four grandchildren. He was graduated from Rutgers-Newark and also holds an honorary doctorate from Caldwell College.
Jerry Izenberg (born 1930) is a sports journalist with the The Newark Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey. His career with the Star-Ledger began in 1951 while he was still a student at Rutgers University, Newark, but was interrupted for several years during which he served in the Korean War. Izenberg has covered many memorable sporting events and figures of the late Twentieth century, including Sonny Werblin‘s ownership of the New York Jets, the boxing career of Muhammad Ali, and the Loma Prieta earthquake which interrupted the 1989 World Series.
In addition to many magazine articles and newspaper columns, he has also written nine books. Izenberg has been the writer, narrator, or producer (sometimes all three) of 35 network television documentaries. One of those shows, “A Man Called Lombardi,” earned an Emmy nomination.
In 1997, Izenberg was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey and in 2000 he won the Red Smith Award from the Associated Press Sports Editors. To commemorate his 55 years in journalism, Izenberg wrote an eight-part memoir for the Star-Ledger in 2006.
Izenberg is one of only three daily newspaper journalists to have covered every Super Bowl.
External links
- ASPE article on Izenberg’s Red Smith Award
- Izenberg’s commemorative memoir at the Star-Ledger
- Jerry Izenberg at The Star-Ledger
- [1] brief bio from New-York Historical Society website at New-York Historical Society]