Vince’s first novel is titled Paperboy, and it’s the story of a boy growing up in Memphis who has a stutter. Vince himself is a stutterer, and the story rings true on every page. The novel was a Newberry Honor Award winner, and the Washington Post said: “[Vawter’s] characterization of Little Man feels deeply authentic, with . . . his fierce desire to be ‘somebody instead of just a kid who couldn’t talk right.”
The “Four Horsemen” became part of the legend of Notre Dame football, and publicists at the University placed the four footballers on four horses for a famous photograph. And that photograph was turned into a postage stamp more than 50 years later.
Many people aspire to be sports writers simply because they enjoy watching sports. Being a sports writer is a noble aspiration, but the very best sports writers have gone beyond the games they watch and lifted their writing — and their readers — into the realms of literature. Three of the best of the 20th century were Grantland Rice, Red Smith and Shirley Povich. Rice wrote the most famous sports lead paragraph of all time comparing the Notre Dame football backfield to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.