Editing Dick Schaap

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{short description|American sportswriter, broadcaster, and author (1934–2001)}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_name         = Richard Jay Schaap
| image              = Dick_Schaap.jpeg
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1934|09|27}}
| birth_place        = [[Brooklyn]], New York City, U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2001|12|21|1934|09|27|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[Manhattan]], New York City, U.S.
| occupation         = [[Sportswriter]], broadcaster, author
| years_active       = 
| alma_mater         = [[Cornell University]]<br>[[Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism]]
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Madeline Gottlieb||1981|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Trish McLeod|1981}}
}}
| children           = 6; including [[Jeremy Schaap|Jeremy]]
| relatives          = {{plainlist|
*[[William Schaap]] (brother)
*[[Phil Schaap]] (cousin)
}}
| awards             = [[Red Smith Award]] (2002)<br />[[NSSA Hall of Fame]] (2015)
}}
'''Richard Jay Schaap'''<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/761735/Richard-Jay-Schaap "Richard Jay Schaap" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''] August 10, 2010</ref> (September 27, 1934 – December 21, 2001) was an American [[sportswriter]], broadcaster, and author.

==Early life and education==
Born to a [[Jewish]] family in [[Brooklyn]], and raised in [[Freeport, New York]], on [[Long Island]], Schaap began writing a sports column aged 14 for the weekly newspaper ''Freeport Leader'', but the next year he obtained a job with the daily newspaper ''The Nassau Daily Review-Star'' working for [[Jimmy Breslin]]. He would later follow Breslin to the ''[[Long Island Press]]'' and ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]''.

He attended [[Cornell University]], where he served as editor-in-chief of ''[[The Cornell Daily Sun]]'', the student newspaper.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72669182/henry-armstrong-recalls-a-weigh-in/ |title=Henry Armstrong Recalls a Weigh-in |first=John W. |last=Fox |newspaper=[[Press & Sun-Bulletin]] |location=[[Binghamton, New York]] |page=35 |date=February 9, 1955 |accessdate=March 4, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> He obtained a letter in varsity [[lacrosse]] playing goaltender. During his last year at Cornell, Schaap was elected to the [[Sphinx Head Society]].  After graduating in 1955, he received a [[Grantland Rice]] fellowship at the [[Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism]] and authored his thesis on the recruitment of [[basketball]] players.

==Career==
Schaap began work as assistant sports editor of ''[[Newsweek]]''.  In 1964, he began a thrice-weekly column concerning current events. He became editor of ''[[Sport (US magazine)|SPORT]]'' magazine in 1973. It was then that he set in motion the inspiration for the eccentricities of Media Day at the [[Super Bowl]]. Opposing the grandiose and self-important nature of the [[National Football League]]'s championship match, he hired two [[Los Angeles Rams]] players, [[Fred Dryer]] and [[Lance Rentzel]], to cover [[Super Bowl IX]]. Donning costumes inspired by ''[[The Front Page]]'', "Scoops Brannigan" (Dryer) and "Cubby O'Switzer" (Rentzel) peppered players and coaches from both the Minnesota Vikings and [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] with questions that ranged from the [[cliché]]d to the downright absurd.<ref name="la obit" /> <ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19750110&id=JLEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8WYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7167,3910316&hl=en "Rentzel, Dryer Find A Way To Super Bowl," ''The Associated Press'', Friday, January 10, 1975.]</ref> Schaap was also a [[theatre]] [[critic]], causing him to quip that he was the only person ever to vote for both the [[Tony Awards]] and the [[Heisman Trophy]]. He interviewed non-sports people such as [[Matthew Broderick]] and produced cultural features for ABC's overnight news program ''[[World News Now]]''.

After spending the 1970s with [[NBC]] as an ''[[NBC Nightly News]]'' and ''[[Today (NBC program)|Today Show]]'' correspondent, he moved to ''[[ABC World News Tonight]]'' and ''[[20/20 (US television series)|20/20]]'' at [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] in the 1980s. He earned five [[Emmy Award]]s, for profiles of [[Sid Caesar]] and [[Tom Waddell]], two for reporting, and for writing. In 1988 he began hosting ''[[The Sports Reporters]]'' on ESPN [[cable television]], which in later years often featured his son Jeremy as a correspondent. He also hosted ''Schaap One on One'' on [[ESPN Classic]] and a syndicated ESPN Radio program called ''The Sporting Life with Dick Schaap'', in which he discussed the week's developments in sports with Jeremy. He also occasionally served as a substitute anchor for ABC's late night newscast, ''[[World News Now]]''.

He wrote the 1968 best-seller ''[[Instant Replay (book)|Instant Replay]]'', co-authored with [[Jerry Kramer]] of the [[Green Bay Packers]], and ''I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow... 'Cause I Get Better-Looking Every Day'', the 1969 [[autobiography]] of [[New York Jets|New York Jet]] [[Joe Namath]]. These resulted in a stint as co-host of ''[[The Joe Namath Show]]'', which in turn led to his hiring as sports anchor for [[WNBC-TV]]. Other books included a biography of [[Robert F. Kennedy]]; ''.44'' (with [[Jimmy Breslin]]), a fictionalized account of the hunt for [[Son of Sam]] killer [[David Berkowitz]]; ''Turned On'', about upper middle-class drug abuse; ''An Illustrated History of the Olympics'', a coffee-table book on the history of the modern [[Olympic Games]]; ''The Perfect Jump'', on the world record-breaking long jump by [[Bob Beamon]] in the [[1968 Summer Olympics]]; ''My Aces, My Faults'' with [[Nick Bollettieri]]; ''Steinbrenner!'', a biography of mercurial [[New York Yankees]] owner [[George Steinbrenner]]; and ''[[Bo Knows Bo]]'' with [[Bo Jackson]]. His autobiography, ''Flashing Before My Eyes: 50 Years of Headlines, Deadlines & Punchlines'', was reissued under Schaap's original title "Dick Schaap as Told to Dick Schaap: 50 years of Headlines, Deadlines and Punchlines."

==Death==
Schaap died on December 21, 2001, at [[Lenox Hill Hospital]] in New York City of complications from [[hip replacement]] surgery that September.<ref name="la obit">{{cite news |last=Penner |first=Mike |date=22 December 2001 |title=Dick Schaap, 67; Sports Journalist (obituary) |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-22-me-17249-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807031812/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-22-me-17249-story.html |archive-date=7 August 2020 |access-date=31 May 2025}}</ref> Schaap's final regular television appearance was on the September 16 broadcast of ''[[The Sports Reporters]]'' on the Sunday after the [[September 11 attacks]] on New York City and [[Washington, D.C.]] That weekend, all major American college and professional sporting events had been cancelled, and Schaap and his panelists discussed the diminished role of sports since the tragedy.

After Schaap's death, his estate and members of his family filed a lawsuit against three physicians and Lenox Hill Hospital, alleging that his death had been caused by [[medical malpractice]]. Specifically, they alleged that, for two years before his surgery, Schaap had been given a powerful medication called [[amiodarone]] to treat an irregular heartbeat. Amiodarone can cause lung damage (known as "amiodarone [[pulmonary toxicity]]") and, according to the plaintiffs, an X-ray of Schaap's chest that had been taken before the surgery indicated that he had lung damage. Three days after the surgery, Schaap began having difficulty breathing, and he was subsequently diagnosed with [[acute respiratory distress syndrome]].  He died three months after the operation, never having left the hospital. Among other claims, the plaintiffs contended that Schaap's surgery should have been postponed, that he should have been taken off the amiodarone, and that his lungs should have been given time to heal before the performance of the surgery.

The court dismissed the claim against the hospital on the ground that the physicians were not employees of the hospital. The plaintiffs' claims against the three physicians went to trial in 2005 in [[Manhattan]]. On July 1, 2005, after nine days of deliberations, a jury found that all three physicians had been negligent, but also found that the negligence of only one of the physicians had caused Schaap's death. That physician was a cardiologist who the plaintiffs had contended was negligent by not looking at the pre-operative chest X-ray. The jury awarded the plaintiffs a total of $1.95 million in damages.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/01/AR2005070101794.html Family of Dick Schaap Awarded $1.95 Million], ''[[The Washington Post]]'' (July 2, 2005). Retrieved on October 27, 2013.</ref><ref>Andrew Jacobs, [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/02/nyregion/02schapp.html Jury Awards Family $1.95 Million in Dick Schaap's Death], ''The New York Times'' (July 2, 2005).  Retrieved on October 27, 2013.</ref><ref>Andrew Jacobs, [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/nyregion/23schaap.html Jury Deliberates Lawsuit Over Death of Dick Schaap], ''The New York Times'' (June 23, 2005).  Retrieved on October 27, 2013.</ref>

==Personal life==
Schaap was married twice. His first wife was Madeline Gottlieb; their divorce was finalized in March 1981.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72669764/schaaps-divorce-wife-foiled-in-alimony/ |title=Schaaps divorce; wife foiled in alimony |first=Claudia |last=Cohen |newspaper=[[New York Daily News]] |page=M-5 |date=March 13, 1981 |accessdate=March 4, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Schaap remarried to Trish McLeod shortly thereafter.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72670044/liz-smith-column/ |title=Liz Smith (column) |first=Liz |last=Smith |authorlink=Liz Smith (journalist) |newspaper=[[New York Daily News]] |page=12 |date=April 6, 1981 |accessdate=March 4, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> He was the father of six children—Renee, Michelle, [[Jeremy Schaap|Jeremy]], Joanna, Kari and David—and had five grandchildren.<ref>{{cite news|title=Deaths SCHAAP, DICK|work=The New York Times |date=December 23, 2001 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/23/nyregion/paid-notice-deaths-schaap-dick.html|access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary: Dick Schaap|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jan/10/guardianobituaries.books1|newspaper=The Guardian|date=January 10, 2002 |access-date=March 7, 2015 |last1=Carlson |first1=Michael }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/sports/03schaap.html?_r=1& |title=Out of the Shadow and Into the Spotlight - New York Times |first=Richard |last=SANDOMIR|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 3, 2005 |location=[[New York, NY|New York]] |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=March 3, 2015}}</ref> Schaap's younger brother was lawyer [[William Schaap]]. The jazz historian [[Phil Schaap]] was his cousin.

Around 1955, Schaap befriended [[Bobby Fischer]], who was at the time a 12-year-old chess prodigy, and would later become a [[world chess champion]]. In 2005, prompted by questions posed by Schaap's son Jeremy, Fischer acknowledged that the relationship was significant and that the elder Schaap had been a "father figure" to him.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2005/mar/28/chess.stephenmoss Bobby and me {{pipe}} Sport {{pipe}} The Guardian]</ref> Fischer was still resentful that Dick Schaap had later written, among many other comments, that Fischer "did not have a sane bone left in his body".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_332337.html|title=Chess legend still intrigues people|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122112239/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_332337.html|archive-date=January 22, 2008 |url-status=dead}} May 9, 2005</ref>

==Honors==
The Sports Emmy division of the [[National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences]] renamed their writing category "The Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing Award."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cdn.emmyonline.org/sports_35th_program_res_low.pdf|title=35th Annual Sports Emmy Awards|publisher=The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|access-date=November 9, 2014}}</ref> The 2005 Emmy Awards in this category was won by Jeremy for a [[SportsCenter]] piece called "Finding Bobby Fischer."

In 2002, Schaap was honored posthumously by the [[Associated Press]] Sports Editors (APSE) with the [[Red Smith Award]]. In the same year, he was also inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame, which created a Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism.

On June 8, 2015, Schaap was inducted posthumously in the [[National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association]]'s [[NSSA Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [https://archive.today/20020611094827/http://www.fsbassociates.com/hmco/sportswriting.htm Introduction to ''The Best American Sports Writing 2000''], 2000
* Associated Press Sports Editors: [https://web.archive.org/web/20040906092157/http://apse.dallasnews.com/jun2002/20-21bock.html Dick Schaap awarded 2002 honor]
* [[Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism]] obituary: [https://web.archive.org/web/20041027205833/http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/alumni/services/tributes/schapp.asp Tributes: Dick Schaap]
* [[Cornell University]] obituary: [http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/02/1.17.02/obit.html Richard J. "Dick" Schaap '55]
* [[ESPN Classic]]: "[https://www.espn.com/classic/obit/s/2001/1019/1266418.html Schaap was storyteller, collector of people]," June 25, 2002
* ''[[USA Today]]'' "Talk Today" [https://www.usatoday.com/community/chat/0110schaap.htm Interview], January 10, 2001

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928185055/http://www.dickschaapaward.org/ Dick Schaap Award Official Website]

{{Red Smith Award}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaap, Dick}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century American chess players]]
[[Category:American television reporters and correspondents]]
[[Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish American sportswriters]]
[[Category:New Times magazine (1973-1979)]]
[[Category:Writers from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:People from Freeport, New York]]
[[Category:People from Long Island]]
[[Category:Sportswriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Television anchors from New York City]]
[[Category:Jews from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Deaths from surgical complications]]