Famed Sportswriter Bill Nack Dead at 77

Bill Nack, widely recognized as one of the most talented racing writers of all time, passed away Friday at his home in Washington D.C. Nack died following a bout with cancer. He was 77.

Best known for his work with Sports Illustrated, where he was employed from 1978 to 2001, Nack covered many sports, but racing was his primary assignment and his first love. His 1990 story Pure Heart on the passing of Secretariat was chosen as one of SI's 60 most iconic stories. His 1975 book on Secretariat, “Secretariat : The Making of a Champion” is considered the definitive book on the 1973 Triple Crown winner.

“Bill was a great reporter, a great writer a great friend, a great colleague,” said Steve Crist, the former racing writer for the New York Times who later became the publisher of the Daily Racing Form. “His work on Secretariat was the best turf writing ever done.”

Nack was born in 1941 and moved with his family to Skokie, Illinois, at the age of 10. A graduate of the University of Illinois, he served briefly in the Army before taking over the racing beat at Newsday. It was with the Long Island, New York-based newspaper that he covered Secretariat's career and began creating some of the most memorable prose ever written about perhaps the most memorable horse ever to race.

“It was a very truthful rendition of what happened,” he said, recalling the Pure Heart story to writer Ted Keith in 2015. “I can still remember leaning against that hotel room wall and sobbing (When Secretariat died). That horse had meant a lot to me and my family.”

Whatever Nack wrote about, he did it better than most. Also known as one of the best boxing writers of his era, Nack wrote about such diverse subjects as Sonny Liston, Rocky Marciano, the lingering feud. between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier after their careers ended, Bobby Fischer, Rick Pitino, Yankee Stadium and Keith Hernandez.

His 1988 story about Robbie Davis' struggles after a horse he was riding at Belmont struck and killed jockey Mike Venezia, is also considered one of the best and most moving articles ever written on the sport.

“Bill and I met at Churchill Downs in the year of Riva Ridge (1972),” said former Washington Post racing columnist Andy Beyer. “We had a friendship that lasted 46 years. I loved Bill as a person. He was so engaging. But the main thing I will always remember about Bill was what he was like as a writer. I am somebody who takes the printed word very seriously and I always have. There is nobody in sportswriting or any form of journalism who I have ever come across who was the craftsman that Bill was. You knew how much hard work entered into every sentence he wrote but it never felt forced. He put words and sentences together so brilliantly.”

Nack's talents extended beyond his writing. He loved the written word and had an uncanny ability to remember lengthy portions of classic works. He enjoyed regaling audience's by reciting the final lines of the Great Gatsby.

Nack's honors included the Walter Haight Award from the National Turf Writers Association, the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Lifetime Achievement Award from Thoroughbred Charities of America, the A.J. Liebling Award from the Boxing Writers Association of America, the ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sportswriting in 2017 and numerous Eclipse Awards.

Nack is survived by his wife, Carolyne Starek, and four children.