Who's that guy in the bleachers writing about a girls' high-school basketball team? One of our greatest sportswriters

Cheryl and Dave Kindred, before her stroke (Jim Benson photo)

Dave Kindred is one of our greatest sportswriters. He has been to "40-something" Super Bowls and 52 Masters golf tournaments, and was Muhammad Ali's hometown favorite when he worked for the Louisville Courier Journal. For the last decade, he has been the beat reporter for the girls' basketball team at Morton High School, between Peoria and Carlock, Ill., where he lives.

"I've written more than 300 games, probably more than 500,000 words. I've written more about that girls basketball team than I've written about anything, including Ali," Kindred told John Wertheim of CBS News for a "60 Minutes" story that told "how his decade-long reporting on Morton girls basketball has helped him navigate some of the most difficult times in his life," Randy Kindred (no relation) of the Bloomington Pantagraph wrote March 7.

"Included is the death of his 25-year-old grandson, Jared Kindred, in January 2014. Delving into the life Jared lived, hopping trains and suffering from alcohol addiction, is the subject of Kindred’s recently released book, Leave Out The Tragic Parts. It is gut-wrenching and glorious, exposing addiction for the monster it is and how beloved Jared Kindred was."

CBS gave the book one line. Kindred gave the Pantagraph a quote that best summed up what the high-school beat did for him after his mother's death, Jared's death and his wife's stroke, which left her a noncommunicative invalid: “In that darkness, writing about the girls basketball team was light. The first five years were fun. The last five years it’s been life-affirming, maybe even life-saving. It gave me a community, it gave me a schedule, it gave me things to do. I like to write, and it took me back to where I started … all of those small gyms around Bloomington.” He started at point guard for Atlanta High School, southwest of Bloomington.

When the Morton Potters resumed play after pandemic restrictions, Kindred wrote, "We've lost so much that was so long familiar. Then the Potters gave us a gift. They played a game. . . . The joy that high school athletes feel when every trip down the court is a trip toward possibility. Joy in these days. So long without joy." We're glad Dave Kindred still writes.

Google map of Central Illinois shows Morton, Atlanta, Bloomington and Carlock, where Kindred lives. Click to enlarge.