1994 – John Carmichael

Born in Madison, Wisconsin, on October 16, 1902, sportswriting legend John Carmichael was known as “the home run slugger of all sportswriters.” During his career he covered every spring training and World Series from 1929 until his retirement in 1972. Along with his coverage of baseball, he also covered football, wrestling, hockey, boxing, and horse racing. Carmichael began his career at the Milwaukee Journal, as a police reporter, in 1924. After three years working in Milwaukee, first at the Journal then the Milwaukee Leader, he moved to Chicago where he took a position as a sportswriter with the Chicago Herald-Examiner. Then in 1932, Carmichael moved to the Chicago Daily News where he worked for the rest of his career. In 1934, at the Daily News, he started his famed column “The Barber Shop” which he wrote for the next 32 years. Along with writing his column, Carmichael served as sports editor of the Daily News for the last 29 years of his career. Shortly after his retirement, in 1974, he received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Carmichael died June 6, 1986. In recognition of his outstanding career, he was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame on May 2, 1994.