Corky Simpson
Native of Carthage, Missouri
Wife: Marge.
Daughters: Amy and Jenny, both of whom live in Sahuarita.
Son: Jeff, lives in Wellington, Kansas. Three grandchildren.
Marge and I lived in Tucson until my retirement.
We moved to Green Valley in October 2007 and reside in Canoa Terrace.
College: Pittsburg State, Pittsburg, Kansas.
Newspapers I worked for:
- Carthage Press,
- Illinois State Journal in Springfield,
- Wellington (Kan.) Daily News,
- Phoenix Gazette and
- Tucson Citizen.
September 1974 through Dec. 22, 2006.
- Spent four months on loan to USA Today in 1987.
Covered
- one World Series,
- one Summer Olympics,
- three national championship football games,
- five Final Fours,
- two Major League Baseball All-Star Games,
- four College Baseball World Series,
- two College Softball World Series,
- NCAA Championships in swimming and track and field, and
- 20 NCAA National Conventions.
Had the privilege -- because of my job -- to interview, among others,
- Joe DiMaggio,
- Carl Hubbell,
- Stan Musial,
- Bob Feller,
- Bart Starr,
- Johnny Unitas,
- Joe Namath,
- Bear Bryant,
- Joe Paterno,
- Arnold Palmer,
- Gary Player,
- Jack Nicklaus,
- Lee Trevino,
- Billie Jean King,
- Chris Evert,
- Arthur Ashe,
- Jimmy Connors, and
- John McEnroe,
- and only asked for one autograph in all that time:
Jessica Cox, a University of Arizona student who had no arms but could drive a car and operate a computer.
She wrote with her toes.
I also hitched a ride once in the Goodyear Blimp "Columbia," and bungee jumped at the Pima County Fair on my 53rd birthday.
- Arizona Sports Columnist of the Year, 1981.
- National Sports Columnist of the Year 1987.
- National President of the Football Writers Association of America in 1996.
- First inductee into the Arizona Sportswriters Hall of Fame in Phoenix.
- Author of one book, "Corky" (with a forward by Lute Olson).