Corky Simpson

Native of Carthage, Missouri

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).