Welcome
Yes, the above is yours truly, circa 1959. I am a Texan, but it is my outrageous good fortune to live and work in the heart of Seoul, one of the biggest, densest and most dynamic cities in Asia. Although my experience as an expat—beginning in Daegu in November 2007—may not be all that unique, I am working on a book, my 19th, which delves into my travels (north, south, east and west), what I’ve seen and how I’ve coped on the fringes of this tightly knit society. I am glad I came to Korea, and I have no idea when or even whether I will be returning to the US of A.
On the subpages of this website, you will find all sorts of information about my successes, failures, opinions and biases. Please take a look at what I have written and the photos appertaining thereto, and don’t hesitate to offer comments and critiques. I enjoy having dialogue with people from far and wide.
RAP
My Books
Rather astonishingly, none of my books has reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list, but I am proud of them all. The first came out in 1987 and the most recent in 2010. All but two of them have pertained to sports history--football, basketball, baseball and even hockey.
Breaking the Ice / Racial Integration of Southwest Conference Football
My journalism career had scarcely begun in 1984. Sure, I had seen a few articles published in the Daily Texan and some… read on
“For Texas, I Will” / The History of Memorial Stadium
The genesis of this book can be traced to a comment made by my brother Randy in the summer of 1976. He was visiting me in… read on
Coming to Texas / International Students at the University of Texas
One thing leads to another. I had met Curly Ferris in the late stages of doing the Memorial Stadium book because the name… read on
Other Writings
Some of these pieces have been published, but most of them have not. I just enjoy documenting the places I have been, the people I have met, the experiences I have had. And posting them here on my webby is a form of publication, is it not?
- The Soap Box Derby
- Class tells—and Rodney Page had it
- Unsolicited advice for my fellow scribes
- Satchel Paige
- Dedicated to Yoon and Park
- Ah, to be wrapped in the warmth of Rashid’s billions!
- My encounter with Leslie
- The most important class I ever took
- “Line-up for Yesterday”—baseball version
- “Line-up for Yesterday”—football version
- “Line-up for Yesterday”—basketball version
- Lead Belly at UT, 1949
- Archie Manning and other smug jocks
- H.V. Morton, travel writer extraordinaire
- Blood on the hands of Kim Jong-Il
- A skeptic reviews Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol
- Dr. Johnson
- The 1971 Cotton Bowl with Nancy
