Inductees

Like any sports writer, Myron Holtzman enjoys telling stories. The funny ones are the best, of course. Even his.

“I went to the University of Missouri to be a business major,” Holtzman said, “and figured out I couldn’t add 2 plus 2, so I found another major.”

Well, he not only found sports journalism but found his way to the top, covering everything from high schools to all of St. Louis’ pro sports teams. Which is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Holtzman with the Class of 2018.

At The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, he covered everything from high school sports to Mizzou and Illinois football and basketball and on to St. Louis’ pro teams – the Blues, the baseball and football Cardinals and Steamers.

Along the way, he was there at the 1982 Liberty Bowl covering Bear Bryant’s final game as the legendary coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Additionally, he covered the 1982 and 1985 World Series, the PGA’s U.S. Open as well as Olympic qualifying events and the NCAA regional basketball tournament.

He then was the last sports editor of the Globe-Democrat’s sports editor beginning 1983 – he supervised a staff of 15 – until the paper ceased publication in 1986.

However, that is only the Cliffs Notes version of Holtzman beating the pavement, the competition and deadlines.

“One of the things I was very proud of was, at the Globe-Democrat, we had half the staff of the Post-Dispatch and we equaled them right up until the end,” Holtzman said.

A University City High School graduate, Holtzman began cutting his teeth in journalism in the University of Missouri at Columbia’s School of Journalism. He was there for its 7:40 a.m. class as part of the student newspaper.

After graduation, he caught on at the Rochester (Minn.) Post-Bulletin, the third-largest newspaper in that state, and covered a myriad of assignments, including high school and junior college sports as well as the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings and baseball’s Minnesota Twins.

Yet 1 ½ years in, he got a call from sports editor Bob Burnes to work for the Globe-Democrat, a morning daily. Burnes became a mentor.

“He was very well-respected in the St. Louis community,” Holtzman said. “I’d sit there and talk to him until the wee hours of the morning.”

Among Holtzman’s favorite stories was Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS when Ozzie Smith’s home run triggered Jack Buck’s “Go crazy, folks … Go crazy”  home run call on radio. Holtzman was covering the reaction in the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse, and remembers the losing pitcher, Tom Niedenfuer, agreeing to an interview.

He once covered a Pittsburgh Pirates tryout at an Illinois State Penitentiary and, upon returning to the newsroom, got a surprise.

Said Holtzman, “I had 30 minutes to write it.”

Holtzman’s post-newspaper career has been fascinating, too. He worked part-time for the Sporting News and regularly for The Associated Press. In 1993, he became Anheuser-Busch’s full-time publications manager for the St. Louis Cardinals. He edited and designed the Cardinals Magazine (later Gameday Magazine) for five years and designed and edited the Yearbook.

He then worked for A-B’s communications department as editor of several publications and handled public relations duties for “The Real Men of Genius” and NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. He also helped develop A-B’s internal television system.

In 2010, Holtzman and Greg Marecek co-authored, “The Cardinals of Cooperstown,” a collection of stories about any players, owners and writers with Cardinals links who are in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. In the book’s second edition, they added stories of old St. Louis Browns and Negro Leaguers.

Holtzman currently is the public relations director for the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame and chairman of the St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writer’s Association of America dinner.

His honors include: the Distinguished Sportswriter Award from the Missouri High School Association, the Missouri Sportswriter’s Award, Missouri Golf Writer’s Award, the Meritorious Service Award from the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame and the Broeg Media Award from the local chapter of the National Football Foundation. He also is a lifetime member of the MLB Baseball Writers Association of America and has been elected to the St. Louis Sports and the JCC Jewish Sports halls of fame.

Myron and his wife, Eleanor, have three children, Laura (Brent), Scott (Ashley) and Brad (Natalie), and four grandchildren, Ally, Ian, Ben and Matthew.

“It was very rewarding,” Holtzman said of his career. “I was lucky and very fortunate.”