Art Spander

Who is Art Spander?

Arthur Melvin Spander is an award-winning American sports writer. Through 7/21/08, he was a columnist for the Oakland Tribune/MediaNews and the American columnist for the Scotland Sunday Herald and the London-based Daily Telegraph. In 1999 he was awarded the McCann Award, earning him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and in 2007 he was honored with the Masters Major Achievement Award.

Spander began his career as a news writer for United Press International in Los Angeles in 1960, and started writing sports full time in 1963 for the Santa Monica Outlook where he was the beat writer for the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Dodgers and covered UCLA and USC football and basketball. In 1965 he moved to the San Francisco Chronicle, where he covered golf, football, baseball and basketball. Spander became the lead sports columnist for the San Francisco Examiner in 1979.

Spander has covered 42 consecutive Masters Tournaments, 32 Super Bowls, 40 U.S. Open Golf Tournaments, 29 British Open Golf Tournaments, 25 Wimbledons and 25 Final Four's. He has also attended 55 consecutive Rose Bowls, initially as a spectator and vendor and the last 45 as a journalist.

He was voted "California Sports Writer of the Year" by his peers in 1980, and is the only person to win Golf Writers Association of America first place awards in each of five decades.