Gene Wojciechowski

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gene Wojciechowski is a sports columnist, best known for his work with ESPN. Born in Salina, Kansas, he became a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine in January 1998, having worked as a football reporter for the network since 1992. He was named senior national sports columnist for ESPN in June 2005. He also has worked at the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, and Denver Post.

He has authored or co-authored eight books, including Cubs Nation, About 80 Percent Luck, Pond Scum and Vultures, as well as autobiographies with several notable sports figures, including Bill Walton, Rick Majerus, Reggie Miller and Jerome Bettis.

[edit] Accusations of Racism

In the Fall of 1997, Gene Wojciechowski was a Sports Writer for the Chicago Tribune. At the time, there were rumors that Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves was interested in playing for the Chicago Bulls, who were eventually going to lose Michael Jordan to retirement and Scottie Pippen in a trade to the Houston Rockets in 1998 after their sixth and final championship. Wojciechowski wrote an article describing a hypothetical situation in which Garnett was in the back seat of a Chicago cab driven by someone of Indian or Pakistani decent [1]. Throughout the article, Wojciechowski had the cab driver trying to persuade Garnett to play for the Chicago Bulls. However, the article contained numerous negative ethnic stereotypes in it’s depiction of the foreign cab driver. The Tribune received hundreds of emails and phone calls in regards to the matter. They printed several emails from Indian, Pakistani and Asian groups criticizing both the Tribune and Wojciechowski [2] [3]. Eventually, the Tribune was forced to print an apology [4]. At the time, it was only the 5th apology ever written in the history of the Chicago Tribune which was established in 1847. Although the Tribune offered a formal apology, Wojciechowski has never apologized. He has also never acknowledged or denied that the article was racist in any way.