Tex Maule

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hamilton Prieleaux Bee Maule, commonly known as Tex Maule (May 19, 1915 in Ojus, Florida — May 16, 1981) was the lead American football writer for Sports Illustrated in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. After playing football (end) at St Marys in college and serving in World War II, he joined the NFL's Los Angeles Rams front office, where he worked with Pro Football Hall of Famers Pete Rozelle and Tex Schramm.

Later, in 1956, Maule was hired by Sports Illustrated, where he covered football for 19 years. When the upstart American Football League (AFL) began play in 1960, Maule did not conceal his loyalty to, nor his preference for, Rozelle and the NFL. For years he ridiculed and made light of the rival AFL. He gained such notoriety for his bias that it was well known to his media contemporaries. During the broadcast of the AFL's New York Jets' defeat of the NFL champion Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, announcer Curt Gowdy asked (off-air): "I wonder if that (S.O.B.) Tex Maule is watching?" The comment can be heard on existing videos of the NBC-TV network feed of the game.

Maule also was a prolific author during the late 1950s and early 1960s. From Sports Illustrated, Maule moved to The Dallas Morning News for three years. From Dallas, he returned to New York to write on a freelance basis. It was there he died in 1981. He was famed for saying, "It was a wonderful demonstration of boxing skill and a barbarous display of cruelty" in regards to the treatment which Muhammed Ali gave Ernie Terrell.

In 1972 he wrote a book, Running Scarred [Pelham Books 1972], about his experience having a heart attack and taking up running afterwards .