Episode 28: Seth Wickersham

This week on Gangrey: The Podcast, I talk with Seth Wickersham, a senior writer with ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. He joined ESPN right after graduating from the University of Missouri in 2000. Wickersham writes frequently for ESPN.com and contributes to Outside the Lines and E:60. Although he primarily covers the NFL—profiling the likes of Peyton and Eli Manning, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Eric Mangini, Albert Haynesworth, Tank Johnson, Michael Vick and Deion Sanders—Wickersham has also written about gay rugby, the plight of a fired college basketball coach, suicidal Kenyan runners in Alaska, and NCAA compliance officers. He also suffered the laborious task of traveling to London to interview legendary Queen guitarist Brian May about “We Will Rock You,” the most-played stadium anthem ever. Wickersham has read, lectured or served as a panelist at New York University’s School of Law and School of Journalism, University of Michigan’s School of Public Policy, University of Alaska Anchorage’s School of Journalism, mediabistro, 92Y Tribeca, Pop-Up Magazine, Varsity Letters, and the College Media Association Convention. His work has been cited numerous times as an honorable mention in The Best American Sportswriting anthology, and he’s won several awards from the Pro Football Writers Association. He’s part of a staff at The Magazine that twice won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. We’re talking with him, however, because of the longform, literary journalism he has produced for ESPN. He’s written about a runner from Kenya who went to college in Anchorage, attempted suicide and then had to have his feet amputated because of frostbite. He’s written about legendary NFL coach Bill Walsh’s attempt to write a book that would teach everyone how to coach in the NFL. And he’s written about vets who have to put racehorses down after catastrophic injuries. We’ll discuss two stories specifically. In “Awakening the Giant,” Wickersham writes about legendary quarterback Y.A. Tittle, who is suffering from dementia. He also wrote the story “Out Route,” which chronicled Atlanta Falcon’s tight end Tony Gonzalez in the final season of his hall of fame career.