Art Spander: “We’re all Running out There in our Pajamas.”

Press Box Access: A Sports History Podcast

There’s much to unpack from Art Spander’s joyful journey of six decades as a sportswriter. The indefatigable Bay Area legend recalls the rise of young Tiger Woods and offers an intriguing theory. Art recounts covering iconic games such as The Catch, and The Miracle on Ice. He puts us at the Cal-Stanford game when “the band is on the field!” Art shares his love for major sporting events, especially the Rose Bowl. And he laughs about receiving a special delivery from Candlestick Park’s sod squad, and about being threatened by three athletes in a five-day span. Art explains how he ended up with Kyle Shanahan’s backpack and Super Bowl game plan. He takes us to training camp with the motley Oakland Raiders of the 1970s. Rules? What rules? Oh, and Art covered Marilyn Monroe’s funeral. What? Seriously. Hear about that and more. What a trip.

Spander has been a fixture in the Bay Area sports scene since 1965, and he has practically lived at major sporting events. He attended or covered 67 consecutive Rose Bowls beginning in 1954 when he sold game programs. He has covered the Masters 55 times, including 54 in a row, and nearly every U.S. Open golf tournament since 1966. He has worked more than 40 Super Bowls, and more than 50 tennis Grand Slam events, including Wimbledon about 30 times. Art has covered more than 30 Final Fours, more than 30 British Opens, and the World Series nearly 20 times. He has also covered multiple Summer and Winter Olympics, the Ryder Cup, each of the Triple Crown thoroughbred races, the Indianapolis 500, nearly every Crosby/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for more than a half-century and every Cal-Stanford football game since 1968.

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