Book excerpt: More Influences (Chapter 3 of ‘Going 15 Rounds With Jerry Izenberg’)

This chapter is excerpted from “Going 15 Rounds With Jerry Izenberg: A Collection Of Interviews With The Legendary Columnist.”

By Ed Odeven

Since the Watergate scandal unfolded in the early 1970s, Bob Woodward’s name has been a permanent fixture in journalism. His Washington Post articles, solo bylines or those written with his tag-team partner Carl Bernstein, guaranteed his importance for decades to come, even before the many books, movies and lecture circuit appearances.

Indeed, Woodward holds a prominent place in American society as a chronicler of the corrupt, monomaniacal Nixon presidency.

But decades earlier, another journalist with the same surname, Stanley Woodward (1895-1964), rose to prominence as a sports editor at the New York Herald Tribune, serving two stints as department boss (1933-48 and 1959-62). Some considered Woodward the best sports editor of all time.

With clarity and passion and wit and incredible details, Jerry Izenberg dished out keen…