Wright Thompson, a New York Times best-selling author and senior writer for ESPN, will deliver the 2024 Axthelm Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Diederich College of Communication, on Thursday, April 4, at 4 p.m. in Sensenbrenner Hall.
Registration is open to the public and available online.
Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. Previously, he worked at The Kansas City Star and New Orleans Times-Picayune. He is renowned for his profiles on Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and his rich cultural writing on the South. Thompson’s work has covered a wide range of sports issues from football, basketball and baseball to car racing, sports history, Father’s Day and bullfighting.
Thompson is also the bestselling author of two New York Times best-selling books, “Pappyland” and “The Cost of These Dreams.” In “Pappyland,” he offers a first-hand account of Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, and his fight to protect his family’s heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears. “The Cost of These Dreams” is a collection of true stories about the dream of greatness and its cost in the world of sports.
The Pete and Bonnie Axthelm Memorial Program was established in 1994 to acknowledge and recognize the life of Pete Axthelm and his sister Bonnie. Every year this program awards a scholarship to an outstanding journalism student with an expressed interest in sports journalism and hosts a lecture by a professional in the field.
