Gary M. Pomerantz, Class of 1982
Gary M. Pomerantz, ‘82, chair of the Daily Cal board, is an historian, journalist, lecturer, and author of six nonfiction books on topics ranging from history to sports to civil rights.
His most recent, the New York Times best-seller The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End, centers on Boston Celtics legends Bob Cousy and Bill Russell, both Presidential Medal of Freedom winners. Gary’s first book, Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn, about Atlanta’s racial conscience, was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He also authored WILT, 1962, about Wilt Chamberlain’s legendary 100-point game (a New York Times Editors’ List selection); Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds, about an aviation crash; The Devil’s Tickets about a Jazz Age murder and trial; and Their Life’s Work, about the 1970’s Pittsburgh Steelers that explores football’s gifts and costs.
As sports editor of The Daily Cal in 1980, he covered the Bears’ football, baseball, and basketball teams. He worked for nearly two decades for The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has taught reporting and writing for the past 18 years at Stanford’s Graduate Program in Journalism.
He is married to former Cal classmate Carrie Schwab Pomerantz.