Reviews of The Immortal Bobby

Ron spoke at the University of Montana to raves.
Listen to Ron Rapoport discuss The Immortal Bobby with Robert Siegel on "All Things Considered".
There's a fabulous new biography out on Bobby Jones, "The Immortal Bobby," by Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Ron Rapoport. The author conducted scores of interviews and had access to previously undiscovered correspondence between Jones and some of his friends and acquaintances, including Jim Murray, the late Los Angeles Times sports columnist.

Their illuminating exchange of letters in the 1960s on the Masters not inviting Charlie Sifford, enshrined last fall as the first black in the World Golf Hall of Fame, to the tournament was quite revealing. (more)
- Leonard Shapiro, Washington Post

Biographies are best when they tell us as much about the history of the subject's era as they do about the subject. Rapoport grasps this in the first words of his introduction when he writes: "If Bobby Jones did not exist, the mythmaking sportswriters of the Golden Age of Sports might have had to invent him. And in a sense, perhaps they did.

If you want to learn a thing, or three about Jones and the defining times in which he lived, you should read this book. (more)
- Brian Hewitt, thegolfchannel.com

Read Ron Rapoport's article on The Immortal Bobby in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Bobby Jones turned a small Southern town into the home of golf. And yet, even here, he remains a mystery. He was the greatest golfer of his time, perhaps all time. He was once as famous as Babe Ruth. He remained an amateur when there was money to be had. He was a lawyer, he loved opera, he earned a degree in engineering from Georgia Tech and a degree in literature from Harvard, he made movies in Hollywood, and he designed America's favorite golf clubs for 40 years.

And yet, in a way, Jones remained unknowable.

This is best seen in Rapoport's chapter on Bobby Jones' views on race and the Masters, the biggest issue this golf tournament has faced through the years. (more)
- Joe Posnanski, Kansas City Star

The real strength of Rapoport's profile of Jones is the uncompromising look at how complex the man/athlete was. Like many greats in any field, both Jones' strengths and weaknesses were extreme.
- Mike Imrem, Daily Herald, Arlington, IL
"The Immortal Bobby: Bobby Jones and the Golden Age of Golf, presents a more complete - and complex - portrait of the man from Georgia who was very much a product of his time and place." (more)
- Rial Cummings, The Missoulian
There are several Bobby Jones books out this spring commemorating the 75th anniversary of his 1930 Grand Slam, but none so far is better researched, or told with greater detail, than this one by Rapoport, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Rapoport recounts the more fascinating details of Jones' life after doing scores of interviews and poring over the golfer's many correspondences. Jones was a prolific writer; in fact, his own accounts of his golf matches occasionally appeared in the next day's paper. Rapoport says he "discovered a disparity between the man and the myth that was not always so simple." He recounts that despite his gentlemanly image, Jones could hold a fearsome grudge, as he did against fellow pro Chick Evans, whose every attempt at reconciliation was rebuffed. As for 1930, Rapoport brings much of the detail of the Grand Slam quest back to life. Forgotten, until now, are the numerous near-disasters and the internal turmoil that make Jones' ultimate triumph all the more admirable.
- Tod Leonard, San Diego Union-Tribune
A well-done biography places the person in the perspective of his or her time, helping readers understand the subject's family, culture and universe. Ron Rapoport's biography of Robert T. (Bobby) Jones is rich with details of the world of "Bobby Jones and the Golden Age of Golf," the volume's subtitle.

For two decades until his death in 1971, he was painfully crippled from spinal cord dysfunction. "And he never lost his sense of humor," Rapoport writes. Jones was a beautiful human being as well as a great golfer. And this is a marvelous book about his remarkable life "... and the Golden Age of Golf." (more)
- D. G. Schumacher, Myrtle Beach Golf Magazine

"(An) exhaustively researched and anecdote-rich tome on Bobby Jones." (more)
- Peter Kerasotis, Florida Today
Read USA Today's review.
Read Tad Reeve's review in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

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