Haner, Jim 1957-

views updated

Haner, Jim 1957-

PERSONAL:

Born 1957, in Atlantic City, NJ; married Donna St. George (a journalist); children: two sons. Education: Temple University, B.A., 1985. Hobbies and other interests: Coaching youth soccer.

ADDRESSES:

Home—College Park, MD. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Investigative reporter for major newspapers, including Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald, and Baltimore Sun; University of Maryland, College Park, adjunct professor of journalism.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Pulitzer Prize Public Service Medal, 1993; Twain Award for Public Service, Associated Press, 1995 and 2003; Tom Renner Award for Reporting on Organized Crime, Investigative Reporters & Editors, 1998; Excellence in Urban Journalism Award, Freedom Forum, 2000; Scripps-Howard Public Service Award, 2003; Journalist of the Year, Times-Mirror.

WRITINGS:

Soccerhead: An Accidental Journey into the Heart of the American Game, North Point Press (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

An investigative journalist, Jim Haner was part of a Miami Herald team that won the Pulitzer Prize Public Service Medal for reports on the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. The hurricane struck Florida in 1992 and, until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, remained the most destructive storm in American history. Haner, who has worked on several major papers, has also covered politics, organized crime, and other subjects. Another part of his life, however, is occupied by the joys of coaching kids' soccer.

In Soccerhead: An Accidental Journey into the Heart of the American Game, Haner explains how his experience coaching youth soccer teams inspired his growing passion for the game. When he first began coaching a team of six-year-olds, Haner knew little about soccer, but "after just a couple of nights on the practice field with my squad of little hellions," he writes, "I was hopelessly sucked in." Soccerhead intersperses accounts of Haner's adventures with chapters that detail the history and cultural contexts of a game loved the world over, though it is still eclipsed in the United States by the overwhelming popularity of American-style football. Critics praised Soccerhead for its wealth of information and its unabashed enthusiasm for the game. Library Journal reviewer Boyd Childress appreciated Haner's "lively narrative" and insightful commentary on the psychology of competition among school-age athletes. Keir Graff, writing in Booklist, admired Haner's humor and feeling for the game, and described Soccerhead as "one hell of a good book."