Wiley, Ralph 1952–2004

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Wiley, Ralph 1952–2004

PERSONAL: Born April 12, 1952, in Memphis, TN; died of heart failure, June 13, 2004, in Orlando, FL; son of Ralph H. (a night watchman) and Dorothy Brown (a professor; maiden name, Taylor) Wiley; married Brenda Joysmith (divorced, 1978); married Brenda Joysmith, 1978 (divorced); married Holly Anne Cypress (in marketing), 1982; children: Colen Cypress Wiley. Education: Knoxville College, B.S., 1975.

CAREER: Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, reporter, 1975–76, beat writer for professional and collegiate sports, 1976–79, columnist, 1979–82; article and feature writer for Sports Illustrated, 1982–91; Heygood Images Productions, Inc., Landover, MD, founder and chair, 1987–2004. National Broadcasting Company, Inc., NFL Live, commentator.

WRITINGS:

Serenity: A Boxing Memoir, Holt (New York, NY), 1989, reprinted with new afterword, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 2000.

Why Black People Tend to Shout: Cold Facts and Wry Views from a Black Man's World (essays), Carol Publishing Group (Secaucus, NJ), 1991.

(With Spike Lee) By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X, Hyperion (New York, NY), 1992.

What Black People Should Do Now: Dispatches from near the Vanguard, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Dark Witness: When Black People Should Be Sacrificed (Again), Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 1996.

(With Spike Lee) Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Eric Davis) Born to Play: The Eric Davis Story: Life Lessons in Overcoming Adversity On and Off the Field, Viking (New York, NY), 1999.

(With Dexter Scott King) Growing Up King: An Intimate Memoir, IPM (New York, NY), 2003.

Also author of television documentary The Other Side of Victory, three-act play Cardinals, and screenplay Knuckle Down. Contributor of essays to periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS: Ralph Wiley was a biographer and frequent collaborator with a number of black celebrities, including filmmaker Spike Lee and baseball player Eric Lee. Wiley, who died in 2004, was also the author of several collections of provocative and controversial essays that examined the African American experience.

In Serenity: A Boxing Memoir Wiley profiles both the renowned and the unsung fighters who have defined boxing over the years. As the grandson and nephew of two prizefighters and a seasoned sportswriter for both the Oakland Tribune and Sports Illustrated, the author relies upon his personal and professional background to present an intimate look at the sport. Wiley offers insights on such pugilists as Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, and Mike Tyson, and speaks of the satisfaction that boxers experience in boldly living up to challenges both inside and outside of the ring.

In his next book, Why Black People Tend to Shout: Cold Facts and Wry Views from a Black Man's World, Wiley employs thirty-three essays to discuss problems facing his fellow African Americans. In addition to surveying a wide variety of social and cultural issues, Wiley presents opinions on such diverse figures as Klansman-turned-politician David Duke, pop star Michael Jackson, and former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon. Notable among the author's observations is a discussion of novelist Alice Walker, whom Wiley faults for negatively portraying black men in The Color Purple. A writer for the Los Angeles Times Book Review praised Wiley as "a bold new voice."

What Black People Should Do Now: Dispatches from near the Vanguard contains a collection of twenty-three essays that offer "a vigorous, mordant perspective on the African American experience," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Several of the essays originally appeared in publications such as the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. Wiley covers topics such as Magic Johnson and his struggle with AIDS; the various reactions to the Rodney King case; and his sadness at how his son, then attending a well-integrated public school, will eventually learn about racial division. In a humorous essay, Wiley explores the myth that black people do not buy books. Readers "will find Wiley sometimes engaging or amusing," noted Frederick D. Robinson in Black Enterprise. American Visions contributor Gary A. Puckrein called the book a "fast-paced work of contemporary social commentary."

Continuing to write about the condition of the African American with Dark Witness: When Black People Should Be Sacrificed (Again) Wiley "mixes current trends and topics of debate over Black America with a uniquely American Question: Who is Black?," noted Zachary Dowdy in Emerge. Wiley "launches his satirical barbs high," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, as he considers topics as diverse as the speech syntax of NAACP leader Ben Chavis; the surreal life led by O.J. Simpson, and the musical prowess of Wynton Marsalis. He wonders why the attack on Waco, Texas, was more important to American militia members than the bombing of the black group MOVE in Philadelphia in 1987. He also offers a perspective on the Hughes brothers' film Dead Presidents. "Something here should energize or offend (or both) all readers," observed Mary Carroll in Booklist. Dowdy concluded: "Wiley brings to the debate his own inimitable style, a bold perspective that is without compromise, and a voice that provokes laughter about society's weightiest dilemmas."

Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir provides an autobiographical slant on filmmaker, basketball lover, and top-flight New York Knicks fan Spike Lee. In what a Publishers Weekly contributor called a "disjointed but high-spirited memoir," Lee reflects on his childhood when he sneaked into Madison Square Garden to watch a 1970 playoff game from the rafters. Lee also relates how he became a famed writer and director with a thousand-dollar courtside seat for Knicks games, where he encourages the players, harangues the coaches, and reviles the referees. Lee includes his own memories of significant games and prominent players with material from his own personal highlights, including his breakout movie, Do the Right Thing, his marriage and fatherhood, and his meeting with Jackie Robinson. Booklist reviewer Bonnie Smothers called the work "the sweetest book about sports to be published in a long time."

Born to Play: The Eric Davis Story: Life Lessons in Overcoming Adversity On and Off the Field covers Davis's promising early career, the physical injuries and hardships he suffered, and the strength that allowed him to overcome his obstacles and remain a major-league player. Davis came from a difficult life in South Central Los Angeles, where poverty, violence, and drugs were rampant. When he came to the major leagues, Davis demonstrated a combination of phenomenal speed and tremendous power that had last been noticed in legend Willie Mays. He played on the World Series champion Cincinnati Reds in 1991, and on the 1997 contender team, the Baltimore Orioles. Several health problems nearly cost him both his ability to play and his life, however. While making a diving catch during the 1990 World Series, he lacerated a kidney, an injury that was life-threatening. Then, in 1997, Davis was diagnosed with colon cancer during the season. He endured surgery and chemotherapy and returned to play by that September. The death of his brother, who had gravitated toward the gangster lifestyle, dealt another stunning emotional blow during his cancer treatment. Despite his troubles, Davis maintained the spirit and the desire to play. Davis and Wiley tell the story of how Davis overcame his life's toughest problems. The team of Davis and Wiley moved New York Times Book Review critic Allen Barra to write that the book "differs from many baseball memoirs in that it has a player who can think and a writer who can write." Barra called it a "superior sports autobiography." Library Journal reviewer John M. Maxymuk commented that Davis's story "is a fascinating tale, at times grippingly told."

Moving from sports to even larger issues, Growing Up King: An Intimate Memoir is an "honest and telling autobiography" of Dexter Scott King, the youngest son and third child of legendary civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The son who most closely resembles his father, Dexter King has lived beneath a giant's shadow, doing his best to live up to a legacy that followed him through every step of his life. He describes what it was like to grow up with such a famous father. The authors include details and remembrances from King's early childhood, of his father and mother, and of his father's assassination. The death of their father profoundly affected Dexter and all his siblings, but his legacy also placed a great strain on the children as they grew up and searched for their own identity. King and Wiley candidly relate some of King's travails and shortcomings, including his failure to complete a degree at Morehouse College, which had graduated men in his family since 1898, and his sometimes aimless pursuit of a professional career. They discuss his tumultuous years as chief executive officer and president of the King Center in Atlanta and the battles between King and the center's board of directors. King also describes the difficulties of securing the intellectual property rights to his father's speeches and writings. Finally, he comments on his family's struggle to make sense of a number of conspiracy theories surrounding his father's death. Booklist contributor Vanessa Bush declared the book "a fascinating biography."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 8, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1994.

PERIODICALS

American Visions, October-November, 1993, Gary A. Puckrein, review of What Black People Should Do Now: Dispatches from near the Vanguard, p. 35.

Black Collegian, February, 2003, Corinne Nelson, review of Growing Up King: An Intimate Memoir, p. 120.

Black Enterprise, March, 1994, Frederick D. Robinson, review of What Black People Should Do Now, p. 93.

Booklist, May 15, 1996, Mary Carroll, review of Dark Witness: When Black People Should Be Sacrificed (Again), p. 1553; April 1, 1997, Bonnie Smothers, review of Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir, p. 1267; January 1, 2003, Vanessa Bush, review of Growing Up King, p. 815.

Ebony, January, 2003, review of Growing Up King, p. 16.

Emerge, June, 1996, Zachary Dowdy, "To Be or Not to Be—Black," review of Dark Witness, p. 71.

Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2002, review of Growing Up King, p. 1675.

Kliatt, July, 2004, Nola Theiss, review of Growing Up King, p. 37.

Library Journal, April 1, 1999, John M. Maxymuk, review of Born to Play, p. 105.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, March 31, 1991, review of Why Black People Tend to Shout, p. 6.

New York Times, June 8, 1997, Lena Williams, review of Best Seat in the House, p. 24.

New York Times Book Review, May 30, 1999, Allen Barra, review of Born to Play, p. 16.

People, May 19, 1997, Alex Tresniowski, review of Best Seat in the House, p. 38.

Publishers Weekly, November 16, 1992, review of By Any Means Necessary, p. 56; August 30, 1993, review of What Black People Should Do Now, p. 85; March 25, 1996, review of Dark Witness, p. 73; April 28, 1997, review of Best Seat in the House, p. 61; March 8, 1999, review of Born to Play, p. 60; December 2, 2002, review of Growing up King, p. 45.