WIMMER, Dick 1936-

PERSONAL: Born June 18, 1936, in New York, NY; son of Sidney (a pest control executive) and Frances (a homemaker) Wimmer; married, 1964; wife's name Vici (marriage ended, 1977); children: Ceo, Geordie. Education: Cornell University, B.A., 1958; Yale University, M.A.T., 1959; Columbia University, M.A., 1974. Politics: Independent. Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Basketball.

ADDRESSES: Home—27550 Country Glen Rd., Agoura, CA 91301.

CAREER: Writer, editor, educator. WVBR-Radio, Ithaca, NY, baseball and basketball announcer, 1954-58; Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, teacher of English, 1969-70; Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City, NY, teacher of English, 1970-76; Moorpark College, Moorpark, CA, teacher of English, 1985-91; Pierce College, Woodland Hills, CA, adjunct professor of English, 1991—; University of California, Los Angeles, instructor in Writers Program, 1991-92; Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, professor, 1999—. Has presented radio sports programs; guest on television programs.

MEMBER: American Civil Liberties Union, Greenpeace, Alameda Writers Group (honorary member).

AWARDS, HONORS: Short story award, Nassau Review, 1995.

WRITINGS:

fiction

Irish Wine, Mercury House (San Francisco, CA), 1989.

Boyne's Lassie, Zoland Books (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

The Irish Wine Trilogy (contains Irish Wine, Boyne's Lassie, and Hagar's Dream), Penguin Books (New York, NY), 2001.

editor; nonfiction

Baseball Fathers, Baseball Sons, Morrow (New York, NY), 1988.

The Schoolyard Game, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1988.

The Sandlot Game, Masters Press (Columbus, OH), 1997.

The Gridiron Game, Masters Press (Columbus, OH), 1997.

The Fastest Game, Masters Press (Columbus, OH), 1998.

The Home Run Game, Burford Books (Springfield, NJ), 1999.

The Fairway Game, Burford Books (Springfield, NJ), 1999.

The Women's Game, Burford Books (Springfield, NJ), 2000.

The Extreme Game, Burford Books (Springfield, NJ), 2001.

other

The Million Dollar Infield (television movie), broadcast on CBS Movie of the Week, CBS-TV (New York, NY), 1982.

Everest (screenplay), 1997.

Also author of screenplay Irish Wine. Contributor of short fiction to periodicals, including Nassau Review, Flash-Bopp, Village Clarion, and Forum.

ADAPTATIONS: Irish Wine, a stage play based on novel, was performed at Celtic Arts Center, 1991, and produced at the Irish Theater Arts Center, 1994.

SIDELIGHTS: Dick Wimmer has become well known as the editor of several nonfiction books concerning the expansive world of sports. The Schoolyard Game, his second nonfiction book is a collection of pieces written about noteworthy writers on basketball since World War II. Wimmer followed this book with The Sandlot Game and The Gridiron Game. William H. Hoffman, reviewing the latter book in Library Journal, called the anthology featuring pieces by Bill Cosby and Jimmy Breslin, among others, "a quick fix for most any fan's passion." Wimmer's The Fastest Game was followed by The Home Run Game, an anthology, according to William O. Scheeren in Library Journal, that "brings together some of the best writing about the home run from a variety of sources." Bill Ott, writing in Booklist, called The Fairway Game, "a fine anthology," and remarked that "Wimmer sweetens the pot with a delightful bit of whimsy: an excerpt from Ian Fleming in which James Bond vies with Goldfinger on the links."

Of The Women's Game, Booklist contributor Brenda Barrera called the anthology of twenty-seven magazine articles, interviews, and book excerpts "great writing about great women athletes." Wimmer also edited the anthology The Extreme Game, a collection of articles that Jim Burns, writing in Library Journal, called "quite readable."

Wimmer's fictional work follows the life and family of world-renowned painter Seamus Boyne. Irish Wine is the first in the series; Boyne's Lassie is the sequel and centers on Seamus's estranged relationship with his daughter, Tory. Booklist contributor Bonnie Johnston commented: "Writing convincingly from the points of view of both Tory and Seamus, Wimmer uses stream-of-consciousness" to take the reader to the book's conclusion and assessed the trilogy as being "delightful" overall.

Wimmer once told CA: "I have tried to combine a poetic, lyrical, Joycean style with a headlong cinematic pace. James Joyce, Nabokov, and Donleavy particularly influence my work. I write each day for five hours, in pencil, and then transfer these scribbled notes to my 1954 Royal portable typewriter. Nabokov, as well as trips to Ireland, and the readings of the authors name above, have inspired me to write on the subjects I have chosen."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, June 1, 1998, Bonnie Johnston, review of Boyne's Lassie, p. 1730; September 15, 1999, Bill Ott, review of The Fairway Game, p. 214; October 15, 2000, Brenda Barrera, review of The Women's Game, p. 408; June 1, 2001, Bonnie Johnston, review of Irish Wine Trilogy, p. 1851.

Library Journal, October 1, 1997, William H. Hoffman, review of The Gridiron Game, p. 91; May 15, 1998, Dianna Moeller, review of Boyne's Lassie, p. 118; May 15, 1999, William O. Scheeren, review of The Home Run Game, p. 101; November 15, 2000, Kathy Ruffle, review of The Women's Game, p. 77; September 1, 2001, Jim Burns, review of The Extreme Game, p. 189.

New York Times Book Review, August 2, 1998, Erik Burns, review of Boyne's Lassie, p. 16.

Publishers Weekly, March 15, 1993, review of The Schoolyard Game, p. 76; June 1, 1998, review of Boyne's Lassie, p. 48A; July 9, 2001, review of The Extreme Game, p. 60.