A Modern Nonfiction Master

Gary Smith is one of our heroes. This story about him is almost five years old, but it's still good reading:



Last month, Gary Smith received the National Magazine Award for his Sports Illustrated article about George O'Leary, who was hired as Notre Dame football coach only to have to resign when it emerged that his résumé was studded with lies. This was not an upset. Smith, a longtime SI staffer, had already won the award—the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize in the magazine world—an unprecedented three times.



Nor was the honor unmerited. Smith is not only the best sportswriter in America, he's the best magazine writer in America. The only injustice is that, outside the small world of…