RALIEGH, NC – In the sunset of my life you would think that I would have found my niche by now. Maybe I should be wearing slippers and relaxing in an easy chair but that’s not me. The path to becoming a writer has taken me almost 60 years. As a 14-year-old I wrote a book about London, where I was born and raised. My father, who was my biggest critic in everything that I did, loved the book. He was so proud that he took it to my headmaster I.D. Trevor-Jones to show him that I had some talent. I do not think I.D. Trevor-Jones was impressed, but heck I didn’t care; I had written a book, that was all that mattered to me.
In my English class, I would often write an essay of several thousand words. The exercise book that contained my story was usually returned with remarks from the teacher in red ink. “Mitchell, please keep the story to one page, if you continue to hand in 20-page stories, I will give you a zero mark.”
So I received some zeros, big deal. I developed a passion for writing – – not just writing stories, but writing sports stories. As a young person, we have no idea of things to come, events that will mold us in life. As a young man, about 10 years of age, I shared a bedroom in our basement apartment with my younger brother Ernie. For some reason he liked for me to tell him stories, not just any stories, but stories about sport, in particular soccer.
When my parents would put the light out my story-telling would begin. Usually the tale was based around a small local soccer team that by some incredible chance, had reached the 1st Round of the Football Association Cup. The Cup, as it is known, is a tournament that lasts from August to May of the following year. Every soccer club in England takes part, with the big clubs entering the event in the third round.
It is quite an achievement to reach the 1st Round as small clubs have to play through preliminary rounds. The task is enormous. The backdrop of the small soccer team becoming giant-killers gave me an outlet that I enjoyed tremendously; every night I would tell a story that gave me the opportunity to stretch my mind and usually send my brother into a sound sleep.
Fast forward 60 years. I am still telling those stories as a speaker and writer. After retiring two years ago, I had time on my hands so I decided to find that new niche. I may be 70, but I am far from being dead. I still have those creative juices running through me. I had started to write a book about Sherlock Holmes, a character that fascinated me. I had also begun a book on places around the world that had been featured in Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories. Sadly, both of these efforts are still on my computer, unfinished.
It was then that I met Michaele Ballard a lady who was a stringer for “People Magazine.” Michaele interviewed me for Who Magazine, Australia’s sister magazine to People. The story Michaele was working on was about Zahra Baker, a 10 year old girl who had lived opposite me in Hickory, NC and had been murdered by her stepmother. Michaele encouraged me to write the story of this terrible crime, so I did.
In the meantime a friend told me of an on-line magazine, Pro Hockey News that was looking for writers. I sent Lou Lafrado, editor of PHN, a sample writing and got the Charlotte Checkers beat. Writing for an established magazine not only gave me credibility but was good for the soul. I wrote nearly 80 articles for PHN during the 2011-12 hockey season which were published on the website.
Sport has been my life. I played soccer from the age of four, at a professional standard, coming up through my school and college teams to an apprenticeship at a professional club. I raced bikes on the banked track and in international road races in the UK, USA and on the European continent. At college I was unbeaten at cross-country for two years and I played golf to a two handicap. I even caddied in the British Open at St. Andrews, the year Jack Nicholas won in 1978.
I was born in London and lived 20 years near the Crystal Palace in South London, so it seemed natural for me to write about the sports that took place there, many of which I was personally involved with. Sport in the Crystal Palace is book number two. I am not counting my schoolboy effort that I.D. Trevor-Jones dismissed.
For 40 years I have interviewed some of the world’s greatest sports personalities from Carl Lewis the great Olympic sprinter to boxing trainer, Angelo Dundee, on radio shows in Fort Worth, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I was even heard on the British Broadcasting Corporation on many occasions.
Now I have the best job in the world, writing and speaking on Retro Sports, telling the stories that people love to hear over and over. I enjoy going back into the distant past and bringing the stories back to life. I write fact; I also write fact intertwined with fiction. The Magic Hockey Shirt and the Magic Soccer Shirt are examples of the intermingling of fact and fiction. The fact is that the first organized ice hockey game took place in on March 3, 1875 in Montreal, Canada. The fiction is that a young hockey player, Troy Clarke, traveled back in time to play in that game. These stories they can be purchased from my website www.RetroSportStories.com .
My sporting repertoire covers lacrosse, boxing, roller derby, athletics, hockey, soccer, equestrian, bike racing, motor racing (bikes and cars), swimming, martial arts, sailing, cricket, polo, rugby, horse racing, NASCAR, speedway, baseball, American football, basketball, archery, tennis, table tennis, fencing, badminton, handball and golf. I have either written or spoken on all of these sports, they make up my life, they have made me what I am today, a sports nut extraordinaire.
Sport has been wonderful to me in so many ways. It has given me wonderful memories; I have met some great people and I have had a terrific time. Reliving the stories is my way of giving back to sport a little of what it has given me.
Contact Eddie.Mitchell@prohockeynews.com
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