From the February 2010 issue of Our Moment, the UConn Foundation's e-newsletter. Reprinted with permission from CLAS Notes.
Frank Litsky ’46 graduated at age 19 and went on to a long career in journalism, starting with United Press in Hartford. For more than 50 years he covered sports for The New York Times. He covered the Jets, the Giants, eight Olympic Games, New York City and Boston Marathons, more than a dozen Super Bowls, and world championships in track and field, swimming, gymnastics, figure skating and more. Even though he retired in 2008, he continues to write for the Times.
In 1995, he covered the UConn women’s basketball team’s first NCAA championship game. Looking for a “kicker” for his article, he wrote about Coach Geno Auriemma shooting baskets with his son, Michael, an hour after the game. While Litsky keeps a neutral sports writer’s perspective on most sports, he’s an unabashed fan of UConn women’s basketball.
Special Feature: Click here for a slideshow (scroll to slide 4 for a podcast interview).
During his years at UConn, Frank Litsky covered UConn activities for The Hartford Courant and he served as UConn’s first sports information director. He also played varsity tennis and was twice the UConn table tennis champion. UConn did not then offer a major in journalism; he took one two-credit journalism course from Walter Stemmons, the University editor and publications director. Litsky majored in government and minored in history, “a marvelous preparation for journalism,” he says.
Litsky recently endowed a scholarship in journalism in memory of his son, Charles Litsky, who died of a heart attack at age 33. Charles was a BMX racer and early promoter and a broadcast sports journalist, working for ESPN and ABC Radio. He was the first athlete’s agent in American cycling. Charlie Litsky was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1993, shortly after he died.
“I wanted to do something to let the world know (about Charles) and to do something for UConn,” he says. “UConn played a very important part in my maturing.” A Waterbury native, Frank Litsky was only 16 years old when he entered UConn.
For more information about supporting the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, please contact the UConn Foundation’s development department.
