Max Kase
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Max Kase | |
|---|---|
 Kase in 1952, after receiving Pulitzer Prize | |
| Born | July 21, 1897[1] New York City, U.S. |
| Died | March 20, 1974 (aged 76) Yonkers, New York, U.S. |
| Occupations | Sportswriter, editor |
| Years active | 1917–1966 |
| Employer | New York Journal-American (1938–1966) |
| Known for | Pulitzer Prize, 1952 |
| Predecessor | Wilton S. Farnsworth |
| Successor | None (newspaper disbanded) |
| Parent(s) | Solomon and Fannie Kase |
Max Kase (July 21, 1897 – March 20, 1974) was an American newspaper writer and editor. He worked for the Hearst newspapers from 1917 to 1966 and was the sports editor of the New York Journal-American from 1938 to 1966. In 1946, he was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the New York Knicks and the Basketball Association of America, predecessor to the NBA. He won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1952 for his work exposing corruption in men's college basketball, primarily the CCNY Point-Shaving Scandal.[2]
Kase was born in July 1897.[1] His German-speaking parents, Solomon and Fannie Kase, emigrated from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to New York in the late 1880s.[3][4]
At the time of the 1900 United States census, Kase was living on Willett Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with his parents and six siblings – Moses (born 1884 in Austria), Annie (born 1889 in New York), Benjamin (born 1891 in New York), Lena (born 1895 in New York), and twins Fannie and Rachel (born 1900 in New York). At that time, Kase's father was working as "cloak operator"—that is, a sewing machine operator working on ladies cloaks.[4][5]
At the time of the 1910 United States census, Kase was living with his parents and an older sister (Lena) at 334 Georgia Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. At that time, Kase's father was employed as a grocer in a retail store.[6]
By 1918, the family had moved to The Bronx and was living at 1558 Minford Place, near Crotona Park.[7] At the time of the 1920 United States census, Kase was living with his parents and two older siblings (Benjamin and Lena) at the same address in The Bronx. Max's profession was recorded at that time as a stenographer.[8]
Early years as a journalist
Kase began work at age 16 as an office boy for the New York Evening Mail.[9][10] In approximately 1917, he joined the staff of the International News Service (INS), the wire service for the Hearst newspapers.[9][10]
Kase's earliest by-lines involved the financial markets, including a June 21 story about mysterious flood of sell orders that had driven stocks to their lowest prices since 1917,[11] and a May 1922 article about a merger between Lackawanna Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel.[12]
In 1922, Kase began writing feature stories. In February 1922, newspapers across the country published his feature story about plans by Will Hays and others to build a model community on Long Island to lure motion picture production away from scandal-ridden Hollywood.[13][14] Four months later, Kase's feature story about jazz culture and flappers received wide coverage. The story opened with the following provocative quote from psychologist Andre Tridon: "Jazz should be our national pastime: the flapper, God bless her, is the hope of the modern world.[15] The article went on to quote Tridon suggesting that jazz should be encouraged as a means to satisfy man's "gorilla instincts":
Jazz should be encouraged. It is the modern saturnalia which allows us to satisfy our gorilla instincts in a ball room in a perfectly nice, decent, orderly and open manner. It is an excellent substitute for alcohol. There is not enough fun in our present world ...[15][16]
In December 1922, Kase wrote a feature about a new form of armament developed by racing driver and engineer J. Walter Christie, which Kase described as a combination of a battleship, fort and tank that had been tested in the Hudson River and was "expected to revolutionize modern warfare."[17] In January 1923, he wrote a pieces about a painting by Antonio da Correggio, missing since the 15th Century, that had been discovered in Brooklyn.[18] His moving feature from February 1923 about the death of a 17-year-old boy from Manhattan's Lower East Side was also published in Hearst newspapers across the country:
The bustle of the East Side has slightly slowed, the shrill cry of pushcart peddlers is a bit subdued, while on the teeming block of Eldridge street, in the heart of the Ghetto, there is deep mourning. Sammy Rathet is dead. Sammy was only seventeen years old – but a good boy. That was admitted by the white-haired patriarchs who hobble about with canes while their long beards sway to the vagaries of the wind.[19]
Sportswriter in the 1920s and 1930s
In 1923, Kase's focus began shifted to boxing. In June 1923, he wrote a feature story about Luis Firpo, known as "The Wild Bull of The Pampas."[20] When heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey agreed fight Firpo, Kase covered Dempsey and issued daily stories from the champ's training camp in White Sulphur Springs, New York.[21][22][23] When Dempsey left White Sulphur Springs, Kase described the scene he left behind:
The hotel which was thronged for more than a month with tin-eared prize fighters, trainers, rubbers, and dozens of reporters, scores of vacationalists and tourists, now is silent and deserted. the lobbies which were jammed and crowded now echo hollowly with the footsteps of a forlorn bartender, a sad hearted inn-keeper and an occasional waiter.[24]
Kase provided similar in-depth coverage leading up to the July 1923 championship bout between lightweights Benny Leonard, born in the Jewish ghetto of New York's Lower East Side, and Lew Tendler.[25][26] When Leonard successfully defended his title in front of a crowd of 60,000 spectators at Yankee Stadium, Kase wrote that the title of "The Old Master," previously used to describe Joe Gans, "may now in all probability be hauled out, dusted off and placed firmly on the brow of Benny Leonard."[27]
In 1924, Kase was sent to Cuba as the editor and general manager of The Havana Telegram. He was reported to be the youngest person at that time to hold an editorial position with a Cuban newspaper.[9]
In 1925, Kase returned to New York as a sportswriter for Hearst's New York Journal under its longtime sports editor, Wilton S. Farnsworth.[9][28]
In the early 1930s, Kase covered the National League baseball beat for the Journal and the Hearst newspaper syndicate.[29][30][31][32][33][34] He also continued to cover boxing for the Hearst newspapers. Covering the bout between Kid Chocolate, "The Cuban Bon Bon," and Lew Feldman, Kase credited the Cuban with "artistically muzzling the Brownsville bulldog after fifteen rounds of classy, game battling."[35]
In 1934, Kase was sent to Boston as the sports editor of Hearst's Boston American. During his time in Boston, Kase became acquainted with Walter A. Brown, the original owner of the Boston Celtics.[36]
Kase returned to New York in 1935 as a sportswriter and columnist for the New York Journal and, following the merger of Hearst's morning and afternoon papers, the New York Journal-American.[37] Upon his return to New York, Kase covered the New York Yankees and the American League baseball beat.[38][39][40][41][42] In the spring of 1937, Kase was credited with mending a rift that had developed in 1936 between Yankees stars Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio.[43]
When Joe Louis burst onto the scene in 1935, Kase covered Louis' training camp before the September 1935 bout at Yankee Stadium against German champion Max Baer.[44][45] Kase referred to Louis as "the etherizing Detroit destroyer" and wrote about the difficulty in securing sparring partners: "There were to have been seven laboratory specimens for the Detroit destroyer to experiment on but five of the expected sparring partners, showing rare judgment, failed to appear."[44]
In March 1936, he drew national coverage with a feature story reporting that Dizzy Dean's wife had been assigned to negotiate a new contract with the Cardinals.[46]
In 1937, Kase was added to the committee of eight baseball writers charged with choosing the American League's Most Valuable Player.[47]