Larry Whiteside

Lawrence W. Whiteside
(Sides)

• School Drake University

• Born September 19, 1937 in Chicago, IL USA
• Died June 15, 2007 in Newton, MA USA

Biographical Information

Larry "Sides" Whiteside was a pioneering journalist who began his career with the Kansas City Kansan in 1959. In 1963, he moved to the Milwaukee Journal covering both the Braves and later the Brewers. (It did not become the "Journal Sentinel" until after Whiteside left for Boston). He was one of the first African-American journalists to cover major league baseball. In 1972, he declined an offer from Brewers owner Bud Selig to become the team's publicity director.

Instead of the Brewers job, Sides began a 31-year stay at the Boston Globe the following year. It was in Boston where he became the first African-American to work a regular Major League beat. Whiteside covered both the 1975 and 1986 World Series. He was not limited to baseball, however, frequently writing about the Celtics in their glory days of the 1980s.

Whiteside was awarded a John C. Knight Foundation Fellowship in 1987 and he briefly left the Globe to study labor law. He was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the National Association of Black Journalists in 1999. Due to his knowledge of the Negro Leagues, Whiteside was on the committee to select the All Century Team in that same year.

Parkinson's Disease slowed Whiteside in the early 2000s. He retired from the Globe in 2004 and succumbed to the disease in 2007. Shortly after his death, Whiteside won the Spink Award.