Richard J. Schaap (9/27/1934 - 12/21/2001) was born in Brooklyn. Raised in Freeport, NY on Long Island, Schaap went on to become one of America's most proficient sportswriters & broadcasters, writing and co-writing 33 books. He was known for his elegant prose and had a reputation for creating intellectual, broad sports essays, or "thought pieces." His autobiography, Flashing Before My Eyes: 50 Years of Headlines, Deadlines & Punchlines, not only recounted some of his adventures, but was an anthology to his habit of name-dropping (531 celebrities).

At age 14, he began writing a sports column for the weekly Freeport Leader, but moved to the Nassau Daily Review-Star the following year under future Pulitzer Prize-winner Jimmy Breslin. He would later follow Breslin to the Long Island Press and New York Herald Tribune.

He attended Cornell University and was editor-in-chief of the student paper, the Cornell Daily Sun. During this time, he defended a professor before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). After graduating in 1955, he received a Grantland Rice fellowship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and authored his thesis on the recruitment of basketball players. After completing school, he began work as assistant sports editor of Newsweek magazine.

In the 1950's, Schaap befriended Bobby Fischer, who became world chess champion in 1972. In a news conference in 2005, Fischer claimed that Schaap was a father figure, but that didn't stop him from hurling anti-Semetic insults at Schaap's son, Jeremy, a correspondent with ESPN.

In 1964, Schaap began a thrice-weekly column covering current events. In the following years, he wrote the 1968 best-seller "Instant Replay", co-authored with Jerry Kramer of the Green Bay Packers, and "I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow... 'Cause I Get Better-Looking Every Day", the 1969 autobiography of New York Jet Joe Namath. These led to becoming co-host of The Joe Namath Show, which further led to his sports anchor position for WNBC-TV. In 1973, he became editor of Sport Magazine. Other books included a biography on Robert F. Kennedy, ".44" about David Berkowitz, "Turned On" about upper middle-class drug abuse, "My Aces, My Faults" with Nick Bollettieri, and "Bo Knows Bo with Bo Jackson", one of the best-selling sports autobiographies ever.

After spending the 70's as an NBC Nightly News and Today Show correspondent, he moved to ABC World News Tonight and 20/20 in the 80's. He earned 5 Emmy Awards, for profiles of Sid Caesar and Tom Waddell, two for reporting, and for writing. He was the only person ever to vote for both the Tony Awards and Heisman Trophy.

In 1988, he began hosting "The Sports Reporters" on ESPN cable television. He also hosted "Schaap One on One" on ESPN Classic and a syndicated ESPN Radio show called "The Sporting Life" with Dick Schaap, in which he discussed the week's developments in sports with Jeremy.

In December 2001, Schaap died at Lenox Hill Hospital after complications from what was supposed to have been routine hip replacement surgery.