Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: William Nack
    -FILMOGRAPHY: William Nack (IMDB)
    -ENTRY: William Nack (Good Reads)
    -ENTRY: 2021-William Nack (National Sports Media Association)
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    -VIDEO INDEX: William Nack (YouTube)
    -INDEX: William Nack (Sports Illustrated)
    -INDEX: William Nack (Sports Illustrated: The Vault)
    -INDEX: William Nack (Muck Rack)
    -INDEX: William Nack (The Stacks Reader)
    -INDEX: William Nack (Deadspin)
    -INDEX: William Nack (Longform)
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    -OBIT: Veteran Writer William Nack Dies: Nack was perhaps best known for his chronicles of the life and death of the greatest racehorse in history, Secretariat. (Charlotte Carroll, | Apr 14, 2018, Sports Illustrated)
    -OBIT: Bill Nack, Who Covered the Horses From Up Close, Dies at 77 (Richard Sandomir, Apr. 17th, 2018, NY Times)
    -OBIT: William Nack, Author of Secretariat Book That Spawned the Movie, Dies at 77: The horse-racing specialist spent more than two decades at Sports Illustrated and won seven Eclipse Awards. (Mike Barnes, April 15, 2018, Hollywood Reporter)
    -OBIT: William Nack, prizewinning sportswriter and bard of Secretariat, dies at 77 (Harrison Smith, 4/19/18, Washington Post)
    -OBIT: William Nack, Famed Sportswriter And Secretariat Biographer, Dead At 77 (Will Levith, 4/16/18, Saratoga Living)
    -OBIT: Legendary Writer Bill Nack Dies at Age 77: Seven-time media Eclipse Award winner was best known for coverage of Secretariat. (BloodHorse, April 14, 2018)
    -OBIT: Sports Illustrated legend Bill Nack dies at age 77 Many friends, colleagues and readers of Nack's mourned the writer Saturday. (Alex Putterman, 04/14/2018, Awful Announcing)
    -OBIT: Bill Nack, former Newsday sportswriter who chronicled Secretariat, dies at 77 (Newsday)
    -OBIT: Renowned sportswriter Bill Nack, dead at 77, wrote classic book on Secretariat (Maureen O’Donnell Apr 16, 2018, Chicago Sun-Times)
    -TRIBUTE: Remembering Local Horse Racing Writer Bill Nack: He would be loving this latest quest for thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown. (Leonard Shapiro, June 7th, 2018, Washington City Paper)
    -TRIBUTE: William Nack: the US legend whose evocative words brought the Turf to life (Julian Muscat, 27 July 2019, Racing Post)
    -TRIBUTE: America at Large: William Nack embodied golden age of sportswriting: Late, great writer had exceptional talent and love for scribes such as Seamus Heaney (Dave Hannigan, Apr 18 2018, Irish Times)
    -VIDEO TRIBUTE: William Nack Memorial Slideshow (Amy Nack, Mar 20, 2019)
    -TRIBUTE: Perform a concert in words: RIP Bill Nack 1941-2018 (Roger Ebert, 12/08/08)
    -TRIBUTE: Remembering William Nack: A Passionate, Personable Master of His Craft: William Nack stands as a monumental figure in the history of sports journalism, a wordsmith and dogged reporter whose distinctive prose is admired by readers and colleagues alike. (Tim Layden, Apr 14, 2018, Sports Illustrated)
    -TRIBUTE: Bill Nack: Champion Storyteller Devoted to His Craft (Tom Pedulla, 9/29/22, The Sport)
    -TRIBUTE: Remembering writer Bill Nack, whose heart rivaled Secretariat's (Mary Dixon Reynolds, April 14, 2018, Horse Racing Nation)
    -TRIBUTE: Master Storyteller: Like Eclipse, It Was Nack First, The Rest Nowhere (Ray Paulick, Apr 16, 2018, Paulick Report)
    -TRIBUTE: William Nack's words matched the greatness of his subjects : William Nack, a legendary sportswriter for Sports Illustrated and several other publications, died Friday. He was 77. (Steve Wulf, Apr 14, 2018, ESPN)
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    -TRIBUTE: From Every Derby, Bill Nack Found the Perfect Storyline (Dan Liebman, 5/08/18, Thoroughbred Daily News)
    -ESSAY: Pure Heart: The thrilling life and emotional death of Secretariat (William Nack, June 4, 1990, Sports Illustrated)
    -ESSAY: My Years Chasing the Triple Crown (William Nack, Jun 4, 2014, ESPN)
    -ESSAY: A Tough Translation (William Nack, 6/08/04, Blood Horse)
    -ESSAY: THE LONGEST RIDE: In October, Mike Venezia was killed when he fell from a horse at Belmont Park, but fellow jockey Robbie Davis, whose colt trampled Venezia, was a victim too (William Nack, 3/20/1989, Sports Illustrated)
    -ESSAY: The Almighty Bob Baffert (William Nack, May 2003, GQ)
    -ESSAY: Dubai’s Dream Team (William Nack, October 2002, GQ)
    -ESSAY: Sweet And Sauer There was no thrill like going to Wrigley to watch the original Hammerin' Hank (William Nack, 4/05/04, Sports Illustrated)
    -EXCERPT: Top of the Heap (William Nack, 2000, Lasting Yankee Stadium Memories)
    -EXCERPT: August of 1959 (William Nack, 2006, Bloodlines)
    -ESSAY: The Breakthrough: Fifty Years Ago, over Fourteen Games in May, Jackie Robinson Erased Any Doubt that He Belonged in the Majors, Clearing the Path for Other Black Players (William Nack, 5/05/97, SI)
    -ESSAY: Bobby Fischer: While conducting a search that turned into an obsession, the author discovers a great deal about the chess genius who drifted into seclusion after winning the world title (William Nack, 7/29/85, SI)
    -ESSAY: Checkered Genius: His chess mastery is but one element of Bobby Fischer's curious legacy (William Nack, 1/28/08, SI)
    -ESSAY: Grandmaster Trash: Chess champ Bobby Fischer emerges from a Japanese prison, spewing hate (William Nack, 4/04/05, SI)
    -ESSAY: The Kentucky Derby That Sparked a Lifelong Love: Before he died in April, longtime SI scribe William Nack was working on a memoir that included his recollections of the race that inspired his passion for horse racing: the 1958 Kentucky Derby (William Nack, Jan 4, 2019, SI)

"Bill, Ed here. I am heading for Louisville next week to cover the Kentucky Derby, and I was wondering, with your interest in racing and horses, if you'd like to join me there on Thursday, two days before the race. We'll be staying at the Brown Hotel with the Trib columnist, Dave Condon...."

Dave Condon! I'd been reading him since I was in Little League. Kentucky Derby! Being there to see it, to witness it, was the oldest of my wishes come true.

And thus I was launched on the woolliest, most wonderful adventure of my 17-year-old life. This was my first journey alone, and I can still remember sitting on those cushioned train seats and closing my eyes, head tilted back, listening to the rhythmic clacking of steel wheels on steel rails as the City of New Orleans bore me south from cavernous Illinois Central Station. I swept through the small towns of Danville and Rantoul, past rows of silos arrayed like helmeted soldiers as far as the eye could see, south toward Louisville, the home of America's most famous bridle path—Churchill Downs—and the nation's most celebrated horse race.

    -ESSAY: Twenty-five years later, Ali and Frazier are still slugging it out: More than two decades after they last met in the ring, Joe Frazier is still taking shots at Muhammad Ali, but this time it's a war of words. (William Nack, Sep 24, 2015, SI)
    -ESSAY: Young Cassius Clay: From the SI Vault, William Nack’s look at Cassius Clay’s youth: At 50, Muhammad Ali is a much-admired figure, just as he was in his formative years as a fun-loving but purposeful youth in Louisville. (William Nack, Jan. 13, 1992, SI)
    -ESSAY: A Name On The Wall: Football player Bob Kalsu was the only U.S. pro athlete to die in Vietnam: The latest SI 60 selection is "A Name On The Wall," in which William Nack chronicles the life and death of Bob Kalsu, an NFL player who was the only athlete in a major sports league to die in Vietnam. (William Nack | Sep 4, 2014, SI)
    -ESSAY: O Unlucky Man: Fortune never smiled on Sonny Liston: In this SI 60 story, William Nack retraces the sad life and tragic death of one-time heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. (William Nack, Aug 22, 2014, SI)
    -ESSAY: Ali was simply 'The Greatest': William Nack, Dec 28, 2007, ESPN)
    -ESSAY: Someday Belmont: The Making Of A Race Horse (William Nack, 6th June, 2014, Deadspin)
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    -VIDEO LECTURE: Bill Nack: 'Saratoga Racing History' (Saratoga History, Sep 14, 2013)
    -VIDEO LECTURE: "Secretariat" - Bill Nack (The Dole Institute of Politics, Apr 29, 2012)
    -INTERVIEW: SI 60 Q&A: William Nack on what 'Pure Heart' and Secretariat mean to him: An SI 60 Q&A with William Nack on his famous 1990 Sports Illustrated story, "Pure Heart," a personal reminiscence on the life and death of the great racehorse Secretariat. (Ted Keith, Jan 2, 2015, Sports Illustrated)
    -INTERVIEW: BILL NACK...in his own words (Interviewed by Alex Silverman and Drew Rauso, Still No Cheering in the Press Box)
    -INTERVIEW: An Interview With Turf Legend Bill Nack (Jamie Newell, May 30, 2008, Smile Politely)
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    -ESSAY: Pure Heart: The Story of Bill Nack’s Classic Farewell to Secretariat (Charlie Euchner, Apr 16, 2018, Medium)

I had told a couple of the editors about the autopsy report revealing the massive heart, and they loved it. When I wrote the end of the story as it finally appeared, about me finding out the horse had died and my reaction to the news, I then spent three more exhausting hours trying to figure out a way to flash forward to the autopsy, but none of my ideas worked. The ending with me standing in that room sobbing with my back against the wall was the natural end of the story, but I was determined to get that anecdote in.

Around noon, the magazine’s executive editor, Peter Carry, called and said, “Bill, What are you doing? I heard you are trying to write a new ending to include that autopsy report.” I said I was. “Don’t. Stop. Leave the ending alone. We’re considering using the autopsy at the beginning of the story, as a precede.”

An hour later, editor David Bauer called and asked me to write a 200-word precede about the horse’s death and the autopsy that followed. “Where are you going to put it?” I asked. “At the beginning. As a precede that will run in large type before the actual story.”

“This is going to ruin the lead,” I said. “It’ll be like we had two leads and couldn’t decide which one to use, so we ran both of them.”

“No, it won’t,” David said. “It’ll be fine. You’ll see. And don’t mention the horse’s name. Just call him ‘The horse.’ The reader will figure it out. We want to use the autopsy story but it does not fit at the end. You couldn’t have written a better ending and any kind of postscript would ruin it. So just give me 200 words about the horse being put down and then the autopsy. Very simple and straightforward.”

And so, somewhat skeptically, I wrote those 200 or so words. That precede was a brilliant idea, I must confess, and the autopsy story became one of the most oft-told tales in the lore of thoroughbred racing. Secretariat became the horse who had the giant heart, the biggest motor, the engine that never stopped beating. And it was all true.

    -ESSAY: "Why’s this so good?" No. 76: William Nack and "Pure Heart" (Don Van Natta Jr., April 23, 2013, Why is This So Good?)
    -ESSAY: How Secretariat and William Nack — the sportswriter who covered him — are forever linked (Baltimore Sun, 1/26/22)
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    -REVIEW INDEX: William Nack (Kirkus)
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    -REVIEW: of BIG RED OF MEADOW STABLE: Secretariat, the Making of a Champion by William Nack (Kirkus)
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    -REVIEW: of Secretariat (Good Reads)
    -REVIEW: of Secretariat (StoryGraph)
    -REVIEW: of Ruffian: a Racetrack Romance by William Nack (eric Banks, NY Times Book Review)
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FILM:
    -FILMOGRAPHY: William Nack (IMDB)
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Secretariat (2010) (IMDB)
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Secretariat (MetaCritic)
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Secretariat (Rotten Tomatoles)
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