Person in history

John Feinstein

John Feinstein, American sportswriter and commentator (born 1956)

Life at a glance

Died
2025 · March 13
Known as
sports commentator, journalist, writer, and non-fiction writer. Citizenship: United States

Their story

Who they were

Personal life and death Feinstein was first married to Mary Clare Gibbons; following their divorce, he married Christine Bauch in 2010. [ 1 ] He had two children from his first marriage and one from his second. [ 1 ] Feinstein died from an apparent heart attack at his brother's home in McLean, Virginia , on March 13, 2025, at the age of 69. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] ^ a b Schudel, Matt (March 13, 2025). "John Feinstein, sports commentator and best-selling author, dies at 69" .

John Feinstein was an American sportswriter, author, and sports commentator. A long-time sports reporter at the Washington Post, he also wrote numerous books and was particularly known for A Season on the Brink, published in 1986, which chronicled a season with Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team.

Early life

Educated at: Duke University.

Early life and education Feinstein was born to a Jewish family in New York City [ 1 ] on July 28, 1955. [ 2 ] His father was the General Manager of the Washington National Opera from 1980 to 1995 as well as the first executive director of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. [ 3 ] He attended Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School and Duke University , where he was a sports reporter for the Duke Chronicle and graduated in 1977. [ 2 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]

Path and career

Awards / honours: Edgar Awards.

Career Feinstein joined the Washington Post in 1977 and was a full-time reporter there until 1991. [ 1 ] He was also a columnist for Sporting News and Golf Digest . His last column, about Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo , was published in the Washington Post on the day of his death, March 13, 2025; he had completed it the day before. [ 2 ] [ 1 ] He received the Curt Gowdy Award for print media of the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, [ 3 ]

Works Nonfiction The First Coming: Tiger Woods, Master or Martyr (1998) ISBN   0-345-42286-4 A Season on the Brink (1986) ISBN   0-671-68877-4 A Season Inside (1988) ISBN   0-394-56891-5 A followup to A Season on the Brink , on the 1987–88 college basketball season. One of the teams Feinstein most closely followed was eventual national champion Kansas . Forever's Team (1990) ISBN   0-394-56892-3 The Duke team that lost in the NCAA final game in 1978 .

Why this date

John Feinstein appears on our March 13 calendar for 2025 as a death entry.

Sources

Cite this page

“John Feinstein”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/people/john-feinstein, accessed October 25, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about John Feinstein

When did John Feinstein die?

March 13 2025.

Who else was born on this day?

The date page lists everyone we hold for that calendar day.

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