Forester Athletic Hall of Fame
Inducted 1988
Robert Verdi '67 
Growing up in Port Washington, New York, Bob attended Paul D. Schreiber High School.  Class president his junior and senior years, he started his journalism career early.  He was sports editor of the school paper and was a sports writer for the town paper.

He entered Lake Forest in 1963 and developed his skills as a sportswriter by serving as director of sports information.  As part of the Stentor staff, he traveled extensively with the men's basketball and football teams and was the public address announcer at home basketball games.  By graduation, he was ready to begin a career that would see him develop into one of America's most widely read and respected sports journalists.

Graduating with a degree in English, Bob's career started out as a headline writer for the Chicago Tribune Metro section.  He was assigned as Official Reporter of the Chicago 
Blackhawks in 1973, and became a regular on the baseball beat two years later.  He has won numerous awards as a journalist, including being the recipient of the Illinois Sportswriter of the Year Award eight times. He was also elected president of the Professional Hockey Writer's association in 1977.

In addition to his work for the Tribune, Bob writes for Hockey Digest, the Sporting News and Goal magazine.  He does sports commentary for radio station WXRT in Chicago and published a collection of his columns entitled The Bob Verdi Collection.  In recognition of  his accomplishments he was awarded the Alumni Distinguished Service Citation from Lake Forest College in 1980.

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