ELECTED MEMBERS
   
Last NameSportCountryYear Inducted
BEN OLAN

Field: Media
Inducted: 1994
Country: United States
Born: March 31, 1924 in New York, New York
Died: October 11, 2019

Ben Olan has been a writer and editor for the Associated Press (AP) wire service since 1952. By the time he had completed his fortieth year at the AP, Olan had already received the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award (1987), named Honorary Lifetime
Member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (1957), and had authored thirteen books on sports.

Olan was AP hockey editor from 1954 to 1967 and covered college and professional basketball, baseball, and major boxing matches. He was the first editor of Hockey Illustrated Magazine, from 1962 to 1967.

As AP editor-writer and Special Projects editor for AP Newsfeatures, Olan assigned and edited an estimated 5,000 stories produced by major sportswriters throughout America. Named to the Special Projects position in 1974, he produced sports books
published by AP in partnership with major publishers such as Prentice- Hall, Dell, Crown, and Grolier. His AP book titles include The Associated Press Sports Almanac, 1975 to 1979 editions;
The Sports Immortals; The 101 Greatest Athletes of the Century; The 1980 Winter Olympics Book; and A Century of Champions.

Among the books he independently authored are Big Time Baseball (1956), Baseball’s Unforgettable Games (1959, with J. L. Reichler), Pro Football’s 100 Greatest Players (1984), and Pro Football’s
50 Greatest Games (1985), the last with George Allen, and nine other books.

Among the publications for which he served as editor between 1969 and 1984 are Boxing Today, Boxing Scene, Sports Scene, Pro Football Today, and numerous others.

 

 
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