Award-winning sports writer, commentator for Sports Illustrated, NPR

Frank Deford, the award-winning sports writer and commentator whose elegant reportage was a staple for years at Sports Illustrated and National Public Radio, has died. He was 78.

He died Sunday in Key West, Fla., his family said Monday.

Mr. Deford was a sixtime Sports Writer of the Year and a member of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. He wrote and spoke with a lyrical touch and this month retired from NPR’s “Morning Edition” after 37 years as a contributor.

“Frank was dealing with an audience that doesn’t turn to the sports pages first thing,” said Tom Goldman, an NPR sports correspondent who recently spent timewith Mr. Deford in Key West. “And he was proudest of the many comments he got over the years from people saying, ‘I don’t really like sports, but I like what you did, and you made me more interested in it.’ ”

He was the first sports writer awarded the National Humanities Medal. In 2013, then-President Barack Obama honored him for “transforming how wethink about sports.”

“A dedicated writer and storyteller, Mr. Deford has offered a consistent, compelling voice in print and on radio, reaching beyond scores and statistics to reveal the humanity woven into the games we love,” Mr.Obama said at the time.

Mr. Deford called the award the one he is most proudof.

His long profiles, covering all corners of sports, were for years a showcase in Sports Illustrated.

“He could watch the grittiest game and zoom in on the moment that made it important,” said Jim Litke, a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. “Nobody was better at connecting sports to the culture at large. He dressed up everyevent he attended.”

He also dressed up in a more literal way, always sharply attired and cutting a debonair figure at 6 feet 4 with his shock of dark hair andthin mustache.

Mr. Deford was a prolific book author, including severalnovels, and contributed commentaries to HBO’s “Real Sports” program and hosted documentaries on thecable network.

His wit always was on display. Among Mr. Deford’s gems: “I believe that professional wrestling is clean and everything else in theworld is fixed.”

And he understood why the games have such a hold onso many.

“To see the glory in sport, where somebody comes from behind and does something, sinks a shot in the last second or throws a touchdown pass or hits a home run, there is a beauty in that, and at the end of the day, that’s why we love sports more than anything else.”

Mr. Deford grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Princeton University.