Darrell L. Christian, the former editor-in-chief and sports editor of the Associated Press who was known for his demanding demeanor and insistence on excellence during more than four decades at the news agency, died Monday. He was 75 years old.
Christian died of Parkinson’s disease at Elegant Senior Living in Encino, California, according to his wife, Lissa Morrow Christian. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease around 2015, his wife said.
“Darrell was the best story editor I’ve ever seen, with an unerring instinct for leadership and story format and zero tolerance for anything less than his best,” said Mike Silverman, AP editor in chief from 2000 to 2007. and senior editor-in-chief until 2009. … ”I had the great fortune to be his deputy for several years when he was editor-in-chief and much of what I later brought to the work I owed to him.”
A hands-on editor known for his candor and rigor, Christian modernized AP sports coverage during his seven years on the job, emphasizing breaking news and in-depth reporting on issues including sports business, academics and high school safety standards. This coverage earned him a promotion to editor-in-chief under William E. Ahearn, then executive editor.
“Sports is just an extension of hard news with a slightly different flavor,” Christian told the National Press Club in 2007.
Born on December 26, 1948, Christian was a native of Henderson, Kentucky. He began his journalism career as a sports writer and editor at the Henderson Gleaner in 1964, worked two summers in the AP bureau in Charleston, West Virginia, and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky in 1969. After serving in the Navy from 1969 In 1972, Christian joined the AP in Indianapolis in 1972. He became news editor in 1975, moved to the Washington bureau in 1980, and became deputy sports editor in New York the following year.
Christian was promoted to sports editor in 1985, coordinating coverage of the 1988 and 1992 Winter and Summer Olympic Games and overseeing the addition of featured approaches to game stories across all major sporting events – something he brought to the news as editor-in-chief.
“When Jackie Robinson came along, the sport started to develop a social conscience,” Christian said at the National Press Club. “It really exploded in the 1970s and early 80s with television coverage, which brought sporting events into the living room and the proliferation of money in sports, free agency where suddenly a whole generation of instant millionaires was created. . And what happened between the lines was no longer enough. This created a public appetite for everything you could want to know about these athletes.”
Known to the AP as “DLC,” Christian was known for his scathing and concise critiques sent to reporters, left in mailboxes in blue envelopes in the pre-digital era. “Blue notes” were feared among employees.
Christian said the biggest news story he covered as sports editor was Ben Johnson testing positive for a banned steroid at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, which led him to work for 48 consecutive hours. His main story as editor-in-chief was the OJ Simpson trial.
“It truly was the circus of the century and it was a crazy adventure to cover it every day,” said Christian.
Christian replaced Martin C. Thompson as editor-in-chief in 1992 and chaired the Pulitzer Prize investigative panel in 1995 and 1996. Among the major stories he oversaw as editor-in-chief: the OJ Simpson saga, coverage of which he led with aplomb.
“Darrell was an old-school, competitive journalist who valued creative stories delivered quickly to readers,” said Kathleen Carroll, AP executive editor from 2002 to 2016. Those values inspired every decision he made as he led state, national and sports coverage: Make it interesting, write cleanly, and get it out there. His grumpy exterior and droll sense of humor barely disguised his deep devotion to fast, sharp, interesting stories and the people who wrote them.”
After six years as editor-in-chief, Christian was succeeded by Jonathan P. Wolman and became director of MegaSports, AP’s multimedia sports service for newspaper and broadcast members and commercial online services and websites.
“Darrell combined traditional editing skills with a desire to stay on top of news and innovations that would help keep the AP competitive at the dawn of the Internet news era,” said Michael Giarrusso, AP’s deputy for global news gathering. , who worked with Christian. “He was as comfortable editing a story lead as he was meeting with tech startups who wanted access to AP news or photos.”
Christian became business editor in 2000, and in 2003 was appointed to the newly created role of director of sports data, combining AP Digital’s MegaSports service with the AP Newspaper’s sports agate service. He became editor at large in 2006, then created AP’s Top Stories Desk in 2008 and ran it until his retirement, when he moved to California.
“Darrell never stopped doing what he loved, which was editing and illustrating,” said AP golf writer Doug Ferguson. “He placed an emphasis on letting the details do the work of the adjectives. And he had this incredible ability to know what the story was and how to get there. He made us better.”
Christian lived in his Encino home and still attended a gym and played golf and softball before entering Encino Hospital Medical Center on May 24. He was transferred to a rehabilitation center a few weeks later and moved to a nursing home in June. 25.
Christian’s first marriage ended in divorce. He met Lissa Morrow while overseeing AP’s coverage of the 1984 Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, where she covered the radio station. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a brother, Scott, and niece Erika Whitman.
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