Murray Olderman 1922 - 2020

Syndicated sports cartoonist and writer Murray Olderman, whose work appeared in over 750 newspapers, died on June 10th at a retirement community in Rancho Mirage, CA. He was 98. His work dominated the now-lost world of sports cartooning, when papers and syndicates regularly had cartoonists drawing caricatures and commentary on the sports personalities of the day.

Called a "rare double threat," Mr. Olderman wrote and drew features for over 35 years while syndicated by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He began with NEA in 1952, becoming its sports editor 12 years later, then executive editor in 1968, and a contributing editor in 1971. Although he announced that he "retired" in 1987, he was still active until NEA was bought out by another corporation.

He was the founder of the Jim Thorpe Trophy, and he also created the NEA All-Pro team, which ran from 1954 to 1992.

He wrote for magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Post, and produced books of his writing and drawings. Most were about football.

A two-time recipient of the National Cartoonists Society Sports Cartoon Award in 1974 and '78, Mr. Olderman also received the Pro Football Writers Association Dick McCann Memorial Award in 1979. He was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1997 he was inducted to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Northwestern University Medill Hall of Achievement for 2014.

Related:

NY Times obituary

The Daily Cartoonist