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Ralph W. 'Bud' Leavitt Jr. (1917–1994) was a Maine newspaperman who was executive sports editor of ''The Bangor Daily News'', and a longtime outdoor columnist recognized statewide. In addition to his writing, Leavitt hosted one of Maine's earliest television shows, which was devoted to fishing, hunting and the out-of-doors. Leavitt's stature within the state was such that columnist Roy Blount Jr. wrote of the Maine sportswriter that he "fishes with Ted Williams and Red Smith – or, rather, they trout-fish with him."〔(Roy Blount Jr., 5,760 Casts a Day: Now that's Plugging, Angling for Contracts, Sports Illustrated, April 26, 1976 )〕 An early conservationist and son of a paper mill union leader, Leavitt urged the state of Maine to acquire lands for public use; one such preserve is today named for the sportswriter and television personality. ==Early life and career beginnings== Ralph W. Leavitt Jr. was born in Old Town, Maine, in 1917 to Ralph W. Leavitt Sr., union manager at Penobscot Chemical Fiber Company,〔The Ralph W. Leavitt, Sr., scholarship fund at the University of Maine was created to honor Bud Leavitt's father. The fund makes grants to "financially needy children of members of the United Paperworkers International Union" or to "children of employees of unionized paper mills in Maine."()〕 and his wife Elise.〔Maine Vital Records; The family, formerly known as Lavoie, and later Lavoie dit Leavitt, began using the Leavitt surname soon after Israel Lavoie, Ralph Jr's great-grandfather, moved from Quebec to Old Town around 1857. Leavitt, Robert E (1982). ''History of the Lavoie/Leavitt Family'', pg 49〕 Following graduation from Old Town High School, 'Bud' Leavitt went to work in the plant where his father was manager of the union – and quit the next day. "He didn't like getting all covered with dirt and sweat anywhere but on the athletic field," said Bud's cousin Alden Leavitt. Following his one-day career in the industrial world, Leavitt went looking for other employment. He landed his first newspaper job at age 17 when he began writing for ''The Bangor Daily Commercial'' in 1934. At the outbreak of World War II, Leavitt joined the Army Air Corps as a civilian employee. Following the War, in 1946 Leavitt took a job as general sportswriter at ''The Bangor Daily News'', with which he associated as sportswriter, sports editor and outdoor columnist for the next 48 years.〔Leavitt's retirement from his Maine newspaper duties was considered noteworthy enough that Maine Senator George J. Mitchell issued a statement about it.()〕 During his tenure as sports editor and outdoor columnist, Leavitt also occasionally filed stories to national publications, including ''TIME Magazine''.〔(Time Inc. Dispatches from TIME magazine correspondents: second series, 1956-1968, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library )〕 High school graduate Leavitt's prose〔Even Leavitt's admirers concede the columnist and sportswriter wasn't known for his adept turns of phrase. What explained his popularity across the state of Maine? Some observers attributed it to his no-nonsense, somewhat gruff style, in which he delivered the facts without embroidery.〕 on sporting topics even turned up occasionally in the highbrow ''The New Yorker'' magazine.〔In its issue of June 25, 1979, ''The New Yorker'' quoted at length from sportswriter Leavitt's essay on fishing in Maine. "He wrote when the fog shuts out the land, it is like a pussy-footing cat laying down a paw," wrote the magazine, paraphrasing Leavitt's prose.〕 He also frequently hunted and fished with his friend Nelson Bryant, outdoor columnist for ''The New York Times'', who wrote about their jaunts in his newspaper.〔(On Your Own:Outdoors: Stalking A Tasty, Elusive Tree-Loving Prey, Nelson Bryant, The New York Times, Oct. 16, 1989 )〕 During this time, Leavitt began to make himself indispensable to the Bangor newspaper, where the owners noted that his presence on the sports pages came to embody for many readers the newspaper itself.〔(Every Day History, Interview with Richard J. Warren, Publisher, The Bangor Daily News, January 2007, Bangor Metro )〕 In 1948 Leavitt began writing a daily outdoor column for the newspaper in addition to his sportswriter duties. The column, in which Leavitt discussed hunting and fishing and life in Maine, ran in ''The Bangor Daily News'' until November 30, 1994 – six years after Leavitt had retired as the paper's sports editor, and only weeks before the columnist's death from cancer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ralph W. 'Bud' Leavitt Jr.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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