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Paul Gallico, born in 1897 in New York City, was a sports writer, screenwriter, and novelist. His parents, immigrants from Italy and Austria, arrived in the US in 1895. Educated in New York City's public schools, he entered Columbia University in 1916 and graduated in 1921 with a B.S. degree, his studies interrupted by an 18-month military service during World War I. He initially worked for the National Board of Motion Picture Reviews but soon became a film critic for the New York Daily News. After losing that position due to his "smart alecky" reviews, he joined the sports department. Assigned to cover champion Jack Dempsey's training camp, Gallico decided to spar with Dempsey himself, only to be knocked out within two minutes. This experience propelled his sports writing career.
In 1923, he became Sports Editor at the Daily News and launched his own daily column. His passion for boxing led him to create the Golden Gloves amateur boxing competition. Though a celebrated sportswriter, Gallico aspired to write fiction, occasionally publishing short stories in magazines like Vanity Fair and the Saturday Evening Post. In 1936, he sold a story idea to Hollywood for $5,000, enabling him to leave sports writing and focus on fiction. He moved to Europe and published his first major book, Farewell to Sport.
Gallico achieved international acclaim in 1941 with his bestseller, The Snow Goose. His writing was again interrupted by World War II, during which he served as a war correspondent from 1943 to 1946. After the war, he traveled extensively throughout Europe and South America to research the settings of his stories, visiting places such as Mexico, Liechtenstein, Paris, and Monaco, where he eventually settled. He spent his final four years in Antibes, a coastal resort between Cannes and Nice in southern France, and passed away there on July 15, 1976, just shy of his 79th birthday.
