A well-known author, editor, media executive and pundit, Larry Platt is the co-author of Just Tell Me I Can’t: How Jamie Moyer Defied the Radar Gun and Defeated Time (“The best book I have ever read on the psychology of that complex and marvelous creature called the pro athlete,” writes Buzz Bissinger) and Everyday I Fight, the posthumous memoir from Stuart Scott.
Platt is a former columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and former editor of the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia magazine. Under Platt, the magazine received its first back-to-back nominations for the much-coveted National Magazine Award in General Excellence and was named the nation’s third-best newsstand performer by Capell’s Circulation Report.
Currently, Platt is the co-founder and editor of The Philadelphia Citizen, a nonprofit media organization dedicated to using solutions-based journalism to reignite civic participation.
Platt is a nationally recognized writer, penning multiple features on sports, politics, media and business for publications such as GQ, the New York Times Magazine, New York, Men’s Journal, Playboy, and Salon.com, among other publications.
Platt is the author of four books. In 1999, Avon Books published Keepin’ It Real: A Turbulent Season at the Crossroads with the NBA, a chronicle of a year inside the NBA through the eyes of Charles Barkley, Chris Webber, Jerry Stackhouse, Vernon Maxwell, and Matt Maloney. In May 2002, Temple University Press published New Jack Jocks: Rebels, Race and the American Athlete, an anthology of Platt’s national sports pieces over the years.
In November 2002, Platt penned Only the Strong Survive: The Odyssey of Allen Iverson (Regan Books). (“Iverson’s past has been strip-mined by many,” writes Sports Illustrated’s Gary Smith. “Platt has gone back with a hand shovel and sifter and found what everyone missed.”) Most recently, his book about ageless pitcher Jamie Moyer has met with widespread critical acclaim.
Platt, a native Philadelphian and avid tennis player, has appeared on numerous television shows, including Nightline, ESPN Outside the Lines, and HBO Real Sports. Platt is 49 and lives in Ardmore, PA, with his wife, Bet, a second-grade schoolteacher.
LARRY PLATT 