William Nack grew up in Chicago. In 1968, he began his newspaper career at Newsday on Long Island, N.Y., covering local utilities and the environment. In 11 years at Newsday, he covered horse racing, as well as becoming one of the newspaper’s sports columnists.
In 1979, he joined Sports Illustrated and over the next 22 years became one of SI’s most accomplished and versatile writers. He tracked former chess champion Bobby Fischer across the country and covered the Indianapolis trial that saw Mike Tyson convicted of rape in 1992. He has written numerous books and many of his best works have been compiled in anthologies. One of his best-selling books, “Secretariat: The Making of a Champion, ” was turned into a film in which Nack was a consultant.