About Michael Wilbon

By Patrick Donohue and Lindsay Simpson

Michael Wilbon, 55, was born on Nov. 19, 1958 in Chicago. Wilbon earned his journalism degree in 1980 from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Upon graduation from college, Wilbon began working for The Washington Post, where he had interned the previous summer.

At The Washington Post, he covered college sports, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association before becoming a full-time columnist in the winter of 1990. His column was known for being as much about the culture and social impact of sports as it was about the action on the court or field.

In October, 2001, he began co-hosting ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption (PTI) with Post colleague Tony Kornheiser and eventually became one of the hosts on ABC’s NBA Countdown– a pre-game show for their NBA telecasts. He wrote his last column for The Post in December 2010 to work full-time for ESPN and ABC, including writing a column for ESPN’s website.

In his career, he has covered 10 Summer and Winter Olympics, as well as nearly every Final Four, NBA Finals, and Super Bowl.

He has also edited and written two books with former NBA star and TV commentator Charles Barkley. Both of the books made the New York Times best- seller list.