Don Yaeger
Biography

Few journalists can lay claim to as exciting and colorful career as Don Yaeger.

In the two decades since he accepted his first newspaper job in Texas, the breadth and variety of his assignments has been astounding. He has traveled the world in pursuit of stories as different as:

Walking into Afghanistan with the mujahadeen as they fought the Soviets

Going into Baghdad with the victorious Iraqi soccer team as the battle between insurgents and the US Military waged around them

Visiting China in pursuit of underworld characters counterfeiting American golf clubs

Heading to Damascus to find the last living terrorist from the 1972 Olympics

Living with football legend Walter Payton and his family as Payton courageously battled cancer.

Traveling Europe and the Middle East interviewing Iraqi athletes tortured by Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee

Hitting the campaign trail with candidates from both parties during the 1988 Presidential campaign

Traveled to the back alleys of Amsterdam to interview a chemist making undectable steroids for athletes - before Barry Bonds made such chemists famous

A 1984 graduate of Ball State University with degrees in both journalism and history, Yaeger began his career in journalism as a reporter for the San Antonio Light where he rose through the ranks to pen investigative features for the daily. He later moved on to the Dallas Morning News. Following his stint in Dallas, Yaeger worked as a political editor for the Florida Times-Union. He is also a two-time finalist for the National Magazine Award and has been included three times in Best American Sportswriting.

After four years, he dedicated himself solely to the pursuit of writing books. Yaeger's first book, Undue Process: The NCAA's Injustice For All, was published by Sagamore Publishers in 1990. He has since gone on to write ten other sports-related books and co-authored the highly-publicized New York Times Best-seller, Under The Tarnished Dome: How Notre Dame Betrayed Its Ideals For Football Glory and 1998's Sports Book of Year, Pros & Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL. In the fall of 2000 Don published Never Die Easy, The Autobiography of Walter Payton with Random House. It became a New York Times Bestseller Recently, his book, Ya Gotta Believe, about the battle baseball legend Tug McGraw fought against cancer also became an instant Times bestseller. Due out this fall is The Turning of the Tide.

After several years of freelancing for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, Don joined the magazine's staff full-time in July 1996. Two years, later he was promoted to Associate Editor, where his work was to cover not just sporting events but the legal issues, controversial happenings and major issues affecting the world of sports.

Yaeger and his co-author William Nack were finalists for a 2000 National Magazine Award in the public interest category for their cover story, "Who's Coaching Your Kid?: The frightening truth about child molestation in youth sports." This important piece triggered follow-up reports by programs such as Dateline, 20/20 and The Oprah Winfrey Show. It also resulted in changes to the laws of several states -- as well as several youth sports organizations, including Little League of America-- to require background checks of coaches and volunteers.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Yaeger has traveled extensively. The Dominican Republic, Honduras, Japan and Great Britain can be counted among the countries in which he has resided. Yaeger also owns a political consulting business and a public relations firm. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of Florida and the College of Communications at Florida State University.