Tom Junod
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Articles by Tom Junod
The Children of Philanderers
We met by accident. I mean that literally—a Yankee friend of mine blew a tire while driving south and swerved into oncoming traffic. He came out of it untouched, and wound up in Atlanta while his car was being serviced. I live in Atlanta, and he called to see if I wanted to go out to dinner with him and his Aunt Maura to celebrate his survival. Explore the November 2026 Issue Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. View More Maura was around my age and fairly new to town.
Our Fathers’ Affairs
What the children of philanderers know We met by accident. I mean that literally—a Yankee friend of mine blew a tire while driving south and swerved into oncoming traffic. He came out of it untouched, and wound up in Atlanta while his car was being serviced. I live in Atlanta, and he called to see …
The Falling Man, com'è nata la foto simbolo dell'11 settembre
RICHARD DREW/AP Nella fotografia, quell’uomo lascia la terra come una freccia. Non ha scelto il proprio destino, eppure, negli ultimi istanti della sua vita, sembra averlo accettato. Se non stesse cadendo, si potrebbe quasi pensare che stia volando. Sfreccia nell’aria con un’apparente calma. Sembra a suo agio nella morsa di un movimento inconcepibile. Non pare intimorito dall’attrazione divina della gravità né da ciò che lo aspetta. Ha le braccia lungo i fianchi, appena scostate dal corpo.
The Falling Man - Esquire Singapore
RICHARD DREW/AP Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of 11 September, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day. In the picture, he departs from this earth like an arrow. Although he has not chosen his fate, he appears to have, in his last instants of life, embraced it. If he were not falling, he might very well be flying.
Tom Junod: In memory of former Atlanta magazine editor-in-chief Lee Walburn
Photograph by Emmett Martin Lee Walburn was a proud man. He was proud of being a certain kind of man—a country man who succeeded in the city and then went back to the country. He was proud of being stubborn as a stone and weepy as a cloud. He was proud of his beard, which he trimmed but never changed. He was proud of the accolades he won as an editor of Atlanta magazine but not as proud as he was of the stories he published. He was proud of coddling his writers. He was proud of scaring his bosses.
Our Week in Reviews: 5/9/26
Delivery: A Novel by Christopher Hebert (Regal House Publishing). Reviewed by Randy Cepuch. “Somehow, his detours include visits with the girlfriend he seems to be losing, as well as with teammates eager to talk him out of skipping tomorrow’s game.
Tom Junod on Finding the Right Trick
This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. Article continues after advertisement You have some tricks. You’re a magazine writer, after all—you have to write a lot of different kinds of stories, and sometimes tricks are what gets you to the end of them. Feeling too prissily self-conscious about the quality of your prose? Curse your f-ing head off, then remove all the blue language before you hand in the story. Feeling your story becoming impersonal?
Wont You Be My Neighbor 2018 1080p BluRay x264-OFT
ffilou6: i hope there will be 720p web dl x265 by rmteam waanaabe: Please upload episode 14 and 15 ("Otherwise Enraged" and "Deaduante"? revolt123: Can we please get a clicknupload link sheep: no rmteam re-encode in 1080p ???? sheep: no rmteam re-encode in 1080p ???? sheep: no rmteam re-encode in 1080p ???? RonG: I just started watching this. This is s04e65. We need someone to upload the correct show. inyer: 1.77GB 720 https://mega4upload.net/7w174rbug2m5
IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH I WAS TOLD WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MAN
An enthralling family memoir and an unromantic commentary on manhood. A writer reckons with the legacy of his charismatic, philandering father. Lou Junod was built like “a cross between Jack LaLanne and Victor Mature,” with a deep, dark tan and hair as “black as shoe polish,” writes his son Tom, an award-winning magazine journalist. “From Fred Astaire, he learned how to dress; from Cary Grant, how to talk; and from Clark Cable, how to treat women.” And the women?
How the NYPD and FDNY honor 9/11 with football, 20 years on
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How the NYPD and FDNY honor 9/11 with football, 20 years on
Twenty years later, an annual FDNY-NYPD game reminds Tom Junod of the weight of remembering.
How the NYPD and FDNY honor 9/11 with football, 20 years on
Stay on Jeff’s Sideline Subscribe to the official Jeff Fox YouTube channel to join Jeff Fox on the sidelines of all Florida’s most popular sporting events.
The Unforgotten: Two QBs and the game that tied them together forever
Stay on Jeff’s Sideline Subscribe to the official Jeff Fox YouTube channel to join Jeff Fox on the sidelines of all Florida’s most popular sporting events.
The Unforgotten: Two QBs and the game that tied them together forever
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The Unforgotten: Two QBs and the game that tied them together forever
THEY WERE BOTH SO YOUNG. One would be entering his old age now, with most of a long life behind him. The other would just be entering his senior year in high school, working to fulfill a life of great promise. A vast gulf of time separates them. But nobody knows them now except by memory, so time is also what ties them together. And it is time that tells their story. They were both so young, are both so young still. ONE IS JAY KUTNER. He is a quarterback.
The Falling Man
Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day. In the picture, he departs from this earth like an arrow. Although he has not chosen his fate, he appears to have, in his last instants of life, embraced it. If he were not falling, he might very well be flying.
2 final Mississippi 'Goon Squad' members sentenced to prison in torture and abuse of Black men Original
Brett Morris McAlpin, 53, was ordered to serve 327 months, which is more than 27 years. And Joshua Hartfield, 32, the final former deputy to be sentenced, was ordered to serve 121 months, or about 10 years. McAlpin and Hartfield are two of the six former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies who admitted to subjecting two Black men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, to acts of racist torture.
Another former Mississippi 'Goon Squad' deputy sentenced to prison in torture and abuse of Black men
March 21, 2024, 5:06 PM UTC A judge sentenced another former Mississippi deputy from a self-described "Goon Squad" to federal prison on Thursday for the torture and abuse of two Black men in a racist attack where one of the victims was seriously injured. Brett Morris McAlpin, 53, was ordered to serve 327 months, which is more than 27 years.
Former Mississippi 'Goon Squad' deputy sentenced after admitting to torturing and abusing Black men Original
March 20, 2024, 5:23 PM UTC A white former Mississippi sheriff deputy who was a member of a self-described "Goon Squad" was sentenced to federal prison Wednesday after admitting he tortured and abused two Black men in a racist attack that left one of the victims seriously injured. Daniel Ready Opdyke, a former deputy with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison. Former deputy Christian Lee Dedmon will be sentenced later Wednesday.
Confessions of a Striver
At 58 I’m not supposed to still be ashamed of where I went to college. But I’ve carried that with me my entire career, and last week someone made a sneering comment on X/Twitter that validated my feelings. In response to Joshua Benton’s February 28th Nieman Lab article, “Is The New York Times’ newsroom just a bunch of Ivy Leaguers?
'You have to evolve': Pro Bowler Kyle Juszczyk wants to help grow the fullback position
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The San Francisco 49ers are in the opening minutes of an early December practice and fullback Kyle Juszczyk is already in a full sprint. As his teammates make their way to individual position drills, Juszczyk is in search of something else to do. He's already gone through the stretching period with his fellow running backs and caught some kick and punt returns. Now, Juszczyk wants to open the individual running back drills by taking a couple snaps from under center.
Was Frank Gore the Last NFL Running Back?
DUDE'S STILL AT IT. It's late in the game, late in the season, late in his career, but he's still hungry for the ball, so he gets it one more time. He's a Jet now, his uniform the color of algae, but his jersey number, 21, is what he started with five teams ago, and it still means something. The play calls for him to go off-tackle, such a signature play it might as well be designed for him. There is no hole, but that's nothing new -- he has played for at least as many bad teams as good ones.
Frank Gore: The Last NFL Running Back
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Appeals court skeptical of free access to abortion pill mifepristone
By Dareh Gregorian and Tom Junod - NBC News Federal judges hearing arguments Wednesday in the dispute over access to mifepristone, the most widely used abortion pill in the United States, questioned the government's stance that the drug should be kept freely accessible in the country. The hearing before Louisiana's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals included arguments from the Justice Department and Danco Laboratories, as well as the group of doctors and health professionals who oppose abortion.
How the Dez Bryant no-catch changed the NFL forever
WE ALL SAW IT. It happened right before our very eyes. Fifty-two point three million of us watched it live on television. Untold millions have watched it since, in its YouTube afterlife. And to watch it once is to watch it many times, almost by definition -- nobody even had the chance to watch it just once, since the replays started rolling as soon as the ball was whistled dead. The play itself took about seven seconds, snap to signal.
Twisting and Shouting with the Ghosts of Sylvester Manor Original
Barnes moved the Victrola into a parlor dominated by two-hundred-year-old portraits of the manor’s severe inhabitants. One afternoon last month, she used it to unveil a more recent discovery.
Before Sandusky, Penn State Had Another Serial Predator
Tom Junod & Paula Lavigne, ESPN April 18, 2022 AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File When Jerry Sandusky's crimes came to light in 2011, the world thought it was the first time Joe Paterno and Penn State had faced a serial sexual predator in their midst. But that was not the case. This is the story of the predator who had come before. Read Full Article » Show comments Hide Comments Related Articles
How key figures from Jerry Sandusky's crimes view Joe Paterno's legacy, 10 years after his downfall
7:20 AM ET John BarrESPN.com Close Joined ESPN in June 2003 Winner: 2013 Peabody Award; 2011 Edward R. Murrow Award/Video Investigative Reporting Covers breaking news, investigative pieces and human interest features A little over 10 years ago, the public learned of the horrific sexual-abuse crimes committed by former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The fallout was swift and sweeping.
Before Jerry Sandusky, Penn State football had another serial sexual predator. This is the untold story of his crimes and the fight to bring him to justice.
Tom Junod Paula Lavigne Close Paula Lavigne ESPN Staff Writer Data analyst and reporter for ESPN's Enterprise and Investigative Unit. Winner, 2014 Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award; finalist, 2012 IRE broadcast award; winner, 2011 Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism; Emmy nominated, 2009.
Before Jerry Sandusky, Penn State football had another serial sexual predator. This is the untold story of his crimes and the fight to bring him to justice. - Black Media Daily
BY Tom Junod and Paula Lavigne Editor’s note: This story contains explicit language and graphic descriptions of sexual violence and a murder investigation. Karen was alone in her apartment when the phone rang. She didn’t like being alone. It had been weeks since she had been attacked there, but the apartment still felt to her like a crime scene, a place that had been turned over and rummaged through.
Best Movies Based on Magazine and Newspaper Articles, Ranked
Throughout the years, there have been several films based on famous newspaper and magazine articles. Even TV series, like Netflix's latest Inventing Anna, find inspiration in the news. Whatever the case, these stories have resonated with mass audiences due to their thought-provoking stories. At the same time, they are intriguing due to the fact that they are based on true stories. These articles create the perfect blueprint for a good, dramatic film.
Outside the Frame
The Unseen Outtakes Outside the Frame The most famous and pointed Esquire covers of the 1960s were photographed by one man, Carl Fischer. But the frames he shot on either side of those now-iconic images—some shown here for the first time—are revealing and make those images startlingly fresh again. October 1 2015 Carl Fischer, RICHARD DORMENT
Football, firemen and cops -- and what it means to never forget 9/11
Editor's note: This story was originally published on Sept. 10, 2021. The following note is from author Tom Junod. Four years ago, I went to MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands to see the cops play the firemen -- or, in the parlance of New York City public service, to see the Finest play the Bravest.
Softball lured me out of lockdown, and greatness was there to greet me
7:00 AM ET Tom JunodESPN Senior Writer I watch a lot of softball. My daughter, a junior in high school, plays, and over the years my wife and I have evolved from doting parents in the stands to binge-watching devotees with a softball problem. As we emerge warily from our late-pandemic bubble, we have become enamored of the sea-to-shining-sea coverage afforded by our ESPN+ subscription, which offers a panoptical glimpse of a nation at play.
The Runaway | Esquire | December 2004
The Game The Runaway That’s one of Ricky Williams's $2 million legs being pulled inside the tent. And that’s his tent, his home, actually, at a campground in Australia. Everybody was looking for him in the months after he bolted the NFL last summer and before he abruptly returned to America this fall. But it turns out he was never that hard to find.... December 1 2004 CHRIS JONES CHRIS JONES
Joe | Esquire | FEBRUARY 2009
FIVE WEEKS AFTER the election, just as the press has started saying that the man who will soon ascend to the vice-presidency has been muzzled, or gone missing, Joe Biden sits behind the desk in his Senate office surrounded by framed pictures of his family The white dome of the Capitol building shines through the window behind him. “You can drop the vice-president-elect stuff,” he says. “Well, I’m not going to call you Joe.” “No, that’s all right, you can call me Joe—matter of fact, funny story . .
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A woman is raped by a football player. She tesifies against him and lives in isolation in the freshman dorm. One night, there is knock on her door. She opens it, and another football player fills it. “Hello,” he says.
Remain the Reverend
The temple of democracy at 407 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, is underwhelming as temples of democracy go, especially in the January rain, when you’re counting on it to restore your faith in all it represents, and maybe even fortify your soul. Ebenezer Baptist Church is, like all famous buildings, heartbreakingly mortal. It is, unlike all famous buildings much less all famous temples, inescapably humble, made not of marble but rather of red brick the precise color of Georgia clay.
Pramila Jayapal on COVID-19 and the Capitol Riot Original
Read: It was supposed to be so much worse. Once they got to the exit, she sat on the floor of the gallery and pushed her legs out straight into the aisle between seats; it was the only way she could sit. She heard glass breaking, then a single gunshot. Beside her, Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester began praying with her hands in the air: Peace. Peace in the land. Peace in this country. Peace in this world. Jayapal felt her knee beginning to swell. She heard pounding on the gallery doors.
What Eric Jerome Dickey, Dead at 59, Meant to Black Women
Eric Jerome Dickey, who died recently at the age of 59, created a world of fiction that understood and celebrated his most loyal readers. Diane McKinney-Whetstone 6:00 AM ET Eric Jerome Dickey’s work is a master class in Black joy.Yola Monakhov / The New York Times / Redux Since learning of the death of the best-selling author Eric Jerome Dickey, I’ve thought a great deal about the nature of Black storytelling.
Why the Capitol Rioters Wore Animal Pelts
The seditionist frontiersmen of the Capitol riot certainly meant to send a message through their clothing. But what was it? Luke Winkie 8:00 AM ET (SAUL LOEB / AFP/ Getty) Last week’s takeover of the U.S. Capitol unleashed all kinds of questions—about the fragility of democracy and the future of the republic, about policing, about accountability, about America’s most violent fringes and how fringe they really are. But also: What’s up with all the animal skins?
In Backward Syntax, The New York Times Reports
It is kind of great, spawning stuff like this: [P] From Roget, a Thesaurus #nytbooks — Paul and Storm (@paulandstorm) November 1, 2012 In Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing #nytbooks — Alex M (@alexmce) November 1, 2012 For Portnoy, a Complaint. #nytbooks — Zachary Goelman (@zgoelman) November 1, 2012 When We Talk About Love, What Do We Talk About?
Everything Is Different Now
The U.S. Capitol did not fall the way the Twin Towers did, but the American idea it embodies was brutalized. We must remember 1/6 the way we remember 9/11. Tom Junod 6:00 AM ET Erich Hartmann / Magnum; Gary Hershorn / Getty I flew past the buildings two days before the planes hit them. In those days planes bound for LaGuardia often lapped Lower Manhattan before making the final turn, steering remarkably close to the skyscrapers massed just below.
Tom Hardy Is Really Angry About His Pants
In addition to acting in a wide variety of projects—laid out in the profile I wrote of him in this month's Esquire—Tom Hardy is developing a line of streetwear for the British style magazine and fashion label Blag. One night, when I was working on my story about him, I happened to call Hardy when he was simultaneously memorizing lines for a movie and perusing fashion catalogs that his designers had sent him.
La vera storia della foto più famosa dell'11 settembre
Nell'immagine, il corpo si avvicina al suolo come una freccia scoccata dall’alto. Anche se non ha scelto il suo destino, sembra averlo abbracciato nei suoi ultimi istanti di vita. La sensazione è che se non cadesse, potrebbe benissimo volare. Come se fosse rilassato, troppo impegnato a sfrecciare nell'aria per contrarsi o dimostrarsi preoccupato: sembra a suo agio nel compiere un volo assurdo e inimmaginabile.
Rudy Giuliani Is a Colossal Asshole
A sign out front says, MEET THE MAYOR, and there’s a picture of Rudy Giuliani smiling his ghoulish public smile, with his cavernous dimples and aspirin-white teeth. The grin is utterly horizontal, a perfect straight line, as though a ruler and a razor together had cut it into his face. Five hundred people have gathered inside the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx, and Giuliani is standing before them, above them, on a stage. He is wearing a black suit.
Brad Pitt Cover Story Interview
Published in the June/July 2013 issue of Esquire. Brad Pitt won't remember you. If you've met him, he'll have no idea who you are when he meets you again. Even if you've had what he calls "a real conversation," your face will start fading from his memory as soon as you walk away. He'll try to hold on to its outlines, but your features will suffer an inexorable erasure, and the next time he sees you you'll be brand-new to him.
The Hero of Goodall Park -- inside a true-crime drama 50 years in the making
When a car careened onto a baseball field in Sanford, Maine, during a Babe Ruth game in 2018, it set in motion a true-crime mystery 50 years in the making. Watch "The Hero of Goodall Park" on-demand here. PART ONE "The Devil Was Out Collecting Souls" 1. IN 2018, ON a spring day that felt like summer, a man died at a baseball game in Sanford, Maine. He was killed at a baseball game, run over by a car at a historic ballfield called Goodall Park.
The Hero of Goodall Park -- inside a true-crime drama 50 years in the making
11:00 AM GMT Tom JunodESPN Senior Writer When a car careened onto a baseball field in Sanford, Maine, during a Babe Ruth game in 2018, it set in motion a true-crime mystery 50 years in the making. Watch "The Hero of Goodall Park" at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday on ESPN. PART ONE "The Devil Was Out Collecting Souls" 1. IN 2018, ON a spring day that felt like summer, a man died at a baseball game in Sanford, Maine.
Go Ahead, Set Him on Fire
We strive to present a reader-friendly digital text version of each story. While errors in automatic conversion are inevitable, we are devoted to editing every article to make it error-free. We haven’t gotten to this one yet but we’re on the case! I’ve asked him to take off his mask at some perfect moment this afternoon, to give some teenage girl the thrill of her young life. "No way, dude," he says. "You have no idea." Flashes start going off. People run in front of traffic, sprinting toward him.
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