Al Silverman, the writer, editor and publishing executive who collaborated with Chicago Bears halfback Gale Sayers on the autobiography I Am Third (1970), which was adapted into the 1971 TV movie Brian's Song, died March 10, the New York Times reported. He was 92.
Silverman had been a prolific freelance writer in the 1950s for various magazines, including Sport, which hired him as its editor-in-chief in 1960. He also wrote books about, or with, sports figures like Paul Hornung, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Frank Robinson.
His later books include It's Not Over 'Til It's Over: Stories Behind the Most Magnificent, Heart-Stopping Miracles of Our Time; and The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors, and Authors.
In 1972, Silverman left the sports world and joined the Book-of-the-Month Club as executive v-p and editorial director. Larry Shapiro, the club's former executive editor, said, "He had a great gift for creating an event out of an editorial decision and making book-club members feel like participants in the event, at a time when book clubs were considered predictable." During his 16 years at BOTM, Silverman rose to be president and later CEO.
He joined Viking Books as publisher in 1989. In 1994, he became an editor-at-large, a position he held until 1997.
As an editor he worked with a range of authors, including J.F. Freedman, Stephen White, Steve Thayer, William Pease, Saul Bellow, William Kennedy and T.C. Boyle. Baseball was an ongoing interest for Silverman, who edited a novel with Jim Bouton and Eliot Asinof (Strike Zone), a book with baseball writer Robert Creamer (Baseball in '41) and oversaw Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball. He also edited an autobiography with the jazz musician Willie Ruff (A Call to Assembly) and Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy.
T.C. Boyle told the Times: "He gave me his full support and a devotion rare in the publishing world. He was generous with his time and affection, an editor who cared deeply about his authors."